Chuckwalla, newest National Monument, is in Riverside County

On Jan. 7, former President Joe Biden established two new national monuments in California, using his authority under the Antiquities Act. The Chuckwalla National Monument is in Riverside County just south of the Joshua Tree National Park.

The Sáttítla Highlands National Monument is in northern California near the border with Oregon.

The Chuckwalla National Monument preserves more than 624,000 acres and will be managed by the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management.

The Chuckwalla National Monument will be at the confluence of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts and finish a 600-mile corridor, the Moab to Mojave Conservation Corridor, encompassing nearly 18 million acres. It stretches from the Colorado Plateau into the California deserts.

The area includes the ancestral homelands of the Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Mojave, Quechan, and Serrano Nations, and other Indigenous peoples. It will protect sacred and natural history areas, including ancient trails, historic properties, cultural areas, religious sites, petroglyphs, geoglyphs, and pictographs. The Monument is also the territorial home to more than 50 rare plant and animal species, including the desert bighorn sheep, Agassiz’s desert tortoise, and the Chuckwalla lizard, from which the monument gets its name.

Specific well-known areas within the Monument’s boundaries are the Painted Canyon of Mecca Hills an Alligator Rock.

Congressman Raul Ruiz, Sen. Alex Padilla and former Senator Laphonza Butler had sponsored legislation to establish the monument, but it did not move forward during the last Cogress. Following Biden’s designation of the monuments, Ruiz expressed his gratitude in a press release.

“I am thrilled that President Biden has designated the Chuckwalla National Monument using the Antiquities Act,” said Ruiz (CA-25) said in his press release. “After years of negotiation and bringing several communities together, this achievement was made possible through the leadership and partnership of many organizations, tribes, and community leaders. Chuckwalla National Monument will pave the way for the future of conservation and renewable energy. I greatly appreciate Senators Padilla and Butler for their support and partnership over the last several years.”

And former Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, said in an U.S. Department of the Interior press release, “The stunning canyons and winding paths of the Chuckwalla National Monument represent a true unmatched beauty. It was my honor to visit this area to explore and meet with federal, state, Tribal and local leaders to hear about the need to protect and conserve this sacred area.

“President Biden’s action today will protect important spiritual and cultural values tied to the land and wildlife. I am so grateful that future generations will have the opportunity to experience what makes this area so unique,” she added.  

Both national monuments only reserve federal lands, neither State nor private lands. The proclamation establishing the monuments will not affect valid existing rights and will allow a range of other activities, The designation does not preclude the maintenance or upgrade of utility, pipeline and telecommunications facilities, roads or highway corridors, or water infrastructure, including wildlife water developments and water district facilities. The designation does not preclude the construction of new facilities, consistent with the proper care and management of the objects of historic or scientific interest, and with relevant provisions in the proclamation, according to the White House press release.  

In June, Interior officials held a public meeting in Indio to discuss establishing the monument and to collect community opinions.

Nevertheless, support for this action was not unanimous. In June, the City of Blythe issued a press release opposing the monument’s creation.

“The City recognizes the importance of preserving historical sites, conserving natural resources, and upholding public access to land; and, it is unable to endorse the current draft of the proposed monument,” Blythe Mayor Joseph DeConinck said in the release.

City officials were concerned about access for tourists, and particularly impacts to solar development, which have an important benefit to the local economy.

The Department of Interior’s press release stated, “The Chuckwalla National Monument is consistent with the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP), a landscape-level plan that identified areas suitable for renewable energy development . . . The monument boundaries do not include areas identified in the DRECP as most suitable for solar development.”

Biden’s legacy will include his actions to conserve more lands and waters than any President in history. He has created the largest corridor of protected lands in the lower 48 states, the Moab to Mojave Conservation Corridor. He has established 10 new national monuments and restored three more.

Initially, Biden was planning a trip to Southern California to make this announcement, but it was canceled because the strong winds, just prior to the ignition of the Palisades and other Los Angeles Basin fires.