Biden to Establish Two National Monuments in California Protecting Tribal Lands

The Chuckwalla and Sáttítla monuments will preserve sacred Indigenous sites, spanning over 800,000 acres of desert and forest.

President Biden is set to designate the 644,000-acre Chuckwalla National Monument in Southern California and the 200,000-acre Sáttítla National Monument in Northern California.
The Chuckwalla site, southeast of Joshua Tree National Park, includes sacred lands of the Cahuilla Indians and is home to diverse wildlife such as bighorn sheep and desert tortoises.
Sáttítla, located near Mount Shasta, is considered the ancestral homeland of the Pit River Tribe and plays a critical role in California’s water supply through its volcanic aquifers.
The designations aim to protect these areas from industrial development, including solar farms, mining, and geothermal energy projects, which have drawn criticism from renewable energy advocates.
Once signed, Biden will have protected more public land than any president in a single term since Carter, using the Antiquities Act to safeguard cultural, ecological, and recreational resources.