Chuckwalla National Monument is a

national monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a sp ...

in the

Colorado Desert The Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert located in California, United States, and Baja California, Mexico. It encompasses approximately , including the heavily irrigated Coachella, Imperial and Mexicali valleys. It is home to ...

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

that protects of desert habitat in Riverside and Imperial counties from development. The monument spans several mountain ranges between

Joshua Tree National Park Joshua Tree National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, US National Park located in southeastern California, straddling north-central Riverside County, California, Riverside County and part of southern San Bernardino County, ...

and the

Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range The Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range (CMAGR) is a bombing range operated by the United States Marine Corps, located in Southern California. Range description The range is a

. In September 2023, Congressman Raul Ruiz introduced federal legislation to create the monument, with support from California senators

Alex Padilla Alejandro Padilla (born March 22, 1973) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from California, a seat he has held since 2021. A member of the Democrati ...

and

Laphonza Butler Laphonza Romanique Butler ( ; born May 11, 1979) is an American labor union official and former politician who served as an interim United States Senate, United States senator from California from 2023 to 2024. Butler began her career as a union ...

. The act would also expand the adjacent

by roughly 17,000 acres, and split management of the monument between the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...

and the local Cahuilla Indian tribe. President Joe Biden established the monument by proclamation under the

Antiquities Act The Antiquities Act of 1906 (, , ) is an act that was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt on June 8, 1906. This law gives the president of the United States the authority to, by presidential proclam ...

on January 14, 2025.

Features

The monument is named after the

chuckwalla Chuckwallas are lizards found primarily in arid regions of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Some are found on coastal islands. The five species of chuckwallas are all placed within the genus ''Sauromalus''; they are part of th ...

lizards native to the area. Other local wildlife include

Desert bighorn sheep The desert bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis nelsoni'') is a subspecies of bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') that is native to the deserts of the United States' intermountain west and southwestern regions, as well as northwestern Mexico. The ...

and

Desert tortoise The desert tortoise (''Gopherus agassizii'') is a species of tortoise in the Family (biology), family Testudinidae. The species is native to the Mojave Desert, Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico ...

. Some of the areas that would be absorbed into the monument include the already protected

Mecca Hills The Mecca Hills are a low mountain range located in Riverside County, southern California, in the United States. The Mecca Hills are in the Colorado Desert section of the Sonoran Desert, adjacent to the Lower Colorado River Valley region. The r ...

, Orocopia Mountains,

Chuckwalla Mountains The Chuckwalla Mountains are a mountain range in the transition zone between the Colorado Desert—Sonoran Desert and the Mojave Desert, climatically and vegetationally, in Riverside County of southern California. The mountains are named after ...

, Little Chuckwalla Mountains, Palo Verde Mountains, and Milpitas Wash wilderness areas. Existing outdoor recreational and historical sites that would become part of the monument include the

Eagle Mountain Railroad The Eagle Mountain Railroad (EMRR) was a private carrier in California, owned by the Kaiser Steel Corporation, and is owned today by Kaiser Steel's successor, Kaiser Ventures, Inc. of Ontario, California. The EMRR is long and is located in Riv ...

, various training sites dating from

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and already existing hiking trails. The

Bradshaw Trail Today's Bradshaw Trail is a historic overland stage route in the western Colorado Desert of Southern California. It is a remnant of the much longer Bradshaw Road, also known as the Road to La Paz, or Gold Road, established in 1862 by William D ...

, a historic state route and BLM Back Country Byway, runs through the monument.

Protection efforts

Calls for land protection in the area have come from a variety of sources, including the

Cahuilla The Cahuilla, also known as ʔívil̃uqaletem or Ivilyuqaletem, are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the various tribes of the Cahuilla Nation, living in the inland areas of southern California. ...

Chemehuevi The Chemehuevi ( ) are an indigenous people of the Great Basin. They are the southernmost branch of Southern Paiute. Today, Chemehuevi people are enrolled in the following federally recognized tribes: * Colorado River Indian Tribes * Cheme ...

Mohave Mojave or Mohave most often refers to: *Mojave Desert *Mojave River *Mohave people *Mojave language *Mohave County, Arizona, a county in the U.S. state of Arizona Mojave or Mohave may also refer to: Places * Fort Mojave Indian Reservation * Mo ...

Quechan The Quechan ( Quechan: ''Kwatsáan'' 'those who descended'), or Yuma, are a Native American tribe who live on the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation on the lower Colorado River in Arizona and California just north of the Mexican border. Despite ...

, and Serrano tribes, who together propose that

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

create the monument under the powers of the

. The nearby Yuma tribe have also sought to protect nearly as the Kw'tsán National Monument. Additionally, the monument designation is supported by

Audubon The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such org ...

California Native Plant Society The California Native Plant Society (CNPS) is a California environmental non-profit organization (501(c)(3)) that seeks to increase understanding of California's native flora and to preserve it for future generations. The mission of CNPS is to c ...

Center for Biological Diversity The Center for Biological Diversity is a nonprofit membership organization known for its work protecting endangered species through legal action, scientific petitions, creative media and grassroots activism. It was founded in 1989 by Kieran Suck ...

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...

, and others. The land that would constitute the proposed monument is all owned and managed by the federal government, but would be set aside to protect the existing environment from expanding suburban developnment and solar and wind energy projects. In an agreement with renewable energy companies, the original proposal was reduced by to maintain access to transmission lines for solar development. Secretary of the Interior

Deb Haaland Debra Anne Haaland (; born December 2, 1960) is an American politician who served as the 54th United States secretary of the interior from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the U.S. representative for New M ...

visited the area in May 2024. The California legislature unanimously passed a resolution in support of the monument. On January 2, 2025, the ''Washington Post'' reported that President Biden would establish Chuckwalla National Monument along with

Sáttítla Highlands National Monument Sáttítla Highlands National Monument is a national monument in the Medicine Lake Highlands of the Cascade Range of Northern California. The monument protects of forest and mountain habitat in Siskiyou County from development. The name ''Sá ...

. Biden planned to do so at an event in the

Coachella Valley The Coachella Valley ( ) is an arid rift valley in the Colorado Desert of Southern California in Riverside County. The valley has been referred to as Greater Palm Springs and occasionally the Palm Springs Area due to the historic promine ...

on January 7, but it was canceled due to a Santa Ana windstorm and rescheduled to be at the White House on January 14. The proclamation calls for co-stewardship and management of the monument with Tribal Nations. With the monument's establishment, the White House announced the Moab to Mojave Conservation Corridor, a continuous network of protected areas spanning California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah. On March 15, 2025, President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

signaled that he would rescind the creation of the Chuckwalla National Monument and Sáttítla Highlands National Monument, saying that they "lock up vast amounts of land from economic development and energy production", but no executive order was released. There is no legal authority for undoing establishment of a national monument. In April,

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

reported that the Department of the Interior was considering reducing the size of the monument, along with five others. On May 1, 2025, Austin-based Texas Public Policy Foundation filed a complaint on behalf of a mining claim holder from Michigan, seeking to eliminate the national monument designation.

Gallery

File:Palms in Chuckwalla (or Chuckawalla) Canyon in the Colorado Desert, ca.1903-1904 (CHS-2290).jpg, Chuckwalla Canyon, 1904 File:Corn Springs Campground (46255339695).jpg, Corn Springs Campground

References

Bibliography

External links