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Interior Secretary Deb Haaland toured Texas's Castner Range on Saturday, raising hopes that President Biden could soon protect the area as a national monument. Haaland hiked in the area and met with local advocates who are requesting the monument designation.
The 7,000 acre area is visible from El Paso, but currently off-limits to hikers because of unexploded ordnance remaining from years of use as a weapons training and testing site for nearby Fort Bliss. Rep. Veronica Escobar, who introduced a bill last year that would create a national monument, accompanied Secretary Haaland on her visit.
"The view was amazing," Haaland said after hiking nearby Knapp Canyon. "We were so grateful to have a tour guide who pointed out so much of the cultural history and the geologic history of this area."
Local conservation groups, including the Castner Range Coalition, Frontera Land Alliance, and Nuestra Tierra, have asked President Biden to use his authority under the Antiquities Act to designate a national monument. Last fall, the Center for Western Priorities visited monument advocates in our Road to 30 Postcard from Castner Range. Learn more about how Castner Range fits in to regional efforts to protect nature in our new storymap.
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The Department of Interior truly wants to make sure that everyone has access to the outdoors, regardless of their ZIP code. We know that nature offers some of the most cost-effective ways to address the climate crisis. We also need to do more to stop the loss of nature and wildlife that we're witnessing.”
