Haines, AK— On today’s 115th anniversary of the Antiquities Act, the Sierra Club called on the Biden administration to prioritize the bedrock environmental safeguard to protect cultural and historical sites, stop mass biodiversity loss, and fight the climate crisis. Chris Hill, Director of the Sierra Club’s Our Wild America campaign, released the following statement: “The Antiquities Act is one of the best safeguards to preserve places with deep cultural, historical and ecological significance.
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
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
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Press Releases
La administración Biden dio hoy varios pasos para deshacer los debilitamientos del gobierno previo de la Ley de Especies en Peligro.
Tulsa, OK— Today, as President Biden visits Tulsa to memorialize the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre, leaders called on his administration to designate the site, known as ‘Black Wall Street’ a national monument. For decades, Black people in our country have been under assault from systemic violence and an unfair political system more responsive to the voices of corporations than to community voices.
Las Vegas, NV-- Today, the Nevada Assembly passed AJR3, a resolution in support of protecting 30% of the lands and waters in Nevada by 2030 as a necessary step to protect natural systems and mitigate the climate and extinction crises. The resolution also calls for the establishment of the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument and the permanent protection of the Desert National Wildlife Refuge from the threat of military expansion.
Albuquerque, NM— Today, the Department of the Interior released an outline that lays the groundwork for the national effort to protect 30% of lands and waters in the United States by 2030 (an effort known as “30x30”).
Today, seven national and regional organizations delivered a letter to President Joe Biden requesting his intervention to halt any actions by the US Air Force that could lead to the installation of commercial and private cargo operations at the Homestead Air Reserve Base in Southern Florida at the edge of America’s most threatened national parks.
Newe legal motion responds to 14 states challenging the leasing pause
Sierra Club issued the following statements on the passing of Adam Kolton, executive director of Alaska Wilderness League.
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff today announced the addition of 16 new sites to the National Park Service’s Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program. The announcement marks the end of National Parks Week this year.
Cheyenne, WY— Farmers and ranchers, conservation, recreation, and tribal groups filed motions to intervene today to defend the Biden administration’s pause on federal oil and gas leasing pending the Department of Interior’s comprehensive review of the program.