A Native American-led coalition is pressing the Biden administration to designate three new national monuments in California, making it impossible for President-elect Donald Trump to mine these areas after he takes office on January 20. Some worry that their chances of protection from logging, drilling, and logging may be jeopardized.
More than 1.2 million acres of land are being sought for monument status, the largest of which is the proposed Chuckwalla National Monument, which spans more than 620,000 acres from the Coachella Valley near the Salton Sea to the Colorado River. It’s a proposal. Advocates led by the Cahuilla Indians of the Torres Martinez Desert and other tribes also want to expand adjacent Joshua Tree National Park by nearly 18,000 acres.
In addition, the Fort Yuma Ketsang Indian Tribe is establishing the 390,000-acre Kutsang National Monument in a desert area near the southeastern corner of California, adjacent to the Colorado River and bordering Mexico. And the Pit River Nation is seeking the designation of approximately 200,000 acres of ancestral territory and spiritual sites in the Sattitra, or Medicine Lake, highlands surrounding Northern California’s impressive volcanic formations.
Separately, some environmentalists are calling on Biden to set aside 1.4 million acres of land between Sequoia-Kings Canyon and Yosemite National Park, known as the Range of Light National Monument. .
With President Trump poised to take back the White House with Republican majorities in the House and Senate, the campaign assumes increased urgency. Trump has scaled back monuments in Western countries during his first term, and some conservative groups have urged Congress to repeal the Antiquities Act, a 1906 law that allows presidents to designate national monuments. I am asking you to do so.
Pitt River Nation’s Brandi McDaniels took the petition to the world stage last month at the United Nations Biodiversity Summit COP16 in Colombia, saying “time is running out.”
An aerial view of the proposed Kutsang National Monument, located in the desert region of California’s southeastern corner.
(Bob Wick)
Opponents argue that the land is protected by existing designations and that granting it monument status would unfairly impede recreational activities such as off-roading and small-scale mining. Some conservatives argue that the Antiquities Act has been misused as a vehicle for unchecked land grabbing.
Supporters of the tribal-led proposal, including top California officials, conservation groups and businesses, say the land in question contains unique but at-risk flora and fauna, as well as spiritual and cultural Important areas are claimed to be inhabited. They also say the land is not adequately protected from visitors who seek to plunder natural resources or vandalize sacred sites.
The state Senate and Assembly passed resolutions urging Biden to take action on three new monuments.
Lena Ortega of the Fort Yuma Quetsan Indian Tribe said the desert landscape envisioned by the Chuckwala and Quetsan monuments would unite the region’s tribes.
“It was an ancient trail system that we traveled to convey news of abundance, war, death and celebration,” Kutsang project leader Ortega told the COP16 conference.
Tribes consider these ancestral lands sacred. Pottery shards, crematoriums, and rock art can be found throughout the region.
Wild inhabitants include the feeble bighorn sheep, desert tortoises, and the stocky chuckwalla lizard, which enjoys basking in the sun. The area’s sand dunes also have a rare and strange-looking parasitic plant known as a sandfood.
Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribal Councilman Donald Medart Jr. said the tribe has been fighting mining and mineral exploration in the area for years, but feels current protections are not enough. Ta.
“We had to fight the same battle every 20 years to protect the land that is sacred to us and the objects and landscapes it contains,” he said.
The starting point for the proposed Chuckwalla monument is Painted Canyon near the eastern edge of the Coachella Valley, where the mountainside is painted in deep reds, pinks, greens, and grays. For the Cahuilla Indians of the Tres Martinez Desert, it represents the bleeding heart of their creator, Mukat.
Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian Tribal Council Chairman Thomas Tortes Jr. said monument status would pave the way for better oversight and protect the area from trash dumping and graffiti.
“It’s becoming more and more desecrated every year,” Tortes said.
The area is also home to a World War II-era training center used by General George Patton to prepare troops to fight in the North African desert.
“There’s a tremendous amount of military history there,” said Janessa Goldbeck, a former U.S. Marine and chief executive of the Veterans Voices Foundation, which supports the designation. Remnants of that history include a church altar built for military personnel made of desert rock, she said.
Other veterans also oppose the designation. James Gregory Herring, 65, a retired Marine Corps major who lives in Pioneertown, said the Chuckwalla proposal would wipe out more than 350 small-scale mining claims, which he and other disabled retired Marines have lost. “We feel it has been very helpful and healing within ourselves,” the service members said. Ability to cope with various mental and physical disabilities. ”
Herring said he and his wife have a small interest in the Eagle Mountains, which would be partially incorporated into Joshua Tree National Park under the Chuckwalla proposal.
The remains of the military camp are already protected by wilderness or national reserve designations, he said. An online petition he started against Chuckwala has gathered more than 2,200 signatures.
Ben Barr, executive director of the Blue Ribbon Coalition, a nonprofit focused on protecting recreational access, said a trail in Chuckwalla called Meccacopia is popular with off-roaders. He also said the Kwetsan Monument could restrict access to the busy Glamis and Imperial Sand Dunes due to “management spillovers”, even if it lies outside the envisioned boundaries. I’m concerned.
“Monument supporters always say they will continue to allow recreation, but only very limited forms of recreation will be allowed at these sites,” Barr said. “And that’s the part that’s never said out loud.”
Medart insisted the area outside the monument will not be affected and said tribal leaders want to work with stakeholders to develop a vision for the area.
The volcanic crater is located within Sattitra, a national monument surrounded by the Shasta-Trinity, Klamath, and Modoc National Forests.
(Bob Wick)
Near the Oregon border, another coalition is seeking monument status for an area known as Sattitra, which stretches across parts of the Shasta-Trinity, Klamath and Modoc National Forests. They say local tribes and many Californians rely on the region’s aquifers, which flow into the Fall River and beyond, for clean drinking water and a renowned fishery. This unique geological region is the spiritual center of the Pit River and Modoc tribes and is home to protected species such as the bald eagle and northern spotted owl.
“We depend on this region for water, food and medicine, and we need this region to remain healthy and intact,” said the McDaniels of the Pitt River Nation. Ta. “But we’re not alone. We serve as the very headwaters of California.”
Industry groups representing loggers, mills, private forest land owners, biomass energy producers and others say the designation will lead to an increased risk of wildfires.
In a joint letter to Biden opposing the designation, the presidents of the U.S. Forest Resources Council and the California Forestry Association said: It said monument status would add administrative restrictions and could complicate and impede existing efforts, including wildfire crisis strategies.
Supporters of the monument stressed that fire agencies retain the authority to extinguish fires within the monument area.
The proposed Range of Light monument, named after naturalist John Muir’s nickname for the Sierra Nevada Mountains, was supported by more than 50 state legislators in an August letter. But it has also faced pushback, including rejection from county supervisors who represent protected areas.
Supporters and opponents argue that the designation is not necessarily the safeguard some believe, given the intense ideological debate over the powers vested in the president.
“The monuments Biden has already designated or plans to designate in the next two months are at serious risk of being reduced or removed by the Trump administration,” said Brendan Cummings, director of conservation at the Center for Biological Diversity. I can say that it has been done.” They argue that the president does not have the authority to cancel monuments.
Critics of the way the Antiquities Act is administered often point out that monuments are required to be limited to “the smallest area of protection that can be properly cared for and managed.”
Barr said Biden’s efforts to set aside large tracts of land late in his term could draw pushback from federal lawmakers, including eliminating funding for the designation and enacting permanent changes to antiquities laws. said.
“Part of me thought, if he grows up, that’s fine for what we want, then [momentum] “We need to solve this problem once and for all with unified Republican control of the federal government,” said Barr, who supports repealing the Antiquities Act.
President Trump has drastically reduced the boundaries of two monuments in Utah, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase, and stripped protections from marine monuments off the coast of New England to allow commercial fishing. The Biden administration reversed this change.
Biden has designated six monuments and expanded four, including expanding the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument near Los Angeles by nearly a third earlier this year. This represents more than 1.6 million acres of public land, with more than 1.2 million acres to be added if pending tribal-led proposals are approved. Securing such vast landscapes will move federal and state officials closer to achieving their goal of protecting 30% of land and coastal oceans by 2030, advocates say.
Given Biden’s track record, some believe the president is likely to approve one or more monuments before Trump takes office. Supporters of the designation argue that withholding the designation now will provide a bulwark against potential attacks.
Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Ind.) is confident Mr. Biden will take action against Chuckwalla, who has an established campaign and widespread support. He expects the proclamation to arrive in November, which is Native American Heritage Month.
Trump could pose a threat, he acknowledged, “but once that’s confirmed, it’s going to be very difficult to reverse it.”
