Amid a severe windstorm that contributed to multiple devastating wildfires in Southern California, President Joe Biden canceled a Jan. 7 appearance in Riverside County where he planned to announce the establishment of two new national monuments and will reschedule it for next week.
The creation of the two new monuments are part of the administration’s far-reaching goal of conserving no less than 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030 under the America the Beautiful initiative, a 10-year plan to restore and conserve America’s lands, waters, and wildlife.
The new monuments are meant to ensure clean water, honor the cultural heritage of tribal nations and indigenous people, as well as increase access to nature. The White House said 674 million acres of U.S. lands and waters have been protected under Biden since he assumed office.
Establishment of the Chuckwalla National Monument south of Joshua Tree National Park, would also make drilling, mining, and other industrial-related activity illegal in the area.
Chuckwalla National Monument
The establishment of the Chuckwalla National Monument means Biden has created “the largest corridor of protected lands in the continental United States, covering nearly 18 million acres stretching approximately 600 miles,” according to the White House.
The Chuckwalla National Monument, set just south of the Joshua Tree National Park, preserves more than 624,000 acres of land in Southern California.
It is home to 50 rare species of plants and animals, including the desert bighorn sheep, Agassiz’s desert tortoise, and the Chuckwalla lizard. It is also the ancestral homelands of the Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Mojave, Quechan, and Serrano Nations, and other indigenous peoples.
The new monument includes sacred sites, ancient trails, historic properties, cultural areas, religious sites, petroglyphs, geoglyphs, and pictographs. It also creates an opportunity to secure clean energy interests, the White House said.
Sáttítla Highlands National Monument
The Sáttítla Highlands National Monument is located in Northern California’s mountainous interior. It comprises more than 224,000 acres, including parts of the Modoc, Shasta-Trinity, and Klamath National Forests.The Sáttítla Highlands include the ancestral homelands of the Pit River Tribe and Modoc Peoples. Other tribes and indigenous peoples in the region include the Karuk, Klamath, Shasta, Siletz, Wintu, and Yana.
The Medicine Lake Volcano is located within the monument, a dormant volcano about 50 miles northeast of Mt. Shasta. The area’s geology and other features are key aspects of the spiritual beliefs and cultural practices of its indigenous peoples, said the White House.
Opposition
There is some opposition to Biden’s designation of so much land.Ron Kliewer, president of Public Lands for the People, said that the country locks up rare earth elements and other critical minerals that could be put to use in electronics instead of relying on foreign sources. He also said it pushes people into other parts of the desert.
“Locking up so much desert puts additional pressure on what’s left,” Kliewer said in a statement to The Epoch Times. “More people using less acreage. So not so far down the road, they’ll want to close the small area that’s left because of possible overuse by many more people.”
He also took issue with the manner in which the executive branch has established these types of monuments. Biden designated the Chuckwalla National Monument under the Antiquities Act of 1906, establishing legal protection of cultural and natural resources on federal lands which hold historic or scientific significance.
“The Antiquities Act was never intended for hundreds of thousands of acres at a time,” Kliewer said. “The Antiquities Act was designed specifically to protect small historical locations.”
President Theodore Roosevelt was the first to use the Antiquities Act in 1906. Eighteen presidents across party lines have used the Act, including recent Presidents Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton.
