Biden designates two new national monuments after advocacy from tribes
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Chuckwalla and Sáttítla monuments in California will be safeguarded against extraction and energy development. Joe Biden will designate two new national monuments in California in his last days in office, after tribes and environment groups asked him to take urgent action.
Biden will travel to California’s Coachella Valley on Tuesday to sign proclamations creating the Chuckwalla monument in southern California and the Sáttítla monument in the far north of the state, which will be safeguarded against extraction and energy development.
The announcement came after fierce advocacy from tribes and environmentalists. Chuckwalla, which borders Joshua Tree national park, encompasses the ancestral homeland of several Indigenous peoples, including the Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Mojave, Quechan and Serrano nations, and is the habitat of desert species including the greater roadrunner, the Gila woodpecker and bighorn sheep.
“The area includes village sites, camps, quarries, food processing sites, power places, trails, glyphs, and story and song locations, all of which are evidence of the Cahuilla peoples’ and other tribes’ close and spiritual relationship to these desert lands,” said Erica Schenk, chair of the Cahuilla Band of Indians.
The Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians have called the landscape home for thousands of years, said Joseph DL Mirelez, chair of the tribe. “We are happy to see the designation protect this area that contains thousands of cultural places and objects of vital importance.”.
