US establishes two new national monuments with breathtaking characteristics: 'We're protecting 840,000 acres'
These two sites, comprising more than 840,000 acres, are a valuable addition to California's 30x30 initiative — a push to conserve 30% of the state's land and coastal waters by 2030. As of this addition, the state sits at 25.8%, with 26.1 million acres preserved for future generations.
Neither designation would have happened without the tireless efforts of the Indigenous tribes in the area. The governor's office praised "decades of work by local community leaders, business owners, and environmental organizations," and Gov. Gavin Newsom highlighted these facts in his statement.
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"California is now home to two new national monuments that honor the tribes that have stewarded these lands since time immemorial," said Newsom. "Thanks to President Biden and the leadership of California tribes and local communities, we're protecting 840,000 acres of some of our state's most culturally significant lands."
The Chuckwalla National Monument, found in the desert area of eastern Riverside County beside Joshua Tree National Park, holds sites of sacred significance to the Iviatim, Nüwü, Pipa Aha Macav, Kwatsáan, and Maara'yam peoples. The area will now be safe from environmental destruction from human development while being more accessible to the public.
The Sáttítla National Monument is located in Northern California, comprising the Medicine Lake Highlands, a culturally significant site for the Pit River Tribe. It's also a critical area for Fall River Springs, which the governor's office describes as "the state's largest spring system and one of the most extensive aquifer networks in the Western United States." That makes it vital for everyone who relies on those aquifers for water.
Not only that, but the establishment of national monuments is great for business and tourism in the surrounding area, which leads to job creation and an economic boost. It also benefits public services like safety, fire, recreation, and libraries, thanks to the added tax revenue from visitors.
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This much larger portion includes the Sacramento River and its tributaries as well as the Calaveras, Cosumnes, and Mokelumne Rivers and the San Francisco Bay-Delta. Newsom has long pushed for a deal with water-users over mandates. 'Our first task is to cross the finish line on real agreements to save the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta,' he said in his first State of the State address. 'We must get this done — for the resilience of our mighty rivers, the stability of our agriculture sector, and the millions who depend on this water every day.' State officials say that they expect this approach will engender more cooperation and avoid lawsuits that could delay action. 'Sometimes people say, 'Well, isn't it just politics and not science that's driving this?'' Wade Crowfoot, California Secretary of Natural Resources, which supports the agreements, told CalMatters in April 2024 before a series of workshops about the agreements. 'And I say, 'Well, ultimately, in California water, the decisions are often validated through legal challenge.'' The voluntary agreements are the culmination of years of negotiations with powerful urban and agricultural suppliers such as the Westlands Water District and the agencies that make up the State Water Contractors. Though called 'voluntary,' water board executive director Eric Oppenheimer says they would still be legally enforceable. The proposal meters out an average of up to 700,000 acre-feet of water in certain years, according to state officials — enough to supply up to 2.5 million households for a year. The amount varies, though depending on how wet or dry the year. Water users have not committed to leaving any additional water in several rivers including the Sacramento, Yuba, and Feather in critically dry years. It also calls for restoration of around 45,000 acres of spawning, rearing and floodplain habitats, backed by about $1.5 billion in state funding, $600 million from the water providers, and $740 million expected from federal funds, according to Jennifer Pierre, general manager for the State Water Contractors. By also promoting habitat restoration under the voluntary agreements, 'we think we can achieve significant ecosystem improvements, and we think it can be done with a lower water supply impact,' said Eric Oppenheimer, executive director of the State Water Resources Control Board. But, he said, at the end of eight years, if the 'board made a determination that the voluntary agreement pathway wasn't achieving sufficient benefits, it could then start a process to shift over to the regulatory pathway.' The regulatory pathway, by contrast, calls for maintaining flows of 35% to 55% of the amount of water that the rivers would have carried were they not dammed or diverted — an amount called unimpaired flow. For some, rain-fed tributaries that provide municipal supplies, there would be no flow requirement at all in the driest conditions. Water suppliers say such mandates would strike a major blow to their ability to provide water for cities and farms, and touted the habitat projects supported by the voluntary agreements. 'We're talking … about significant reductions in delivery to the San Joaquin Valley during dry years,' Pierre said. 'I would never argue that fish don't need water. They of course do. But in that water are things like refuge and food and adequate temperatures that are really being promoted.' Like a fish needs water Opponents, however, say there is far too little water provided in the voluntary agreements, and that the updated flow requirements are also far weaker than previous proposals. State officials did not provide a comparison between the two pathways. Oppenheimer said that the comparison is not 'apples to apples' because of the inclusion of habitat restoration efforts under the voluntary agreements. 'I know everybody wants to know how the two compare when you compare flow. But you know, from my perspective, it's not a valid comparison,' he said. 'There is no translation between habitat and water.' That, environmentalists say, is the problem. Fish habitat, they say, needs to be wet. 'For fish, flow is the habitat. There is no evidence that restoring floodplains or tidal marshes, in the absence of adequate flow, produces any benefit,' Rosenfield said. Conservationists and fishing organizations also fear that the voluntary agreements would pave the way for more water to be diverted from the Delta by future water projects such as Sites Reservoir and the deeply controversial Delta tunnel. A state analysis, published in 2023, reported that without additional protections, 'existing flows may be reduced in the future, particularly with climate change and additional water development.' Opponents have also warned that thousands of acres of the habitat restoration promised under the voluntary agreements are already in the works, which they say reduces how much the deal would benefit fish species. (Pierre counters that this is a plus of the agreements, and reflects early action during negotiations.) And critics say that the voluntary agreements require money and cooperation from a federal government that has slashed environmental programs and called for 'Putting People over Fish' in a memorandum issued on President Trump's first day in office. 'This is a sad day for the State Water Board and one more on a long list of bad days for salmon,' Scott Artis, executive director, Golden State Salmon Association, said in a statement. 'Commercial fishing in California has been closed for three years because of unsustainable water diversions. This looks like a plan to kill California's most important wild salmon runs and fishing jobs.' ___ This story was originally published by CalMatters and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.