Explainer

Our Newest National Monuments, Public Lands, and What’s at Stake

Jan 14, 2025
In this article:

President Biden has conserved more lands and waters than any other president and just took another incredible step: designating our nation’s newest national monuments, Chuckwalla National Monument in southern California and Sáttítla Highlands National Monument in northern California! These national monuments honor living landscapes that have interconnected cultural, natural, and spiritual significance. The lands continue to sustain the well-being and survival of Indigenous peoples today. The effort to protect these public lands was led by Tribes and local leaders who tirelessly advocated for national monument designations for these California landscapes rich in cultural, recreational, and ecological resources.

Sáttítla Highlands National Monument protects a unique volcanic landscape in the Medicine Lake Highlands of Northern California. This area holds significant cultural value for the Pit River Tribe, who has been fighting for decades to safeguard Sáttítla from industrial development. Sáttítla also provides critical water resources for millions of people, agriculture, and fish populations downstream. The designation of this new national monument honors the Pit River Tribe and its legacy of stewardship of the land and the diverse plant and wildlife species that depend on healthy ecosystems and watersheds to survive.

Protecting Chuckwalla National Monument, adjacent to Joshua Tree National Park, improves equitable access to nature and recreation and protects biodiversity in the face of climate change. Protections also improve habitat connectivity in this unique climate and rich biological community. Chuckwalla National Monument is also a great example of where clean energy and conservation can coexist, tackling the climate crisis while making sure we’re building resilience to climate change. It is yet another historic step in the Biden-Harris administration’s legacy of clean energy and locally-led conservation action.

Presidential Power to Designate National Monuments

President Biden has taken unprecedented action to protect some of our nation’s most unique landscapes, part of his commitment to conservation from the first day of his administration. Chuckwalla National Monument and Sáttítla Highlands National Monument are the newest of ten national monuments President Biden has designated during his term. President Biden also expanded two other existing national monuments, and restored three more, protecting a total of 15 national monuments! His protections are among more than 160 national monuments established or expanded by 18 presidents – Democrats and Republicans – since passage of the Antiquities Act in 1906. The Antiquities Act grants the president power to designate national monuments to protect federal public land that has important cultural, biological, or scientific significance.

The Antiquities Act is responsible for protecting many of our most notable and treasured public lands and waters and cultural and historic places like:

  • Bears Ears National Monument in Utah
  • Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument in Maryland
  • Dinosaur National Monument in Utah and Colorado
  • Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument across Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts
  • Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho
  • Stonewall National Monument in New York

Some iconic national parks such as the Grand Canyon in Arizona and Acadia in Maine began as national monuments, designated by presidents on federal public land before later becoming national parks due to acts of Congress.

President Biden’s Conservation Legacy

President Biden’s unprecedented conservation legacy is remarkable. Not only did he protect more land and waters than any president, he did it in just four years! While advancing the most ambitious conservation agenda in U.S. history, he has now protected 674 million acres of U.S. lands and waters. His national monument designations of Chuckwalla, Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni, and Avi Kwa Ame National Monuments add to myriad public lands that create the largest contiguous permanently protected area of the bioregion from Moab to the Mojave, resulting in an interconnected corridor of nearly 18 million acres across 600 miles from the deserts of California east to the Colorado River in Utah.

National monuments are just one type of public land designation and in just four years, he designated ten new national monuments, expanded two, restored protections for three others, and designated one national marine sanctuary, including:

The Value of Our Public Lands

America’s national parks, monuments, wildlife refuges, and other public lands are universally popular, regardless of political party. Public lands represent America’s natural heritage. They are the backbone of an outdoor recreation economy that generates more than $1 trillion in economic output every year and are an economic boon for local economies.

Especially more recently designated national monuments such as Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument have resulted from tribally led efforts to protect and preserve the stories, histories, and sacred sites of Indigenous peoples across the country, offering unique opportunities for learning, exploration, and continuation of cultural practices.

Protecting existing national monuments can provide economic certainty to communities that are dependent on outdoor recreation businesses and tourism to power their local economies. A 2020 study of communities near 14 monuments designated between 1991 and 2014 demonstrated that boosts in new businesses and jobs were associated with new monuments.

There are federal public lands across the country, including over 470 national park sites, more than 570 national wildlife refuges, 154 national forests, and over 155 national monuments, and numerous other types of public lands. These spaces offer opportunities for recreation, learning, and cultural practices, expand equitable access to nature, protect our nation’s rich biodiversity, and their protection addresses the climate and biodiversity crises by supporting resilient ecosystems.

What’s at Stake in Trump’s Second Term

President Trump’s first term was an unmitigated disaster for America’s public lands. Tribal nations and communities of color suffered disproportionate harm from Trump’s environmental policies.

Trump will take office as the state of Utah is trying to seize control of national public lands, backed by extremist lawmakers and Republican attorneys general across the country. The lawsuit, although legally baseless, poses an existential threat to America’s lands with Trump in the White House.

Trump is likely to follow Project 2025 guidance that calls for the downsizing of landscape-scale national monuments. This could result in the elimination of over almost 12 million acres of public land protections. Project 2025 also recommends a future administration work to repeal the Antiquities Act, a tool that gives presidents the power to designate national monuments and has protected dozens of iconic American landscapes from the Grand Canyon to Glacier Bay.

Keeping Up the Fight for Public Lands

President Biden’s historic conservation legacy is immense and was even more successful thanks to collaboration with communities nationwide. With the support of many of those communities and millions of people across the country, we will continue building on the incredible record of the past four years and fight to protect our public lands and oceans. From direct congressional advocacy, to working with local leaders and communities, it will take a collective effort to mitigate the harm posed by the incoming administration.

Learn more about how you can join LCV in the fight to protect people and the planet and add your voice to our online actions here!