Members from Protect California Deserts (PDC) met last night to give an overview of the proposed Chuckwalla National Monument located south of Joshua Tree National Park, which also served a primer for a Bureau of Land Management-led community meeting happening this Friday in Indio.
The possible monument would be over 627,000 acres of newly-protected land alongside an expansion of Joshua Tree National Park – that’s only if President Biden issues a proclamation or a bill makes its way through the legislative branch.
The Coalition is made up of local organizations like the Native American Land Conservancy, National Parks Conservations Association, the Morongo Basin Conservation Association, CALWILD and the Mojave Desert Land Trust who also hosted the gathering.
READ: Native American Land Conservancy tends to recently acquired Morongo Valley ancestral land
The info session went over the land that would be protected which includes critical desert tortoise habitat and areas expanding on the National Park’s eastern borders near the Eagle Creek Mine. The Coalition hopes that boosters of the project take their support down the hill to the Riverside County Fairgrounds where the Department of the Interior will be holding the possibly only public-meeting on the nascent public lands.
Anyone coming down to the meeting will have 2 minutes to publicly show their support – or opposition – to the project. Some of those opposed include local miners with claims in the area and offroad enthusiasts concerned with areas being closed off if national monument protections are granted.
Supporters are hoping that declaration will come using the Antiquities Act of 1906 – which skirts the lengthy legislative process by using a Presidential Proclamation to declare the land a National Monument.
Ultimately, the greatest opposition the Chuckwalla National Monument may face is time – Former President Trump used the antiquities act once during his presidency, whereas President Biden has used it 8 times so far. President Biden also reversed a 2017 executive order by then President Trump which shrunk Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument by 85% and Grand Staircase-Escalante by 50% – the largest removal of National Monument protections ever ordered by a President.
The meeting is set for Friday, June 14 from 10:00am – 12:00pm at the Riverside County Fairgrounds in the Taj Mahal building, 82-503 CA-111, Indio, California 92201.
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