Tribal communities in Northern California’s mountainous interior are celebrating the recent designation of Sáttítla Highlands National Monument after decades of advocacy work to increase land protections in the area.

With less than two weeks left in his presidency, President Joe Biden designated two new national monuments in the West. Biden signed proclamations Tuesday creating the Chuckwalla National Monument and the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument, both in California, covering 848,000 acres of land.

President Joe Biden flew to Los Angeles Monday, one day before traveling to the Coachella Valley to announce the creation of a national monument south of Joshua Tree National Park.

Chuckwalla National Monument is a cornerstone in a vast network of protected landscapes across the Southwest. Stretching from Joshua Tree to the Grand Canyon to Bears Ears, this corridor forms the largest swath of protected lands in the continental U.

The 624,000-acre Chuckwalla National Monument is located just south of Joshua Tree National Park, where the Mojave and Colorado deserts meet. The Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe and Colorado River Indian Tribes maintain ancestral ties to the area.

Sunset Arch temporarily lost federal protections after Trump eliminated millions of acres from Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments in 2017. Photo: Courtesy of the U.S. Bureau o