The Chuckwalla National Monument will be announced by President Joe Biden today in Coachella Valley.
The establishment of the new National Monument adjacent to Joshua Tree National Park was rumored to be in the works, but finally confirmed by the White House in an announcement made this morning (January 7). The rumors were bolstered by the President’s scheduled appearance in the area, which was announced over the weekend.
The White House announced that the Chuckwalla National Monument will protect and preserve more than 624,000 acres of lands in southern California, and that the monument will be managed by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management.
The new monument will protect the ancestral homelands and cultural landscapes of the Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Mojave, Quechan, and Serrano Nations, and other Indigenous peoples, as well as a critical habitat for imperiled and rare species, including the endangered Desert Tortoise.
The establishment of the monument has been advocated for by Native American Tribal authorities and state and congressional representatives over the last year.
President Biden will make the official announcement at an event in the Coachella Valley later today. Stay tuned to Z1077 for full coverage.
