5 de julio de 2022
En una victoria para la protección y conservación de la vida silvestre, una corte federal de distrito restauró hoy una amplia variedad de protecciones de la Ley de Especies en Peligro a cientos de especies y su hábitats.
National Monuments
National Monuments
Protecting existing monuments, expanding these cherished spaces, and fighting for new monuments is an important piece of Sierra Club's conservation work.
Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument
What is a national monument?
National monuments are lands and waters designated for permanent protection by the federal government. They include areas of important natural, cultural, and historic resources, from geological wonders to sacred Indigenous landscapes to sites that have shaped the history of the United States.
Unlike national parks, which only Congress can designate, national monuments can either be established by the President under the authority of the 1906 Antiquities Act or by an act of Congress.
The United States has over 130 national monuments that are managed by federal agencies. While most are managed by the National Park Service, some are managed by other agencies like the US Forest Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management.
Canyon of the Ancients National Monument
Why are monuments important?
National monuments are protected lands, waters, or historic sites that safeguard our natural, cultural, scientific, and historic resources and legacies. They are an important tool for protecting public lands and waters for generations to come.
National monuments are also part of our response to the climate crisis. Conserving 30 percent of US lands and waters by 2030 will protect the air we breathe, water we drink, and provide a powerful climate solution. Preserving wildlands will protect vital habitats for imperiled species and save more places to connect with nature. Safeguarding places of cultural and historical significance will help honor the stories, sites, and landscapes that make us who we are.
33
states with national monuments
18
presidents have designated monuments
National monuments protect geologic, marine, archaeological, and cultural sites
Protecting wild places will keep drilling and logging from polluting our air and water, and suck existing climate pollution out of the air. Creating national monuments is one of the best ways to protect public lands and preserve homes for wildlife and opportunities for people to enjoy the outdoors together.
What We Are Doing
Paria Rimrocks, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah
The Sierra Club has been pivotal in the conservation and expansion of national monuments for more than a century, reflecting a broader commitment to preserving natural landscapes, combating climate change, and ensuring everyone’s history and connections to US lands are honored and celebrated.
Right now, Donald Trump, the billionaires who bought access to him, and their allies in Congress are waging an all-out assault on our parks and public lands, firing thousands of federal workers who steward these landscapes, shredding conservation protections for fragile ecosystems and places, and seeking to overturn more than a century's worth of conservation history. Their goal is to give public lands to corporate polluters and billionaires to mine, drill, log, and pollute as they please — activities that effectively block access to public lands for everyday people.
We must use every tool at our disposal, from the courts to pressuring our leaders to collective action, to stop this polluter giveaway. Every victory we've won to protect the places we hold dear has been thanks to the grassroots support of advocates like you who have written a letter, called your legislators, attended an event, posted on social media, talked to friends and family, donated, and so much more.
What You Can Do
Congress: Urge the Trump Admin to Protect Existing National Monuments
Tell Congress to urge the Trump Administration to not attack national monument designations. Send your message today!
10% complete
Send My Message
Press Releases
29 de junio de 2022
Varios grupos climáticos y de conservación presentaron anoche una demanda contra la reanudación por parte de la administración Biden de los arrendamientos de explotación de petróleo y gas en terrenos públicos, los primeros desde que el Presidente suspendió dichos arrendamientos al poco de asumir su mandato.
June 29, 2022
Climate and conservation groups filed a lawsuit today challenging the Biden administration’s resumption of oil and gas leasing on public lands, the first auction since the president paused leasing shortly after taking office.
June 28, 2022
The House Appropriations Committee today is taking up the FY2023 Interior spending bill. The bill would provide robust funding increases for endangered, threatened, and imperiled species conservation and outdoor access and equity work.
June 28, 2022
The Bureau of Land Management will be issuing oil and gas leases on more than 200 square miles of public lands in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota and Oklahoma starting on June 29, 2022.
June 23, 2022
Today, the US Forest Service issued a draft of an environmental assessment, recommending a 20-year mineral withdrawal from Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. This process will also initiate a 30-day comment period, after which a final environmental assessment will be delivered to the Bureau of Land Management, and then to the desk of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland for a decision.
22 de junio de 2022
La administración Biden anunció el primer acuerdo de su tipo por el cual el gobierno federal y naciones tribales gestionarán conjuntamente el Monumento Nacional de Bears Ears.
June 21, 2022
The Biden Administration announced a first-of-its kind agreement with Tribal Nations to co-manage Bears Ears National Monument. The Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, and the Pueblo of Zuni signed a cooperative agreement to strengthen the management and protection of the 1.36 million acre site. Established in 2016 by President Barack Obama, Bears Ears was one of the first national monuments established upon the request of Tribal Nations. In October 2021, President Joe…
May 18, 2022
Today, Sierra Club will deliver thousands of protests to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) calling for an end to fossil fuel leasing on public lands. This follows the decision by the BLM to resume onshore lease sales in eight states: Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota and Oklahoma.
12 de mayo de 2022
El Departamento del Interior de la administración Biden anunció anoche que no va a celebrar tres ventas programadas de arrendamientos de perforaciones costeras en el Golfo de México y las costas de Alaska.