President Biden’s opportunity to protect the sacred California landscape of Molok Luyuk
Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument is a 330,780-acre landscape rich with ecological diversity and recreational opportunities located just north of Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay area. Since President Barack Obama’s designation of the monument in 2015, Cedar Roughs Wilderness and neighboring Snow Mountain have benefited from federal protections under the stewardship of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the United States Forest Service. However, 13,753 acres of public lands that lie to the east of the existing monument remain in need of greater protection.
In March, Yocha Dehe Wintun (pronounced YO-cha DEE-hee WIN-ton) Nation Tribal Chairman Anthony Roberts wrote an op-ed in the Lake County Record-Bee requesting that President Joe Biden expand Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument to include the 13,753 acres of ridgeline known to the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation as Molok Luyuk (pronounced Ma-lok Lou-yoke).
The area is commonly known as Walker Ridge, but local and state leaders have joined the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation to call on the Biden administration to officially rename the area as Molok Luyuk. Molok Luyuk means “condor ridge” in the Patwin language, an homage to the birds that once flew there. “Our hope is also to see the return to an Indigenous name for these lands,” Chairman Roberts wrote in the op-ed. “Condors once flew over the ridge and our hope is that, if we are successful in protecting this area, ongoing habitat restoration efforts could allow the condor to return.” In addition to providing a habitat suitable for California condors, Molok Luyuk is a vital wildlife corridor and domain for other culturally important bird species like bald eagles, golden eagles, and peregrine falcons.
The ridge includes areas where the Yocha Dehe practice religious ceremonies, and sites that tell the history of Indigenous presence on the land for millennia. “Routes that criss-cross the ridge were first carved out by Indigenous peoples who gathered, traded, and traveled through the region at a time when wooly mammoths still roamed the earth. These vital cross-cultural linkages connected Pomo people from across Northern California and built a rich network of cultural pollination and exchange,” wrote Roberts.
The Biden administration has committed to honoring Tribal sovereignty and supporting the priorities of Tribal Nations, as outlined in the America the Beautiful report, the administration’s roadmap for conserving 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030 (the 30x30 goal). Honoring the request of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation to expand Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument to include Molok Luyuk is an immediate opportunity for President Biden to make progress toward the 30x30 goal and to demonstrate his administration’s commitment to supporting Tribally-led conservation initiatives.
Ecological significance and natural history
Molok Luyuk boasts one of the most diverse plant populations in the state of California, harboring wildflower-rich meadows, oak and McNab cypress trees, and serpentinite outcrops — unique gray-green rocks formed by crustal movement that, when weathered, create a metal-rich soil that only select resilient plant species can tolerate. The rugged landscape also provides a climate-resilient home for wildlife in the area, including tule elk, mountain lions, and black bears, and is home to imperiled animals including bald and golden eagles and peregrine falcons.
The landscape carries the marks of earthquakes that have occurred over millennia, and the soil contains sediment that has surfaced from epoch-spanning heat and pressure. “This is one of the best places in the world to see the significance of plate tectonics, and it’s in our backyard,” said Bob Schneider in an interview with the Center for Western Priorities. Schneider is a geologist and co-founder of Tuleyome (pronounced too-lee-OME-ee), a California-based conservation group that was a catalyst in driving local advocacy efforts leading up to the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument designation. “Of the entire monument, Molok Luyuk has the most interesting and complex geology in the region. It has these sandstone and shale beds, Franciscan formation, and serpentinite sheets. Because of that, you have this whole host of special plants that increase all your biological diversity,” added Schneider.
Without added protections for Molok Luyuk, the area’s robust native ecology faces ongoing threats of development. A 2018 proposal that sought to develop an industrial scale wind energy project on the land was ultimately denied by the BLM in February 2022. Though this was a victory for Molok Luyuk, permanent federal protections are vital to ensure the ecological integrity of the area is prioritized.
“This area has been of great interest to native plant enthusiasts, scientists who study plants, and just your ordinary plant lover for decades,” said Conservation Program Director Nick Jensen with the California Native Plant Society in a conversation with the Center for Western Priorities. “As you snake your way up Molok Luyuk, you encounter gentle slopes, steep slopes, and unique low-lying areas that collect moisture, which means that there are lots of different types of habitats that occur on the ridge.”
Jensen also highlighted the abundance of implications that expanding Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument would have beyond native plant protection. “This is a recreational opportunity, it’s something that is good for local economies, something that is good for our Native American partners, and something that can heal some of the wounds from the past and restore this place so that it’s good for the plants and animals that call Molok Luyuk home. It’s a win-win-win-win-win opportunity for us.”
Legislative efforts
Efforts to expand Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument to incorporate protections for Molok Luyuk are supported by a locally-led coalition as well as several California legislators. In March 2023, Senators Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein, with support from U.S. Representatives John Garamendi and Mike Thompson, reintroduced the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument Expansion Act, which calls for the expansion of the monument to include Molok Luyuk, and requests that the name Walker Ridge be changed to Molok Luyuk. The delegation had previously called for the expansion and name change during the previous Congress in both the House and the Senate, but legislative inaction barred the legislation from moving forward.
“California has some of the most beautiful natural landscapes in the world — and it is our duty to preserve these pristine outdoor spaces and rare natural habitats to combat the climate crisis and benefit future generations,” said Senator Alex Padilla. “I am proud to be introducing this legislation to not only expand the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, but to usher in a new era of cooperative stewardship between our federal land management agencies and local Tribes.”
The delegation has also asked President Biden to use executive action to permanently protect Molok Luyuk. In October 2022, Representatives Garamendi and Thompson, alongside Senators Padilla and Feinstein, wrote a letter to the president and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland calling on President Biden to use his power under the Antiquities Act to expand the monument. The letter received endorsements from locally-led conservation organizations, and importantly, from the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation.
Tribal stewardship
The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation has consistently highlighted the necessity of shared stewardship as part of future efforts to protect the sacred region of Molok Luyuk from ongoing threats. “Stewardship of Indigenous lands has been a priority for tribes for millennia,” wrote Tribal Chairman Anthony Roberts. “We strongly support re-establishing access for the Patwin people and using traditional ecological practices on the land.”
In addition, the Tribe is eager to work alongside the BLM in order to manage recreation and other uses of the area effectively, as shared stewardship could help mitigate critical habitat destruction from unauthorized off-highway vehicle (OHV) activity and fire hazards posed by unauthorized camping. Other activities like biking, horseback riding, and hiking would be strengthened through shared stewardship; according to Roberts, incorporating Molok Luyuk into the existing monument would improve public access and bring additional resources for trail construction and maintenance.
Why protection for Molok Luyuk matters
The opportunity for the Biden administration to protect Molok Luyuk extends beyond preserving ecological, scientific, and cultural value — national monuments also generate economic revenue for local communities.
In 2014, the City of Winters released a study measuring the potential economic impact of designating Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, and the results were exceptionally positive. “Having a monument nearby is extremely beneficial for the economics of these areas,” said Tuleyome Executive Director Sandra Schubert in an interview with the Center for Western Priorities. “A lot of Lake County relies on recreation to raise funds — having a great place that’s easily accessible can bring more people to the area, and that’s great for the local economy.”
Unfortunately, a lack of sufficient federal resources has made the unprotected area of Molok Luyuk difficult to manage effectively, making the monument expansion increasingly urgent. Illegal OHV usage has been particularly harmful to the landscape as it has degraded and destroyed habitats for plants and animals. “While we support legal OHV recreation, Illegal OHV usage is a threat to cultural resources and a threat to the unique geology and natural resources of the area,” said Schubert. “There are suitable places for OHVs, but you don’t want them tearing up the entire landscape.” Schubert described some of the other threats that also pose ongoing dangers to the area. “In addition to illegal OHV use, we’re getting fires like we never have before,” she added. “We have this wonderful opportunity for co-management with the Tribes, and through this co-management, we’re hoping that we can learn to manage fire better and manage habitat to manage fire better.”
Molok Luyuk presents a possibility for the Biden administration to honor the Tribal sovereignty of the Patwin people, conserve historic geology, protect vital wildlife habitat, and make progress toward protecting 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030. “It’s an opportunity to protect a really special place that’s unique in the world, and it’s an opportunity to educate people about earth sciences,” said Schneider. Sandra Schubert also emphasized the multi-faceted opportunity presented by the effort to protect Molok Luyuk. “This is one of those amazing places that we can protect, and this is something we can give a lot of people access to. You don’t have to be a rock climber to get to the top to see the amazing view.”
With just under two years left of his first term, President Biden must act urgently to honor the wishes of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation and local supporters to permanently protect the sacred and rare landscape of Molok Luyuk for future generations of wildlife and people. As Nick Jensen with the California Native Plant Society pointed out, protecting Molok Luyuk is a great opportunity to bring the administration one step closer to reaching the 30x30 goal. “This is how we’re going to get to 30 by 30,” Jensen said. “It’s a thousand acres here, a thousand acres there. And this is an easy one.”
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