President Biden designated two new national monuments in California this month and one each in Maine and Pennsylvania in December.
The new Chuckwalla National Monument covers more than 624,000 acres south of Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California, and the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument spans more than 224,000 acres of mountain woodlands and meadows in the far northern reaches of the state near Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The creation of these two California monuments will preserve the lands from future mining or drilling, something Native American tribes and conservation groups have long been pushing for.
“These national monument designations honor the history and cultural connections that Native peoples have always had to these places,” Judith LeBlanc, executive director of Native Organizers Alliance and NOA Action Fund, said in a statement. LeBlanc noted that a national monument designation gives sacred landscapes greater protections.
In early December, Biden also established two smaller sites as national monuments—the home of Frances Perkins, the first woman cabinet secretary, and the Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School, a former boarding school for Native American children who were taught how to assimilate to a more “American” lifestyle.
The colorful Orocopia Mountains are now part of the new Chuckwalla National Monument just outside of Joshua Tree National Park.
Photo by the Desert Photo/Shutterstock
Chuckwalla National Monument, California
The Chuckwalla National Monument is part of a larger corridor of preserved land known as the Moab to Mojave Conservation Corridor, encompassing nearly 18 million acres across California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah. The newly anointed swath of coverage includes sacred sites important to five groups of Indigenous people—the Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Mojave, Quechan, and Serrano nations—and features ancient dwellings and petroglyphs. It also protects historic mining shafts and the Bradshaw Trail, which miners used during the Gold Rush, as well as habitats for bighorn sheep, Agassiz’s desert tortoise, Gila woodpeckers, and the chuckwalla lizard, for which it was named.
Tips for how to visit the vast region safely and responsibly can be found at ProtectChuckwalla.org. Travelers can use nearby Joshua Tree as their home base while hiking Chuckwalla’s Painted Canyon trail in Mecca Hills or while exploring the rugged Orocopia Mountains.
Lava flows are a defining feature of the area in and around Sáttítla Highlands National Monument.
Photo by Bob Wick
Sáttítla Highlands National Monument, California
The Sáttítla Highlands National Monument includes the ancestral homelands of the Pit River Tribe and Modoc Nation and encompasses the Medicine Lake Volcano, which once played a part in creating the dramatic lava tubes, striking obsidian formations, and craters of the area before going dormant.
“For generations, my people have fought to protect Sáttítla, and today we celebrate the voices of our Ancestors being heard,” said Yatch Bamford, chairman of the Pit River Nation, in a statement. “Sáttítla Highlands National Monument is a victory not just for Tribal Nations but for every American who understands the value of clean water, healthy lands, and preserving the true history of these United States of America.”
In addition to incredible stargazing, Sáttítla Highlands offers ample hiking through forested scenery during warmer months and snowmobiling along the mountainous terrain during the winter. The closest hotels are in the Mount Shasta area, about a 90-minute drive west of Sáttítla, but there is also camping within the national monument.
The interior of the Frances Perkins Home will reopen in summer 2025.
Photo by Kari Herer, courtesy of the Frances Perkins Center
Frances Perkins National Monument, Maine
In early December, Biden also established the former home of Frances Perkins, the first woman cabinet secretary and a key architect of the New Deal, which helped millions of Americans get back to work after the Great Depression. She was Secretary of Labor for 12 years, the longest to ever serve in that position. Designated as the Frances Perkins National Monument, it spans 57 acres in Newcastle, Maine, about one hour north of Portland along the coast.
The Frances Perkins house is currently closed to the public for restoration until summer 2025. Until then, visitors are free to roam the 57-acre property, which also has a barn, gardens, and woods, plus access to the Damariscotta River. Those staying in nearby Portland, Maine, can check into the boutique hotel Blind Tiger, housed within two historic homes in Portland’s West End neighborhood.
A vintage image of the entry gate at what is now the Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument.
Courtesy of Dickinson College
Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument, Pennsylvania
Also designated last month was the Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School, which was once considered the flagship federal boarding school for Native American children. From 1879 to 1918, students there were forced to abandon all ties to their culture and language and assimilate to an American lifestyle. The Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument covers 24.5 acres in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, about 35 miles west of Hershey.
The new national monument is situated within the U.S. Army’s Carlisle Barracks, and there are no visitor services at the moment. But the “National Park Service will collaborate with affiliated Tribal Nations, U.S. Army, local communities, and other partners to develop visitor opportunities,” according to a notification on the national monument site, which advises that there should be an update on visitation options in spring 2025.
Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument includes remnants of the school gates, gym, former dorms, and playing fields, among other historically significant sites.
Preserving, nature, history, and culture for future generations
All told, Biden created 10 new national monuments and expanded 2 others during his term, tying him for eighth place, with William Taft, for the most monuments designated by a president. These and other preservation efforts were part of the Biden Administration’s goal of conserving at least 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030 through the America the Beautiful initiative.
Under the Antiquities Act, presidents have the authority to designate national monuments unilaterally (whereas bona fide national parks require an act of Congress) in order to recognize the area’s cultural or historical importance. With less than a week left of Biden’s presidency, myriad other groups are still lobbying to see other areas become park units. Proposals include the Maah Daah Hey National Monument, which would designate 130,000 acres in the ancestral lands of the Mandan Hidatsa and Arikara Nation in North Dakota, and the Black Wall Street National Monument, which would serve as a remembrance site of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in Oklahoma.
