A week after his presidential inauguration, Joe Biden cited the climate and biodiversity crises as reasons to set a sweeping new goal – to conserve at least 30% of America’s vast lands and waters by the end of the decade. Three years on, new protections have spurred meaningful progress towards meeting the target by 2030. …As Biden took office, about 12% of US land had been protected by previous administrations. About 41m acres has been placed under some form of new protection across public and private lands during Biden’s term, meaning that about 13% of the US’s landmass is now deemed protected, up by about 1%. A far smaller expanse of US waters have been newly conserved under Biden but the aquatic side of the goal is closer with 26% currently protected and with new designations planned for territories in the Pacific Ocean set to push the total above the 30% target.