LOS ANGELES (AP) – Dangerous high winds forced President Joe Biden to cancel a trip to the eastern Coachella Valley on Tuesday, where he announced two new national monuments honoring Native American tribes in California. I was planning to announce the construction of something.
Winds began to pick up across Southern California as forecasters warned of “destructive and life-threatening” gusts. The president was preparing to leave Los Angeles in a limousine when the event was canceled. The White House initially announced that Biden would speak in Los Angeles, but later announced that the event would be rescheduled for next week at the White House for a time when others could attend.
The National Weather Service said it could be the strongest Santa Ana storm in more than a decade, reaching its peak early Wednesday morning with wind gusts of up to 80 mph (129 kph). Isolated wind gusts can exceed 100 mph (160 kph) in mountains and foothills.
President Biden may designate new national monument during visit to Southern California
Biden’s announcement was part of his administration’s commitment to conserve at least 30% of America’s land and waters by 2030 through the America the Beautiful initiative. But the trip cancellation was also a stark reminder of another of the administration’s priorities: climate change and the growing impacts of extreme weather events.
The declaration names Chuckwalla National Monument in Southern California near Joshua Tree National Park and Sattitra National Monument in Northern California. The declaration prohibits drilling, mining or other development on the 624,000-acre (2,400-square-kilometer) Chuckwalla site and about 225,000 acres (800 square kilometers) in Northern California near the Oregon border.
The White House said the new monument will protect clean water for communities, honor areas of cultural significance to tribal nations and indigenous peoples, and enhance access to nature.
Biden, who has two weeks left in his term, announced on Monday that he would ban new offshore oil and gas drilling in most waters off the U.S. coast, including California and other West Coast states. The plan is aimed at thwarting potential efforts by the incoming Trump administration to expand offshore drilling.
This series of activities will honor tribal traditions, meet the federal goal of conserving 30% of public lands and waters by 2030, and address climate change in 2021. This is in line with the Democratic President’s “America the Beautiful” initiative.
The Pit River Tribe has been lobbying the federal government to designate Satitra National Monument. The area is the spiritual center of the Pit River and Modoc peoples and is home to mountain forests and meadows filled with rare flowers and wildlife.
Many Native American tribes and environmental groups have begun pressuring Biden to designate Chuckwalla National Monument, named after a large desert lizard, in early 2023. The monument will protect public lands south of Joshua Tree National Park and across the Coachella Valley region. from the west to near the Colorado River.
Supporters argue the monument would protect the tribe’s cultural landscape, provide local residents with access to nature and preserve military history.
“The designation of California’s Chuckwalla National Monument and Satitra National Monument is a cultural, “This is a historic step towards protecting this ecologically and historically important land.”
The new monument “celebrates the enduring stewardship of tribal nations and the tireless efforts of local communities and conservationists who fought to preserve these irreplaceable landscapes for future generations,” Hauser said. Ta.
National monuments such as Chuckwala and Sattitra play an important role in addressing historical injustices and telling a more inclusive story of American history, she said.
California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla said the new monument is a major victory that will protect the state’s public lands for generations to come.
The designation of the Chuckwalla Monument “accelerates the state’s important efforts to combat the climate crisis, protect iconic wildlife, protect sacred tribal sites, and promote clean energy,” Padilla said. said. Meanwhile, the new Sattitra monument will ensure that the land “that has long served as the spiritual center of the Pit River and the Modoc people” will “continue to exist for generations to come,” Padilla said.
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The Chuckwalla Monument follows in the vein of a series of recent monuments, such as Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument, which is overseen in partnership with five tribal nations, to include local tribes as co-custodians. The purpose is to respect tribal sovereignty.
“Protecting Chuckwalla National Monument brings overwhelming peace and joy to the Kechan Nation,” the Fort Yuma Kechan Tribe said in a statement. “Reuniting the tribe as stewards of this landscape is just the beginning of much-needed healing and recovery. We want to completely rebuild our relationship with this place.”
In May, the Biden administration expanded two national monuments in California: the San Gabriel Mountains to the south and Berryessa Snow Mountain to the north. In October, Biden designated the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary along the central California coast, but the decision on how to preserve the area will include input from the local Chumash tribe.
Last year, the Yurok Tribe of Northern California also became the first to manage tribal lands with the National Park Service under a historic memorandum of understanding signed by the tribe, Redwood National and State Parks, and the nonprofit Save the Redwood League. became an indigenous people. conveying land to tribes;
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