On Sept. 25, Tribal and community leaders, local residents and elected officials joined Rep. Raul Ruiz to call on President Joe Biden to designate Chuckwalla National Monument in the California Desert, as well as to protect lands adjacent to Joshua Tree National Park.

© Bob Wick

The proposed Chuckwalla National Monument offers many benefits, especially for residents of the eastern Coachella Valley and other local communities. Locals in this region suffer from extreme heat, air and water pollution and limited access to nature, and by permanently protecting the nearby public lands (such as the proposed national monument), it allows future generations to enjoy these places. The proposal also would improve recreation access and how the lands are managed.

Lands called for protection in the proposal include the homelands of the Iviatim, Nüwü, Pipa Aha Macav, Kwatsáan and Maara’yam peoples (Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Mojave, Quechan and Serrano nations). Throughout this living landscape in need of holistic and enduring protections lies many tribal heritage values and cultural resources. The proposed national monument and national park expansion is also supported by the Fort Yuma Quechan Tribe, Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians and the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians.

© Bob Wick

If approved, the Chuckwalla National Monument would span about 660,000 acres and would be the largest protected area of the Colorado Desert bioregion, a unique climate and biological community in the California Desert. The land stretches from the south of Joshua Tree National Park to the reaches of Coachella Valley region to near the Colorado River in the east. The proposal also calls to protect about 17,000 acres of public lands adjacent to the east side of Joshua Tree National Park to help ensure connectivity for desert bighorn sheep, burro deer and other wildlife impacted by climate change.