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As California celebrated President Joe Biden's expansion of two national monuments on Thursday, leaders across the state were already looking ahead to the national goal of protecting 30 percent of America's lands and waters by the end of the decade.
The expansions at Berryessa Snow Mountain and San Gabriel Mountains national monuments protected an additional 120,000 acres of public land from development, enhancing public access to recreation and honoring Tribal requests.
Wade Crowfoot, California's secretary of natural resources, connected Thursday's announcement to proposals that would establish new national monuments in the state.
"These monument expansions, combined with the establishment of new proposed monuments in California currently under consideration, are win-win actions that benefit California's people and nature alike. They will help us conserve 30 percent of California's lands by 2030, protect sacred cultural sites, and enshrine access to our public lands," Crowfoot said.
At least three other locally-led national monument campaigns are underway in California, according to KQED. They include the proposed Chuckwalla National Monument near Joshua Tree; Kw’tsán National Monument, a 390,000 acre proposal led by the Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe; and Sáttítla, also known as Medicine Lake Highlands, in northeastern California.
If President Biden designates all three monuments this year, it will add more than one million acres of public land toward the 30x30 goal.
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On a clear day, the highest points of Molok Luyuk offer a commanding view of the surrounding rugged and undeveloped landscape, encompassing Mount Shasta to the north, Mount Tamalpais to the southwest, and Sutter Buttes to the east. This viewshed, and particularly the view of the sun rising over Sutter Buttes, is central to the Patwin origin story and connected the Patwin communities that once lived in the hills of Molok Luyuk and beyond with the River Patwin communities that populated Bear Valley, which lies just to the east, before they were displaced by trappers, ranchers, and miners.”
