Biden Announces Two New National Monuments in California, Conserving 848,000 Acres
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From Outside Online:
In last days of his presidency, Biden adds more protected sites to a long list of conservation accomplishments
Published: Jan 7, 2025
On Tuesday, January 7, President Biden announced the formation of two new national monuments in California: the Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands. The new monuments encompass a combined 848,000 acres of land, and cover areas that are culturally and historically significant to several Indigenous groups.
According to a statement released by the Biden administration, the two national monuments will “protect clean water for communities, honor areas of cultural significance to Tribal Nations and Indigenous peoples, and enhance access to nature.”
The designation protects the land from new oil and gas drilling and other development. It also preserves outdoor recreation access and ecologically important landscapes. Both areas preserve the culturally and historically significant ancestral homelands of numerous Indigenous tribes.
“Today’s designation of Chuckwalla National Monument and Sáttítla National Monument is a win for the California outdoor recreation community,” Katie Hawkins, the California program director at the nonprofit Outdoor Alliance, said in a statement. “These monuments safeguard sites of sacred, cultural, and historic significance; protect critical biodiversity and habitat; and expand outdoor recreation access for current and future generations to these special places.”
The 624,000-acre Chuckwalla National Monument is situated at the convergence of the Colorado and Mojave deserts, south of Joshua Tree National Park and extending into the Coachella Valley to the west. The area, which will be overseen by the Bureau of Land Management, has been a popular destination for outdoor recreation even before receiving national monument status. It features hiking, climbing, and camping at places like the Painted Canyon and Box Canyon in Mecca Hills, Corn Springs Campground, and the Bradshaw Trail.
The new monument also extends the Mojave to Moab Conservation Corridor, a roughly 600-mile stretch of protected public land that extends from Colorado to California and is the largest protected habitat corridor in the continental U.S. According to the administration’s press release, more than 50 rare or threatened species live within the Chuckwalla monument’s borders, including the Chuckwalla lizard from which the monument draws its name. It also safeguards a stretch of the critical Colorado River watershed, which flows through the newly protected area.
“The protection of the Chuckwalla National Monument brings the Quechan people an overwhelming sense of peace and joy,” the Fort Yuma Quechan Tribe, who have been calling on the Biden administration to designate the monument, said in a statement to the Washington Post. “Tribes being reunited as stewards of this landscape is only the beginning of much-needed healing and restoration, and we are eager to fully rebuild our relationship to this place.”
The Quechans, along with other indigenous communities advocating for a monument, have also called for a co-management structure that includes federal officials and tribal leadership, similar to the one in place at Bears Ears National Monument.
The Sáttítla Highlands National Monument encompasses 224,000 acres stretching across parts of the Klamath, Modoc, Shasta-Trinity National Forests in northern California. It will be managed by the Forest Service.
North and east of Mount Shasta, the new monument encompasses the Medicine Lake Highlands, including the sacred ancestral homelands of the Pit River Tribe and Modoc peoples. It also features ample recreation opportunities, with trails for hiking, biking, camping, and mountaineering. At the heart of the monument is 7,921-foot Medicine Lake Volcano, a large dormant volcano, as well as Medicine Lake. The area is habitat for dozens of vulnerable plants and animals, and covers massive underwater aquifers that local communities rely on.
The announcement of the new monuments comes the day after the Biden administration banned new drilling along the Atlantic coast, part of the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific coast in the lower 48, and parts of the Bering Sea in Alaska. In 2024, the president designated two other national monuments in California, San Gabriel Mountains and Barryessa Snow Mountain National Monument.
Over the course of his presidency, Biden has established, expanded, or restored 15 national monuments and several national wildlife refuges, conserving a total of 670 million acres of U.S. lands and waters. The administration has consistently engaged tribal partners, prioritizing their input when selecting and managing protected areas.
