Loader

Wednesday January 8, 2025

KCRA

President Joe Biden is signing a proclamation to establish two new national monuments in California, in part to honor two tribes, a person familiar with the decision said Monday.

The proclamation will create the Chuckwalla National Monument in Southern California near Joshua Tree National Park and the Sáttítla National Monument in Northern California, said the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the plans that were to be announced Tuesday in California.

The declaration bars drilling and mining and other development on the 600,000-acre (2,400-square-kilometer) area in Southern California and roughly 200,000 acres (800 square kilometers) in Northern California.

The establishment of new monuments were first reported in The Washington Post. Biden, who has two weeks left in office, is in New Orleans on Monday meeting with the families of the victims in the New Year’s attack in the French Quarter and was heading to California later Monday.

The flurry of activity has been in line with the Democratic president’s “America the Beautiful” initiative launched in 2021, aimed at honoring tribal heritage, meeting federal goals to conserve 30% of public lands and waters by 2030 and addressing climate change.

Read more >

Link copied successfully