Joe Biden will designate two new national monuments in California in his last days in office, after tribes and environment groups asked him to take urgent action.
The designation of the Chuckwalla monument in southern California and the Sáttítla monument in the far north of the state will place 840,000 acres (339,935 hectares) of land under protection, shielding it from extraction and energy development.
Biden was set to announce the new monuments in California’s eastern Coachella valley on Tuesday, but delayed the event due to dangerous weather conditions, opting to make the announcement next week at the White House so key stakeholders can attend.
Chuckwalla, which borders Joshua Tree national park, encompasses the ancestral homeland of several Indigenous peoples, including the Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Mojave, Quechan and Serrano nations, and is the habitat of desert species including the greater roadrunner, the Gila woodpecker and bighorn sheep.
“The area includes village sites, camps, quarries, food-processing sites, power places, trails, glyphs, and story and song locations, all of which are evidence of the Cahuilla peoples’ and other tribes’ close and spiritual relationship to these desert lands,” said Erica Schenk, chair of the Cahuilla Band of Indians.
The Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians have called the landscape home for thousands of years, said Joseph DL Mirelez, chair of the tribe. “We are happy to see the designation protect this area that contains thousands of cultural places and objects of vital importance.”
The designation was also celebrated by Deb Haaland, the interior secretary. “President Biden’s action today will protect important spiritual and cultural values tied to the land and wildlife. I am so grateful that future generations will have the opportunity to experience what makes this area so unique,” she said.
The Pit River Tribe, meanwhile, has led the campaign to designate Sáttítla, near the Oregon border, which encompasses a giant volcano and glistening obsidian formations.
Biden’s White House had set a goal to conserve 30% of US land and water by 2030, as part of its America the Beautiful plan.
Donald Trump, meanwhile, has threatened to open up public lands to more extraction and development and accelerate a drive to “drill, baby, drill”.
The California governor, Gavin Newsom, celebrated the new designations as “a huge boost” for the state’s efforts to protect its land and coastal waters.
Creating national monuments under the Antiquities Act of 1906 is one of the few ways that Biden can deter his successor’s agenda – though the approach is far from infallible. During his first administration, Trump took the unprecedented step of shrinking national monuments – slashing the Bears Ears monument in Utah by 85% and the Grand Staircase-Escalante monument by half. Biden later restored the monuments.
“This national monument designation cements into history our solidarity and collective vision for our peoples,” the tribal council of the Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe said in a statement. “Every trail, every living being, and every story in these places is connected to a rich history and heritage that runs in our DNA.”
The council has also been advocating for the designation of a third national monument in the state: Kw’tsán national monument at the southern tip of California.
