Avi Kwa Ame, Sacred Land in Nevada, to Be Preserved as a National Monument

President Joe Biden is expected to create a large National Monument in Nevada, reports Maxine Joslow for the Washington Post. [Update: the news is now press release official.]

“Biden will sign a proclamation putting hundreds of thousands of acres around Spirit Mountain — known as Avi Kwa Ame (ah-VEE-kwah-may) in Mojave — off limits to development under the 1906 Antiquities Act,” writes Joslow.

For those keeping track at home, President Biden hasn’t made news for creating, or taking away, national monuments at the same clip as his predecessors.

“The move would rank as Biden’s most consequential act of land conservation so far, and it would fulfill a promise the president made to tribal leaders more than 100 days ago,” according to the article.

President Biden has made news for promising to protect 30 percent of the land in the United States—an initiative known as 30 by 30.

A November 2022 article by Debra Utacia Krol for the Arizona Republic provides more detail about Avi Kwa Ame:

Avi Kwa Ame, also known as Spirit Mountain, spans nearly 450,000 acres in the southern part of Clark County, Nevada, and includes the eponymous peak and sensitive desert and mountain lands. The undisturbed lands, which include the Christmas Tree Scenic Drive, Grapevine Canyon and the Newberry Mountains, are prized by hikers, outdoor enthusiasts and environmentalists. The area is known for the rich biodiversity of wildlife and plants that call the rugged peaks and deep rocky valleys home.

But Avi Kwa Ame and the lands surrounding it are particularly significant to tribes in the lower Great Basin, the Colorado River Valley and most of Arizona. The Yuman-speaking tribes consider the peak their birthplace. Avi Kwa Ame was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a traditional cultural property in 1999 to help protect its petroglyphs, cultural landscapes and medicinal plants.

The Washington Post article below might be behind a paywall for some readers.