Amargosa Basin Proposed National Monument, California                                                                                     (Mike Painter)

 
April 1, 2024

Dear CalUWild friends & Supporters—

It’s April Fool’s Day, so here’s the Update for March.

Spring is here, and with all the rain we’ve had, it looks like it should be a good year for wildflowers, even if not a “superbloom.” So it’s a good time for a visit to some of our public lands to see what might be there to see and do.

In last month’s Update we wrote about the five active national monument campaigns in California. We included links to websites that have petitions to the White House for each of them. If you haven’t signed all of them, please check them out. The Administration is looking for showings of support for all them, and the more likely a designation will occur quickly.

This month we continue with brief looks at five other proposals around the West, again with links to websites with more detailed information and petitions to sign.

A proposal for an Amargosa Basin National Monument in the Mojave Desert, between Death Valley and the Nevada state line, is in its preliminary stages. The Friends of the Amargosa Basin will be hosting a virtual listening session Thursday, April 4, 4-5:30 p.m. on Zoom to look at the proposal in some detail and answer questions. Please register here. More information about the proposal can be found on the Friends’ website.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear two cases challenging Pres. Obama’s expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon. There was concern about the cases, because Chief Justice Roberts had previously indicated an interest in possibly looking at the scope of the president’s authority under the Antiquities Act, and this might have given the Court the opportunity to do that. But Roberts himself was among those declining to hear the cases. E&E News published a detailed article about the cases, which you can read here.

There has been an abundance of reporting on public land issues in the last few weeks, so there are many articles linked to this month, There’s no need to read them all at once!

As always, thanks for your interest in protecting wilderness and other public lands!

 
Best wishes,
Mike Painter, Coordinator

 
IN UTAH
1.   Red Rock Bill Cosponsor Update
          (ACTION ITEM)
2.    Bears Ears National Monument
          Draft Management Plan Comment Period Open

IN THE WEST
3.   Proposals for Five National Monuments
          (ACTION ITEMS)
          a.   Arizona — Great Bend of the Gila
          b.   Colorado — Dolores Canyons
          c.   Nevada — Bahsahwahbee
          d.   Nevada — East Las Vegas
          e.   Oregon — Owyhee Canyonlands

IN THE PRESS & ELSEWHERE
4.   Links to Articles and Other Items of Interest

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

IN UTAH
1.    Red Rocks Bill Cosponsor Update
          (ACTION ITEM)

There are four new California cosponsors for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, H.R.3031, which would designate more than 8 million acres of BLM-managed lands across Utah. (If you’re not familiar with the proposal, click here for a fact sheet, including a map.)

The four are:

If one of them is your representative, please call the office with thanks.

They bring the California total to 21. CalUWild’s website contains a full listing of California Senate and House cosponsorships and Washington, DC office phone numbers. There are currently 92 cosponsors in the House and 22 in the Senate. For a full list of cosponsors nationwide, click here.

 
2.    Bears Ears National Monument
          Draft Management Plan Comment Period Open

The Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service have just released the Draft Resource Management Plan for Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. We’re waiting for detailed comment suggestions from the Inter-Tribal Coalition and our other partners, which we will share with you when they become available. (The comment deadline is June 11.) In the meantime, you can read or download these relevant documents:

The BLM and USFS will be holding 2 virtual meetings where you can learn more about the plan on Tuesday, April 16, from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. MDT. (Register to attend on Zoom) and Thursday, May 2, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. MDT. (Register to attend on Zoom)

The agencies will also host five public meetings in Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. Click here for locations, dates, and times, and for more information about the planning process.

If you want to get a head start on submitting comments, you may submit them through the “Participate Now” function on the BLM National NEPA Register or mail them to:

CalUWild Advisory Board Member Stephen Trimble wrote an essay on Bears Ears for Writers on the Range: Culture Wars and an Embattled Utah Monument

 
IN THE WEST
3.   Proposals for Five National Monuments
          (ACTION ITEMS)

With no real movement in Congress on wilderness legislation (or anything else, for that matter) national monument designations are an important way of protecting areas of important historical, cultural, or scientific interest, including landscapes. The president, under the authority given to him by Congress through the Antiquities Act of 1906, may make designations on his own (though Congress can also create monuments legislatively).

So far, Pres. Biden has designated five new monuments and restored protections for three more. He has indicated that he will continue to designate monuments as time goes on. This month we are providing information (brief, because there are five) about proposals in other states, with links to detailed websites and petitions to the president to act. Please take a look at them, and sign all the petitions. (While you may get follow-up emails from the organizations, you can unsubscribe from them at any time if you like.)

 
          a.   Arizona — Great Bend of the Gila

West of Phoenix, Arizona the Gila River flows through the Sonoran Desert, an area of rich human history, including at least 13 Indigenous tribes and later Spanish and other settlers, biodiversity, and landscape. Although there are some designated Wilderness Areas, much of the river corridor and adjacent lands are not protect, though managed by the BLM. With the Phoenix metropolitan area continuing to grow rapidly, it is an important time to permanently protect the area.

As with many of the current monument proposals, the Great Bend of the Gila has a strong tribal co-management component. You can read more about the proposal here, and click here for an interactive storymap.

           Petition

 
          b.   Colorado — Dolores Canyons

The Dolores River flows through western Colorado and into the Colorado River northeast of Moab, Utah. Its canyons are among the largest unprotected areas of public lands in Colorado. Sen. Michael Bennet (D) has introduced legislation to establish a national conservation area for part of the region, but areas not included in the bill are now being proposed for protection under the Antiquities Act.

The Dolores River and the canyons around it are prime recreation areas for rafting, hiking, mountain biking, or jeep exploring. The area is also the ancestral home of several Ute tribes who still live in the vicinity, and ancient habitation sites exist, as well. The river itself is home to native fish, some of which are “species of concern,” and other important animals like desert bighorn sheep live there, too.

More information on the campaign may be found here.

The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel published an op-ed by our friend Scott Braden at the Colorado Wildlands Project: Why now a Dolores Canyons National Monument?.

          Petition

 
          c.   Nevada — Bahsahwahbee

Spring Valley is in eastern Nevada along U.S. Highway 50, west of Great Basin National Park. It is home to a rare grove of Rocky Mountain junipers, which normally grow at much higher elevations, but are able to grow here because of abundant water supplies, where they are known as swamp cedars.

The valley has been in the news in recent years because of a long-standing water grab proposed by Las Vegas, which was hoping to pump water out and pipe it south. The application was denied eventually.

Long before that, though the area was a sacred gathering place for the Shoshone and Goshute people. But it was also the site of several massacres during the 1800s. Though it hasn’t received much attention nationally, the Ely Shoshone, Duckwater Shoshone, and the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation have been calling for a national monument to be managed by the National Park Service. The coalition has a website with more information, including a film, map, and the petition. (The direct link to the petition is below.)

The Associated Press published a lengthy article, which also includes a short film, looking at the history and the proposal: Great Basin tribes want Bahsahwahbee massacre site in Nevada named national monument.

           Petition

 
          d.   Nevada — East Las Vegas

The City of East Las Vegas is proposing a national monument on its eastern edge, between it and Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Much of the area is already an Area of Critical Environmental Concern, but that does not confer permanent protection, and the community and its allies are hoping that a designation would bring increased management resources to the area. The proposal has the support of both houses of the Nevada Legislature and the Clark County Commission.

The area is geologically interesting, with one of the few places outside the Grand Canyon where the Great Unconformity is visible, at Frenchman Mountain. (Click here to read the Wikipedia article about it,) It is also the home to the endemic Las Vegas Bearpoppy, which Nevada lists as “critically endangered.” The Coalition has a website and a petition. (The direct link to the petition is below.)

The Nevada Independent just published an article with detailed descriptions of many of the important “objects of interest” the monument would protect: A national monument in east Las Vegas? Some Nevadans hope so.

           Petition

 
          e.   Oregon — Owyhee Canyonlands

The Owyhee Canyonlands of southeast Oregon are one of the largest unprotected wild areas in the U.S. Lower 48. The area covers many millions of acres and is rich in geology, Indigenous history, wildlife, botany, and recreational opportunities.

Efforts to protect the area have been going on for years, and a bill by Oregon’s senators Ron Wyden (D) and Jeff Merkley (D) (S.1890) is stalled in Congress. A broad coalition of groups is asking Pres. Biden to designate a monument, based on their legislation.

More information about the proposal, including maps, can be found here on the Protect the Owyhee Canyonlands coalition’s website. The Oregon Natural Desert Association website also has information about the entire area, as well as the proposal.

           Petition

 
IN THE PRESS & ELSEWHERE
4.   Links to Articles and Other Items of Interest

 If a link is broken or otherwise inaccessible, please send me an email, and I’ll fix it or send you a PDF copy. Gift links are temporary links from some websites, allowing non-subscribers to view articles for free for a limited time. As always, inclusion of an item in this section does not imply agreement with the viewpoint expressed.

In California

In Nevada

In General

 
 
 

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