Biden Designates New Southern California National Monument and Expand Joshua Tree
In a move to safeguard culturally significant tribal lands and protect endangered desert landscapes, President Joe Biden today will designate two new national monuments in California—one in Southern California near Joshua Tree National Park and another in Northern California near the Oregon border.
Chuckwalla National Monument, named after the hearty chuckwalla lizards that inhabit the Mojave, Sonoran, and Colorado deserts, will protect more than 600,000 acres of desert habitat southeast of Joshua Tree, including the Chuckwalla Mountains Wilderness, Orocopia Mountains Wilderness, and Mecca Hills Wilderness, popular outdoor adventure destinations.
The president may expand Joshua Tree National Park as well, but that has yet to be confirmed.
The area, which is located in Riverside and Imperial Counties, is home to bighorn sheep, desert tortoises, golden eagles, and greater roadrunners—and includes canyons, washes, and rock formations of deep cultural and spiritual importance to the region’s Native American tribes.
“If someone went and bulldozed the Vatican, that would be the equivalent of desecrating this desert for us,” said Donald Medart, a council member of the Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe, which has long sought increased protections for this stretch of desert, told the Washington Post.
The wilderness provides opportunities for camping, hiking, peak bagging, and wildlife observation, making it a prime spot for solitude-seekers and desert explorers. The monument will include Painted Canyon Trail and Ladder Canyon, popular hikes in the area.
While much of the area currently is off-limits to off-road vehicle travel, there are a couple of designated trails. Red Cloud Road, which is difficult off-roading brings you to an abandoned mine and the mellower Corns Springs Road brings you to the Corns Springs Campground. The Bradshaw Trail, a popular overland route, runs along the southern side of the mountains.
As with many protected-area designations, the creation of Chuckwalla National Monument will ban mining, drilling, and solar-energy farms on these federal lands—sparking concern among some local leaders. But advocates for the monument say those concerns are overblown.
“The monument does not overlap with any of the development areas for solar; it fits right around them like a puzzle piece,” said Stephanie Dashiell, an environmental consultant working with a coalition backing the Chuckwalla designation, told the Washington Post.
Alongside Chuckwalla, Biden will also create Sáttítla National Monument, protecting about 200,000 acres near the Oregon border. The site—often called the Medicine Lake Highlands—is sacred to the Pit River Tribe, whose members have led efforts to shield the area from geothermal development. They consider it central to their spiritual practices and creation narratives.
While geothermal energy is considered a low-emissions alternative to coal or gas, the tribe says the cultural significance of this region should exempt it from industrial activity.
Biden’s use of the Antiquities Act of 1906 to set aside Chuckwalla and Sáttítla continues a pattern of preserving major swaths of public land—a hallmark of his environmental agenda. By signing these proclamations, Biden will have protected more public lands in a single term than any president except Jimmy Carter. He designated six monuments and expanded four, including enlarging the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument.
This move also recalls similar conservation actions by President Barack Obama, who designated national monuments in Southern California—such as Sand to Snow and Mojave Trails—that expanded protected desert landscapes east of Los Angeles.
