The Chuckwalla National Monument in Riverside and Imperial counties, along with another newly designated monument in Northern California, may lose federal protections following reports over the weekend that President Donald Trump plans to rescind the monuments established by President Joe Biden.
Just before leaving office in January, Biden declared the Chuckwalla National Monument that protected 624,270 acres of desert habitat from development.
Biden also established the 224,676-acre Sáttítla Highlands National Monument in the Cascade Mountains’ Medicine Lake Highlands in Siskiyou County.
The New York Times and Washington Post reported Trump’s intention to rescind the monuments Saturday, after the White House published a document late Friday that listed many executive orders canceling Biden administration actions, including one “terminating proclamations declaring a million acres of new national monuments that lock up vast amounts of land that lock up economic development and energy production.”
That entry was later removed, however, without clarification from the White House.
The U.S. Department of Interior and White House did not respond to requests for comment.
Coachella Valley officials and community members who advocated for the Chuckwalla National Monument vowed to fight attempts to rescind federal protections.
“I hope the Trump administration doesn’t alter Chuckwalla National Monument,” Assemblyman Greg Wallis, R-Bermuda Dunes, told City News Service. “Chuckwalla is extremely popular across the political spectrum and was advocated for by a large, bipartisan coalition. Our local communities know that safeguarding our desert is good for the economy and is smart for the well-being of generations to come.”
Palm Desert City Councilman Evan Turbee told CNS his business Big Wheel Tours, which provides off-roading excursions in Chuckwalla, is dependent on the protected wilderness area.
“Hundreds of business owners like myself advocated for Chuckwalla National Monument to be protected and removing those protections would be deeply, deeply unpopular,” Turbee said. “There is nothing partisan about it — it’s something our community really fought for.”
Janessa Goldbeck, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and CEO of Vet Voice Foundation, said, “Chuckwalla National Monument isn’t just a stretch of land — it’s a historic military training ground where American troops honed their skills in the unforgiving desert before heading into battle during WWII. It’s a place of deep significance where veterans and civilians alike find recreation, reflection, and refuge. Taking a sledgehammer to it would throw open the gates to corporate interests and the highest bidder.”
Iris Gutierrez, executive director of the High Desert Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said she is one of over 300 members of the business community who called for establishing the Chuckwalla monument.
“We should protect this economic engine, not put it on the chopping block. Any attacks on our public lands will be a setback for local businesses and threaten the local quality of life we all enjoy,” Gutierrez told CNS.
The new California monuments were established under the Antiquities Act of 1906, and it was unclear under what legal authority Trump could rescind their protections from development.
Chuckwalla monument advocates said last year that they sought to protect the homelands of the Iviatim, Nüwü, Pipa Aha Macav, Kwatsáan and Maara’yam peoples, also known as the Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Quechan, Serrano and Mohave, aka CRIT Mohave, nations.
“Since time immemorial, we have called the lands in the proposed Chuckwalla National Monument home,” said Secretary Altrena Santillanes of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians. “These lands contain thousands of cultural places and objects of vital importance to the history and identity of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians.”
Chuckwalla monument advocates said the designation advances “local priorities in the Eastern Coachella Valley, including honoring Tribal sovereignty, boosting the local economy and ensuring access to nature,” such as Mecca’s Painted Canyon trail and the Bradshaw Trail in southeastern Riverside County,” according to the advocacy organization Protect Chuckwalla. The monument’s boundaries were also drawn to avoid areas identified as suitable for renewable energy development, and the proposal garnered support from the renewable energy industry.
Advocates added that the monument would “protect important heritage values tied to the land, such as multi-use trail systems established by Indigenous peoples and sacred sites,” and allow new opportunities for members of local tribes to co-steward their ancestral homelands alongside federal officials.
