President Joe Biden plans to expand the size of two national monuments in California later this month — one in the San Gabriel Mountains east of Los Angeles and the other in remote landscapes north of Napa Wine Country.
The Washington Post, CNN and the New York Times quoted unnamed White House officials late Thursday and Friday morning saying that Biden will sign a declaration expanding the 346,177-acre San Gabriel Mountains National Monument in Southern California by 110,000 acres within the next few weeks.
That monument was established in 2014 by President Barack Obama on lands owned by the U.S. Forest Service. It is renowned for scenic mountain peaks and hiking trails.
Biden also will add 13,000 acres, the reports said, to the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, a 330,000-acre expanse of oak-studded hills, scenic creeks and wildflower meadows owned by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management that includes parts of Napa, Yolo, Solano, Lake, Colusa, Glenn and Mendocino counties. That monument also was established by Obama, in 2015. The area to be added is located on its eastern edge in an area known as Walker Ridge that native tribes call “Molok Luyuk,” or Condor Ridge.
Only Congress can establish new national parks. But Under the 1906 Antiquities Act, signed by President Theodore Roosevelt to reduce looting and theft of Indian pottery and artifacts in New Mexico and other areas, presidents can establish national monuments by proclamation on existing federal land, without approval from Congress.
Monument designation often brings new conservation rules that limit mining, oil drilling, or other development. Nearly every president has used the law to establish monuments, which in many cases Congress has eventually upgraded to national parks.
Roosevelt used it to set aside the Grand Canyon, and also Pinnacles in San Benito County; Herbert Hoover used it to protect Arches in Utah and Death Valley in California; Bill Clinton set aside Sequoia National Monument and George W. Bush used it to protect expansive areas of the remote Pacific Ocean, including the world’s deepest location, the Marianas Trench.
Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif. and Rep. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena, who are sponsoring bills stalled in Congress that would expand the San Gabriel Mountains monument by adding 109,167 acres of federal forest land, while designating 30,000 acres of protected wilderness and adding 45.5 miles to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, reacted positively to news reports of the upcoming announcements.
But representatives from Chu’s Office and Padilla’s office said late Thursday they had not received any word yet from the White House.
Padilla’s office has heard rumors from conservation groups, and some of those groups told the office that Biden himself may make it official during a future visit to California. The White House did not answer an inquiry by press time.
“The Biden Administration knows the value of protecting our public lands to combat climate change and ensure urban communities have access to the outdoors,” Padilla wrote in an emailed response. “I look forward to working with them to safeguard some of California’s most treasured natural landscapes, including in the San Gabriel Mountains, and ensure they are around for future generations of Angelenos to enjoy.”
In October 2014, President Barack Obama visited the Angeles National Forest near San Dimas to sign into existence the San Gabriel Mountains monument.
But in the nearly 10 years since then, Chu, Padilla and local environmental, tribal and veterans groups have lobbied to include the most-used trails in the southwestern part of the Angeles National Forest in the monument. Many today say Biden should complete the vision by folding in areas with historic hiking trails and camps dating back to the 1800s, such as Chantry Flat near Arcadia and Sierra Madre and Sturtevant Camp, as well as Native American sites and relics, some which have been left unprotected and vandalized.
The proposed expansion also would include Big Tujunga Canyon, the Upper Arroyo Seco area, Switzer’s Camp, Millard Canyon and Eaton Canyon. The expansion would include trails that lead to popular Placerita Canyon near Santa Clarita.
Chu, who was involved in creating the monument before Obama’s action, was dismayed when popular parts of the 700,000-acre Angeles National Forest were not included in the monument. Some said it was because Obama wanted to slim down the size in order to prevent a backlash from Congress.
“In partnership with environmental, tribal, and community allies on the ground, I’ve fought for a decade to expand the boundary of California’s San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, so I’d be absolutely elated for President Biden to use his executive authorities to finalize this, recognize the significance of all these lands, and unlock additional federal supports and resources,” Chu said in an email response Thursday.
The expansion area includes an ancient site tied to the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians’ story of tújú, the old woman who turned into stone on the hillside facing the San Fernando Valley.
“The protection of these sites is of extreme importance to the tribe,” said Miguel Luna, director of tribal historic and cultural preservation. “We are thrilled to hear President Biden’s reported plans to expand the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument not just for the current descendants but also for future generations.”
San Gabriel resident Chief Anthony Morales of the Gabrielino San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians said that this expansion would be “very meaningful” to him and his ancestors.
Morales hoped an expansion would come with continued monetary resources needed take care of the mountains, as well as for upkeep and further protection of the monument.
“We always have to remember our ancestors,” he said. “So for me, this is a policy that will remember my ancestors’ memory, culture and life that existed then, and continues today.”
Environmental, hiking, mountain biking, tribal and veterans groups have lobbied the Biden Administration to use the Antiquities Act to add to the monument’s size. As a result, the Biden Administration sent Homer Wilkes, under secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for natural resources and environment, to the San Gabriel Valley in November to listen to more than 250 people speak about the expansion and report back to the president.
An overwhelming majority of the speakers favored the expansion.
Golden poppies and purple wildflowers carpet the mountainside at Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. Happy #firstdayofspring! Photo: Anthony Southwood #California pic.twitter.com/2hn5gSmGC7
— US Department of the Interior (@Interior) March 21, 2018
While there’s no federal money attached to a presidential monument expansion, the original monument designation attracted attention from private investors.
Soon after the Obama designation, donations of about $3 million flowed to the National Forest Foundation. It also received $500,000 in a combined total from the Annenberg Foundation, the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health and the California Endowment. A year later, Coca-Cola made a $900,000 donation.
Supporters of expansion say it will help address the climate and biodiversity crises by protecting important habitat and wildlife corridors for black bears, mountain lions, coyotes, bighorn sheep, and mule deer, as well as contribute to state and federal goals to conserve 30% of public lands and waters by 2030.
Others see it as a way of opening up natural areas for hiking, mountain biking or just finding a peaceful getaway.
“We are very excited about the possibility (of expansion),” said Janessa Goldbeck, CEO of Vets Voice Foundation, which represents 1.5 million veterans that lobbied the Biden Administration for expansion. “It would do a lot for veterans and military families in the area. I feel cautiously optimistic.”
In August, Biden established the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument in Arizona. It was the fifth new national monument designated by Biden.
SCNG Staff Writer Victoria Ivie contributed to this article.
