This photo was published in the Town Crier on Dec. 7, 2000, when the national monument was dedicated. From left, Cahuilla Tribal Chairman Richard M. Milanovich, Assistant Interior Secretary Sylvia Baca, Rep. Mary Bono and San Bernardino National Forest Supervisor Gene Zimmerman pose beside one of the enormous rock formations during the dedication ceremony. Town Crier file photo
This photo was published in the Town Crier on Dec. 7, 2000, when the national monument was dedicated. From left, Cahuilla Tribal Chairman Richard M. Milanovich, Assistant Interior Secretary Sylvia Baca, Rep. Mary Bono and San Bernardino National Forest Supervisor Gene Zimmerman pose beside one of the enormous rock formations during the dedication ceremony. Town Crier file photo

On Oct. 24, 2000, the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument was established.

At 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 6, its 15th anniversary will be celebrated at the monument’s Visitors Center on Highway 74 in Palm Desert.

On that day in 2000, then-President Bill Clinton signed the legislation, a bipartisan effort led by former Rep. Mary Bono and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, establishing the 272,000-acre monument.

Five weeks later on Dec. 1, dignitaries, including Bono, Cahuilla Tribal Chairman Richard Milanovich and Assistant Secretary of the Interior Sylvia Baca, held a ceremony on a ridge overlooking the monument.