Tribes applaud as Biden announces two new national monuments in California
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The White House announced two new national monuments in California Tuesday, one just east of Palm Springs and the other near Shasta Lake.
A signing ceremony will take place next week, as the unveiling event was postponed due to high winds.
Representative Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., whose district includes parts of the new 624,000 acre Chuckwalla National Monument, said the lands will now be protected from mining, drilling and development.
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"This is one of these unique examples where you have both the conservation and tribal leaders, as well as the renewable energy and utility companies all endorsing this enormous monument," Ruiz explained.
The area south of Joshua Tree National Park is crucial habitat for the Chuckwalla lizard, bighorn sheep and the endangered desert tortoise.
Senator Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said although President-elect Trump rescinded protections for some monument lands during his first administration, he hopes the two new monuments will endure.
"If the President-elect talks to the parties who really span the spectrum of interests, he will learn how this was a really well-thought-out effort to conserve this land but also make it possible to generate energy," Schiff asserted. "It's a win-win."
Thomas Tortez, former chairman of the Torres Martinez Tribe, noted his ancestral lands will now gain protections.
"The next step is to strategically develop a co-stewardship plan, put all those resources together and then, start to protect the land," Tortez added.
The White House also intends to designate the new Satittla Highlands National Monument, which covers 224,000 acres near Shasta Lake in northern California and contains the headwaters for California's entire watershed.
Brandy McDaniels, a member of the Pit River Tribe, said they have been fighting development in the area for decades.
"As social, economically suppressed communities, having to fight against people with deep pockets and have all the money in the world to come in and destroy our lands," McDaniels observed. "That's what we've been fighting to protect for a very long time."
