The Biden administration is being asked to expand the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument by roughly 109,000 acres. (Los Angeles Times illustration; photo by Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
December 6, 2023 - On a recent press call I tuned into, tribal voices from across the Golden State urged the Biden administration to protect hundreds of thousands of acres of ancestral land, including mountains near Los Angeles, desert abutting Joshua Tree National Park and volcanic highlands in Northern California. And they stressed that they want to be active partners in the stewardship of the land.
The call was strategically timed, just ahead of a Dec. 6-7 tribal summit in Washington, D.C., where the proposals had an opportunity to make gains.
The San Gabriel Mountains National Monument was designated by President Obama in 2014. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
One of the pending requests before the White House is to expand the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument by roughly 109,000 acres. Rudy Ortega Jr., president of the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, said the 2014 designation of the monument by former President Obama erred by not tapping tribal knowledge.
“And that’s the key part of this one that we’re asking for … the inclusion of tribes,” Ortega said at the news conference. Tribes, he said, can provide insight into the culturally and environmentally significant resources in the area — which can then be sufficiently protected. Ortega’s tribe, which is currently seeking federal recognition, has three villages within the monument that currently spans more than 346,000 acres.
“We don’t want folks that don’t know or understand these areas of importance to the tribe — that are much like temples and churches — that they go into and desecrate [them],” he said.
Thomas Tortez Jr., chairman of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, a tribe based near the Salton Sea in Riverside and Imperial counties, similarly envisions partnering with federal agencies for the proposed C huckwalla National Monument and Joshua Tree National Park expansion that would span about 660,000 acres in the California desert.
A map outlining the proposed Chuckwalla National Monument in relationship to Joshua Tree National Park. (Protect Chuckwalla National Monument)
“A land management plan which incorporates Indigenous knowledge and Western science together creates a more holistic and inclusive approach to protecting the cultural landscape,” Tortez said on the press call.
Tortez said it’s not just something to consider going forward. There are more than 100 national monuments affiliated with tribes that have not integrated Indigenous management, he said, adding, “We can go back and fix that.”
Taylor Patterson, executive director of Indigenous Voices of Nevada, a nonprofit that hosted the news conference, described the Antiquities Act as a “critical tool in our journey towards sovereignty and conservation.” The 1906 law allows presidents to create national monuments on federal land to protect “objects of historic and scientific interest” through a proclamation.
The Biden administration has designated five national monuments using the Antiquities Act, with the most recent conserving nearly 1 million acres around the Grand Canyon encompassing thousands of significant Indigenous sites. Patterson and others hope it will be the vehicle for more.
For some proponents, the law’s ability to sidestep Congress is key, reports my colleague Louis Sahagun.
California Rep. Judy Chu and Sen. Alex Padilla asked Biden in a June letter to act unilaterally to expand the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. “Sadly, the problem comes down to the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, which is trying to shrink environmental protections,” Padilla said in Sahagun’s story.
Some pushing for protections see the two-day White House Tribal Summit, underway through today, as a potential venue to get the proposed designations across the goal line. It’s a forum for tribal leaders and top administration officials to speak about issues facing Indigenous communities — and will feature announcements of new actions, according to a statement by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Under its “America the Beautiful” initiative, which seeks to conserve and connect 30% of the nation’s lands and water by 2030, the Biden administration has promised to protect Indigenous, cultural and environmental sites.
National monuments — including the one in our mountainous backyard — safeguard a variety of resources, including habitat for wildlife, historic sites, waterways and miles of hiking trails. Roughly 18 million people — perhaps you — live within an hour’s drive of the rugged bosom of the San Gabriel Mountains, which provides Angelenos with about 70% of their open space. While some areas of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument suffer from overcrowding, vandalism and garbage — so much so that it landed on a travel magazine’s don’t visit list this year — I’m a San Gabriels booster who believes there’s still plenty of grandeur to enjoy.
Beloved Mt. Baldy, Los Angeles County’s highest peak at just over 10,000 feet, falls within the monument’s boundaries. (Hiking Baldy in winter can be hazardous and some advise against it when it’s covered in ice and snow.) There’s also weekend warrior favorite Strawberry Peak, which is a much closer drive from the city of L.A. and has a more manageable elevation gain. If you want to spare your hamstrings, drive the serpentine curves of the Angeles Crest Highway through the rustic landscape. Sometimes I pack a picnic and enjoy it among the fragrant trees for a faux-camping experience. Or camp overnight for the real deal. Buckhorn, a sought-after campground, typically Buckhorn, a sought-after campground, typically opens for the season in April.