President Joe Biden on Thursday announced the designation of two national monuments in California, following calls from tribal nations and indigenous community leaders for permanent protection of approximately 120,000 acres of important cultural and environmental lands. Expanded.
These designations are part of the Democratic president’s “America the Beautiful” initiative launched in 2021 in line with Biden’s campaign promise and are based on the Great American Outdoors Act. The White House said in a news release that it aims to honor tribal traditions, meet the federal goal of conserving 30% of public lands and waters by 2030, and address climate change. Ta.
Against the backdrop of Biden’s re-election campaign, the White House emphasized Vice President Kamala Harris’ role in ensuring protection for her home state. California also has conservation goals.
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“These expansions will increase access to nature, foster an outdoor economy, and support tribal nations and indigenous peoples as we continue to protect public lands for all Americans and generations to come,” Harris said in a written statement. “It will respect the areas that are important to us.”
Some Republicans and critics of the president’s plan say it unnecessarily ties up resources vital to agriculture and other uses. In some cases, they claim he exceeded his legal authority. The president’s past actions include restoring monuments and protected lands, which former Republican President Donald Trump halted.
Biden spoke in Pasadena, Southern California, in response to a call from indigenous groups, including the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians and the Gabrieleno San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians, to visit the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. Expanded the park. They are the original custodians of a culturally rich and diverse land, advocates said in a separate news release.
Lake Berryessa with part of California’s newest national monument in the background near Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, California, July 10, 2015. President Biden expanded two culturally significant landscapes in California, the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument in Southern California and the Berryessa Snow Mountains National Monument in Northern California. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
The president also expanded Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument in Sacramento, Northern California, to include Molok Luyuk, or Condor Ridge. The newly renamed ridge has been important to tribal nations such as the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation for thousands of years. Defenders say it is a center for religious ceremonies and was once an important trade route.
The expansion of both sites will make nature more accessible to Californians while protecting many species, including black bears, mountain lions and moose, according to a White House release.
Californians are asking the Biden administration to designate a total of five monuments this year. The other three are the designation of a new Chuckwala National Monument, a new Kwetsan National Monument, and a call to protect and name Sattitra, known as the Medicine Lake Highlands, as a national monument.
According to the Department of the Interior, the expansion and designation efforts are based on the Antiquities Act of 1906, which provides the president with “general legal protection for cultural and natural resources of historical or scientific interest on Federal lands.” “Provide” the authority.
A coalition of tribes and conservation groups across the country has urged Biden to make a number of other designations over the past three years. Following Thursday’s report, the administration established or expanded seven national monuments, restored protections to three more and took other actions, according to the White House.
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Last August, Biden signed the designation of a national monument called Barge Nwabujo Ita Kukuveni outside of Grand Canyon National Park, but the move is currently being objected to by two top Republicans in the Arizona state legislature. ing.
In 2021, Biden restored two large national monuments in Utah and a marine sanctuary in New England whose environmental protections were cut by President Trump. The move was also challenged in court.
The sacred Native American Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in southern Nevada was designated in 2023, along with the Kastner Mountains in El Paso, Texas.
