PRESS RELEASE: On the World Stage, California Tribal Leaders Call on President Biden to Designate National Monuments in the Face of Unprecedented Threats to Biodiversity
Cali, Colombia — Today, Tribal leaders from throughout California called on President Biden to designate three new national monuments in the state in order to protect sacred Tribal lands and cultural landscapes and imperiled biodiversity. Tribal members issued their call to action from Cali, Colombia, where they are participating in the 16th United Nations Conference on Biological Diversity (COP16). The three proposed national monuments include Sáttítla National Monument, Chuckwalla National Monument, and Kw’tsán National Monument.
“For too long, the world has treated Indigenous voices like a footnote in the climate debate, ignoring our deep connections and knowledge of our homelands,” said Brandy McDaniels, Lead, Sáttítla National Monument Campaign, Pit River Nation, and participant at COP16. “But at COP16, we’re making it clear—our fight to protect our Ancestral homelands since time immemorial is a global fight. Whether it's California or Colombia, we’re all facing the same biodiversity and climate crises while continuing to defend our sacred homelands from being industrialized, exploited, and disregarded. COP is an opportunity to exchange knowledge and learn from others about how we can work together to address these challenges in a timely and impactful way. We hope the Biden administration, and leaders worldwide, leave this gathering with a renewed sense of urgency and a commitment to turn these vital conversations into action, including protecting places like Sáttítla as a national monument.”
National monuments are designated to permanently protect federal lands and waters in the United States with cultural, historical, ecological, and scientific values. Designating the three proposed monuments would protect thousands of plant and animal species in the state with the highest risks of extinction in the United States. Thanks to a 1906 law called the Antiquities Act, the president can establish new national monuments with a Presidential Proclamation. Tribes are advocating for these designations as a way to permanently protect places of great cultural significance and biodiversity. They are also calling for the opportunity to co-steward their homelands in partnership with federal agencies.
“Indigenous people have waited long enough for our demands about protecting biodiversity to be taken seriously by state and federal governments,” said Lena Ortega, Kw'tsán Cultural Committee Member, Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe and participant at COP16. “For us it’s about more than protecting the environment. Our culture, spirituality, and identity are connected to the ecosystems our people have inhabited for thousands of years. If a species goes extinct, if a mountain is destroyed by mining, if a river runs dry due to over-extraction - that is the same thing to us as losing a relative or having someone close to us harmed. We lose a part of ourselves and our history. We are here at COP16 to ensure our voices are being heard as we call for a national monument for our homelands - Kw'tsán National Monument - and to help amplify the voices of global Indigenous communities who are in the same fight as us to preserve our culture for future generations. We are here to stand up for the many nonhuman beings that cannot speak for themselves, and who teach us every day how to live in balance with the natural world.”
California’s national monument opportunities will be prominently highlighted at COP16, with Tribal leaders from California participating in discussions with Indigenous leaders from other countries and highlighting the critical role of Indigenous leadership in biodiversity conservation and sustainable stewardship practices. Scientists worldwide agree that by 2030, we must protect at least 30% of the planet’s lands and coastal waters to curb extinction rates and prevent the most severe impacts of climate change (referred to as the 30x30 goal). These proposed national monument designations would contribute significantly to the 30x30 goal set forth by both the Biden administration and the state of California. The focus of COP16 is the implementation of the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), which in 2022 established 23 targets to protect nature, including the global goal to protect at least 30% of the Earth’s lands and coastal waters by 2030.
Each monument designation would conserve habitat for threatened and endangered wildlife and plants that are found nowhere else in the world. The proposed Chuckwalla National Monument, for example, is home to more than 50 species that are threatened, endangered, sensitive, or otherwise of concern. The area also contains several endemic species, found nowhere else in the world. The preservation of this landscape is critical for the survival of native species in the face of climate change-related habitat loss, warming temperatures, and increased drought.
“The Desert is a rich tapestry of our heritage; it’s a living, breathing testament to our people’s resilience, our history, and our spiritual connection with nature,” said Chairman Thomas Tortez Jr. of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, who added his perspective from California. “Our footprints have been etched into the landscape since the beginning of time and we continue to provide stewardship over these lands and advocate for their protection. This profound bond is why we urge President Biden to establish the Chuckwalla National Monument.”
As President Biden approaches the end of his term, these designations present an opportunity to cement his significant conservation legacy and deliver on key priorities for his administration and tribal nations in California. To date, President Biden has designated five new national monuments and expanded two, protecting over 1.6 million acres of public lands using the Antiquities Act. With additional designations, President Biden can secure an immense achievement: protecting more public lands using the Antiquities Act of any recent president in their first four years in office.
Below are additional descriptions of each proposed monument.
The proposed Chuckwalla National Monument includes approximately 627,000 acres of public lands in Riverside and Imperial Counties. It is located south of Joshua Tree National Park and reaches from the Coachella Valley region in the west to near the Colorado River in the East. This effort also proposes protecting approximately 17,000 acres of public lands in the Eagle Mountains adjacent to Joshua Tree National Park. Six Tribes have called on President Biden to protect this cultural landscape: the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, the Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe, the Cahuilla Band of Indians, the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, the Colorado River Indian Tribes, and the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians.
The proposed Sáttítla National Monument includes over 200,000 acres of culturally significant, ecologically rich, and geologically unique land within the Shasta-Trinity, Klamath, and Modoc National Forests in northeastern California. Since time immemorial, the Pit River Nation has regarded Sáttítla as sacred, and this area remains a spiritual center for the Pit River and Modoc Nations as well as for surrounding Tribal Peoples. This sacred land remains integral to the cultural identity and spiritual practices of these peoples today. The Pit River Tribe initiated the call for this national monument and has been working for generations to protect this landscape from the threat of industrial development.
The Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe has called on President Biden to designate the proposed Kw’tsán National Monument to protect more than 390,000 acres of the Tribe’s homelands in Imperial County. The proposed monument is part of a greater cultural landscape that connects to the Chuckwalla National Monument and the previously designated Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada. National monument status for Kw’tsán would provide protections for cultural and sacred sites and prevent new mining claims and large industrial development within its boundaries.
###