LA TIMES EDITORIAL: BIDEN EXPANDED TWO NATIONAL MONUMENTS IN CALIFORNIA. Three more to go
Read the full editorial here in the LA Times.
Published May 3, 2024
President Biden’s move Thursday to expand two national monuments in California is unquestionably good news for our climate and environment.
One proclamation will increase the size of San Gabriel Mountains National Monument by nearly one third, adding more than 105,000 acres of mountains and foothills above communities from Sylmar to Monrovia that were left out when President Obama first designated the area in 2014. The other will add 13,696 acres to Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument in Northern California to protect Molok Luyuk, or Condor Ridge.
But Biden shouldn’t stop there. His administration should build on these conservation efforts and extend monument status to three other ecologically rich California landscapes with deep significance to Indigenous tribes.
The most significant proposal would create Chuckwalla National Monument on more than 600,000 acres of federal land near Joshua Tree National Park stretching from the Coachella Valley to the Colorado River. Another would establish the 200,000-acre Sáttítla Medicine Lake Highlands National Monument near Mt. Shasta. The third would designate Kw’tsán National Monument on 390,000 acres in Imperial County along the border with Mexico and Arizona.
Protecting those lands would put California closer to its goal of conserving at least 30% of land and coastal waters by 2030. With Thursday’s proclamations adding 120,000 acres, California now has about 24.5% of its land conserved under its "30x30" initiative, according to the state. But there’s still 5 million more acres to go. And it’s hard to see a realistic path to achieving that without increasing protections on large swaths of federal land.
Read the rest of the editorial here in the LA Times.