Biden Approves Two New National Monuments in California

President Biden officially approved two new national monuments in California, according to an Associated Press report by Zeke Miller, Jaimie Ding, and Colleen Long.

Multiple Native American tribes and conservation groups have been calling for the designation of the two monuments for their ecological, historic, and cultural importance. Chuckwalla National Monument is located just south of Joshua Tree National Park, while Sáttítla National Monument includes parts of the  Modoc, Shasta-Trinity, and Klamath National Forests in northern California and the Medicine Lake Volcano.

According to a statement from the White House, “Both national monuments only reserve federal lands, not State or private lands. The proclamations establishing the monuments will not affect valid existing rights and will allow a range of other activities, including hazardous fuels reduction in the forests of the Sáttítla Highlands and military training in both national monuments.” Chuckwalla lands are part of the Department of the Interior’s 2016 Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP), which will allow for “ the construction and expansion of electric transmission and distribution within the monument to transport clean energy to western cities.”