Protecting America’s Iconic Places
How national monuments can conserve our natural heritage and 30% of our lands and waters
Across America, public lands are a foundational part of our way of life, preserving our natural and cultural heritage and ensuring that future generations can experience the places we love. From national treasures like the Grand Canyon and Yosemite Valley to local parks and playgrounds, protected public lands are for all Americans. However, many of America’s unique and awe-inspiring landscapes are not yet conserved, leaving them vulnerable and inaccessible to the public.
During his first days in office, President Biden signed an executive order establishing a bold conservation goal to protect 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030. The scientific basis of this goal is to address the climate and biodiversity crises, but the benefits of the 30x30 goal go much further — from strengthening local economies to increasing recreational opportunities. Achieving the 30x30 goal will require a broad range of protections, including Indigenous-led conservation efforts, state parks, voluntary private conservation, and urban parks. The Biden administration’s “America the Beautiful” report outlines eight principles which will guide the U.S.’s path towards 30x30, ensuring that it is an inclusive and all-encompassing goal.
One of the many ways we can reach the 30x30 goal is through creating and expanding national monuments. For more than a century, national monuments have been an important feature of the American landscape, preserving our natural and cultural heritage for current and future generations. Facing a growing crisis of looting of Native American culturally significant artifacts in the early 1900s, Congress granted presidents the power to designate national monuments to conserve important natural and cultural sites through the Antiquities Act of 1906. Since then, 17 presidents from both parties have used the landmark law to conserve these sites as national monuments.
Despite the Trump administration’s 2017 national monuments review that resulted in the shrinking of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, national monuments are widely popular across the West. 84% of Westerners support creating new national parks, national monuments, national wildlife refuges and tribal protected areas, and 77% support restoring protections to lands in the West which contain archaeological and Native American sites, even if they also have oil, gas, and mineral deposits.
National monuments are economic drivers in rural communities. A 2017 study of 17 national monuments found that, in every case, communities near these monuments experienced economic growth after a monument designation. A 2020 Resources for the Future study found that communities adjacent to national monuments see 10% more business establishments and 8.5% more jobs in the years following designation.
National monuments demonstrate how we can turn the 30x30 principles into action, combining local conservation efforts with the resources necessary to manage and protect them. National monuments offer important opportunities to accomplish tribal-led conservation and execute tribal co-management of sacred lands. The Biden administration has the opportunity to use the Antiquities Act to conserve America’s iconic places for wildlife, local economies, access to the outdoors, and preservation of our cultural heritage for future generations. The administration should build on grassroots conservation proposals and act boldly to protect them.
Here are five special places in the American West that could be America’s next national monument:
Owyhee Canyonlands
Oregon’s deserts stretch across millions of acres of the eastern half of the state, representing some of the most wild and biodiverse areas in the country. In the coming decade, scientists say it may become one of the only places to view the night sky and the Milky Way in the lower 48 without light pollution. However, less than 1% of this region is protected.
A grassroots effort has pushed to protect the region, gaining wide support across the county and the state. Legislation to protect this region as wilderness and a Wild and Scenic River was proposed in 2019 by Oregon senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, who plan to reintroduce the bill this session. In 2019, Wyden held stakeholder meetings across the state to find common ground for a bill that would promote the long-term health of the landscape while providing for economic development and the continued traditional uses of public lands. 79% of Oregon voters support legislation to protect the Owyhee Canyonlands, including strong majorities across the political spectrum.
Sportsmen and women are particularly supportive of protecting the Owyhee. A group of local and national hunting and fishing organizations came together to form the “Owyhee Sportsmen” coalition, and have been advocating to protect the area. 63% of hunters, 64% of anglers, and 68% of gun owners are in support of protecting Oregon’s Owyhee Canyonlands. The Owyhee region offers a wide range of outdoor recreation, including rafting, hunting and fishing, camping, and hiking.
Avi Kwa Ame
Local tribes and conservation groups are lobbying to establish a national monument in southern Nevada that would preserve Indigenous cultural sites and critical environmental habitat.
In 1999, Spirit Mountain, the namesake peak central to the area, was recognized as a Traditional Cultural Property on the National Register of Historic Places. While the designation recognizes the area’s significance, it does not offer protection. As a result, the region is threatened by development, particularly renewable energy and urban sprawl from Las Vegas. A proposal for a 30,000-acre wind farm at the heart of Avi Kwa Ame was successfully avoided, however, a new industrial development proposal was recently proposed, threatening the landscape.
In May, 2021, Nevada became the first state in the nation to pass a 30x30 resolution, and it also calls for the establishment of the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument.
In addition to the cultural significance of the land, the region supports dynamic ecosystems and wildlife. The proposed monument would connect several other protected areas, allowing wildlife to move freely across the landscape. The designation would connect the Mojave National Preserve, Castle Mountains and Mojave Trails national monuments, Dead Mountains Wilderness Area, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, and the Colorado Plateau. The effort is tribally-led, aligning with one of the core principles for 30x30 put forward in the Biden administration’s report.
Castner Range
A proposal to protect thousands of acres of West Texas is gaining steam. While the effort started during the Obama administration, legislation has been re-introduced this session “to conserve and protect the ecological, cultural, historical, and natural integrity of the land.”
Castner Range was formerly used by Fort Bliss as a weapons training range including field and air-defense artillery through the mid-1960s. As a result, this area is closed to the public despite being public land. Protecting this region would result in the cleanup of hazardous materials and unexploded ordnance left over from this era. Opening up the region to visitation and recreation would be a win for access to public lands.
The Castner Range has a rich history and is full of archaeological resources. Earliest evidence of human occupation in the region dates back to 8,000 BC, and shifting occupation over many centuries has left vast archaeological and historical resources. It is also home to a diverse set of plants and animals, such as the sand prickly pear and the western burrowing owl. 27 endangered species inhabit the area, including the ferruginous hawk, the Texas horned lizard, the Franklin Mountains talus snail and the desert night-blooming cereus.
Greater Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is one of America’s most iconic national parks, drawing millions of visitors from around the world each year. However, just beyond the park boundaries, mining, energy development, and logging are threatening the region’s natural beauty and cultural significance.
Uranium mining poses perhaps the largest threat to the region. Mining activities and their long-term effects significantly impact the lands and waters in the area. Representative Raul Grijalva introduced the Grand Canyon Protection Act in February, refreshing an effort he started in 2019. The bill would withdraw one million acres surrounding the Grand Canyon from mining claims, permanently protecting the health of the watershed and ecosystem.
If Congress fails to act, the Biden administration could look to the Antiquities Act to conserve the landscape. An economic analysis from 2015 found that a national monument here could provide $51 million in economic benefits each year.
Like Grand Canyon National Park, the surrounding area provides ample opportunities to hike, bike, ride horses, camp, ski, hunt, fish, or otherwise experience the scenic beauty of the area.
Great Bend of the Gila
For centuries, Arizona’s Sonoran Desert has been a crossroads drawing people from across the Southwest. A previously proposed 84,000-acre national monument in this region would protect Native American sacred sites, petroglyphs, and rock art, conserving a part of this culturally significant and awe-inspiring landscape. Evidence of human occupation dates back to 3,000 BC. Sears Point, within the boundaries of the proposed monument, is considered one of the most significant rock art sites in the Southwest. The area is sacred to many Arizona tribes today.
So far, there have been three legislative attempts to designate this area as a national monument, with the most recent bill introduced by Representative Raul Grijalva in 2018. While previous legislative attempts have not been successful, there is a renewed push to protect this region for its cultural significance and recreational opportunities.
Conclusion
Across the country, there are numerous opportunities to listen to local voices and protect iconic landscapes. While these landscapes each have grassroots support for protection, Congress has passed up on the opportunity to advance conservation efforts, even though public lands bills have been a rare point of bipartisan consensus in the House and the Senate in recent years. In order to prevent destruction of valuable cultural and natural resources and preserve these areas for future generations to enjoy, the Biden administration should move quickly to protect them by designating them as national monuments.
National monuments are just one way we can reach the 30x30 goal to save nature. In line with the principles outlined in the “America the Beautiful” plan, the Biden administration should prioritize designating national monuments from community- and tribal-led proposals, so we can protect land for the benefit of all Americans.
Get Involved: The 30x30 goal is a grassroots effort, built on the priorities of local communities and principles of science-based decision making and environmental justice. Everyone can contribute to the 30x30 effort by learning what conservation efforts are happening in your community!
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