Could 2024 be a Monumental Year?
Could 2024 be a Monumental Year?
Celebrating existing monuments, expanding these cherished spaces, and fighting for new monuments is an important piece of Sierra Club's conservation work.
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 be established by the President under the authority of the 1906 Antiquities Act, or by an act of Congress.
Why are monuments important?
Creating new national monuments and expanding existing monuments is one of the strongest actions any presidential administration can take to protect public lands for generations to come. Not only do national monuments protect our natural, cultural, scientific, and historic resources and legacies – they are important parts of our response to the climate crisis. Conserving 30 percent of U.S. 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.
Right now, Sierra Club's local and national staff and volunteers are working to support local and Tribal-led monumental proposals that President Biden should act on in 2024. Join us in asking the President to designate new national monuments this year!
Recent Monumental Victories
Already in 2024, President Biden has designated a new monument in Springfield, Illinois and expanded two monuments, the Berryessa Snow Mountain and San Gabriel Mountains National Monuments in California, protecting nearly 120,000 acres of ecologically and culturally significant landscapes, critical water sources, and places integral for access to nature.
Photo by Bob Wick | Condor Ridge-Molok Luyuk-Sunset Over Serpentine
Molok Luyuk, “Condor Ridge'' in the Patwin language, is a rare and rugged landscape that is sacred to the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation and was not fully included in the original 2015 Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument designation. Expanding the monument to protect Molok Luyuk will honor Indigenous connections to the land, preserve biodiversity, and allow for continued wildlife migration in the midst of a changing climate.
Photo by Kerri Pang | A Latino Heritage Month outing event calling on the Harris-Biden Administration to expand the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument
Expanding the existing San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, part of the Angeles National Forest, helps ensure and increase equitable access to nature in the Los Angeles region, preserves drinking water for millions of people, supports climate resilience in the region, protects wildlife habitat, and safeguards cherished lands for generations to come.
These designations are the most recent in sometimes years-long efforts to create and expand national monuments. Thanks to years of work by Tribes, activists, and Sierra Club members and supporters across the country, the administration designated five new national monuments in 2022 and 2023. Those designations included Camp Hale-Continental Divide in Colorado, Avi Kwa Ame in Nevada, Castner Range in Texas, Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni—Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and sites honoring Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley in Illinois and Mississippi.
Monuments We're Currently Working On
Bahsahwahbee in Eastern Nevada
Photo Courtesy of Monte Sanford | Bahsahwahbee Swamp Cedars, Nevada
The Newe people came to Bahsahwahbee for a sacred religious pilgrimage for centuries before the creation of the United States. By safeguarding this land in the Nevada high desert, the administration can protect the site of this pilgrimage, memorialize the massacres of Indigenous people that happened on these lands in the 19th century, and honor the connections Tribes have to the landscape to this day.
Take action to support designating Bahsahwahbee in eastern Nevada as a national monument.
The site of Black Wall Street in Oklahoma
Photo provided by the Library of Congress | Smoke over Tulsa during the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
This designation of this site will commemorate the destruction of Black Wall Street during the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, when a white mob attacked Black residents, killing many, and burning hundreds of homes and businesses in the prosperous Black neighborhood of Greenwood, OK. This underrecognized story in American history deserves a place in our history books and among our national monuments.
Take action to support designating the site of Black Wall Street in Oklahoma as a national monument.
Chuckwalla National Monument and Expanding Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California
Photo by Kyle Sullivan, Bureau of Land Management | Image of a toddler and woman standing in desert land with scatted yellow and purple flowers.
The proposed Chuckwalla National Monument and Joshua Tree National Park expansion encompass more than 620,000 acres of public lands in the California Desert. Local desert communities are already being squeezed by the climate crisis, air pollution, and overdevelopment, with more expected challenges to come. Safeguarding Chuckwalla and expanding Joshua Tree will ensure more access to nature for residents of the Coachella Valley and surrounding communities, preserve cultural and historic resources, and protect fragile ecosystems home to imperiled wildlife species.
Dolores Canyons in Western Colorado
Photo Courtesy of Joe Fotos | Dolores Canyon, Colorado, USA
Over millions of years, the Dolores River has carved one of America's most stunning canyon systems. Designating the Dolores Canyons National Monument in Mesa and Montrose Counties would help balance protecting nature and sustaining vibrant local economies, while preserving access to these extraordinary lands for present and future generations.
Take action to support designating Dolores Canyons in western Colorado as a national monument.
Great Bend of the Gila in Southern Arizona
Photo by Dawn Kish, courtesy of TWS | Woolsey Peak next to the Gila River, Arizona, USA
The Great Bend of the Gila is a fragile desert ecosystem in the Sonoran Desert that needs protection from destructive roads, development, and harm to cultural resources. Conserving this unique area will preserve invaluable Indigenous cultural areas and protect recreation opportunities for nearby communities.
Kw'tsán in Southern California
Photo by Bob Wick, courtesy of Protect Kw'tsán | Kw’tsan Cultural Landscape in California, USA
Designating the Kw'tsán National Monument will honor the traditional homelands of the Quechan People by protecting sacred sites, places, and landscapes. These sacred lands are currently increasingly threatened by mining, extraction, unregulated recreational use, resource development, and the climate crisis.
Take action to support designating Kw'tsán in southern California as a national monument.
Mimbres Peaks in Southern New Mexico
Photo Credit Mason Cummings, courtesy of TWS | Mimbres Peaks, New Mexico, USA
The Chihuahuan Desert lands in southern New Mexico are among the most biologically diverse in the Western Hemisphere and are home to rare and endangered wildlife and plant species. By permanently protecting Mimbres Peaks, the treasures of this landscape -- from historic petroglyphs to important Persian Ibex habitat -- would be protected for generations to come, preserving its natural heritage and supporting long-term economic stability for Southern New Mexico.
Take action to support designating Mimbres Peaks in southern New Mexico as a national monument.
Owyhee Canyonlands in Oregon
Photo by John Aylward | People kayaking in Owyhee Canyon
The Owyhee Canyonlands stretch from southeast Oregon to southwest Idaho and make up one of the most remote and intact landscapes in the Western U.S. Designating this landscape as a national monument would help preserve the region's cultural heritage, clean water, and wildlife habitats from harmful and extractive drilling and mining.
Take action to support designating Owyhee Canyonlands in Oregon as a national monument.
Sáttítla in Northern California
Photo by Bob Wick, courtesy of Protect Sáttítla | Medicine Lake Highlands, California, USA
Sáttítla is located in the national forests of northeast California. Designating this land as a national monument will support the Pit River Tribe's defense of sacred and traditional cultural lands and protect valuable water resources for millions of residents and wildlife.
Take action to support designating Sáttítla in northern California as a national monument.
What's next?
Together, we're working to safeguard our lands, waters, wildlife, and forests from direct threats like drilling and mining to the far-reaching devastation from climate change-driven droughts, fires, and other disasters. Every victory we've won to protect the places we hold dear for generations to come has been thanks to the grassroots support of you and every other advocate who has written a letter, called your legislators, attended an event, posted on social media, talked to friends and family, donated and so much more.
It's time to permanently protect more of our nation's treasured landscapes and sites of historical and cultural significance, which tell the diverse stories of our history.