Potus Designates Remote NorCal National Monument (Update)
Update: President Biden was scheduled to attend a Coachella Valley event commemorating the Chuckwalla National Monument, but it was canceled due to the threat of a serious wildfire.
A section of wild land not far from Mount Shasta has been designated as protected federal land by the Biden administration. The area will now be known as Sáttítla Highlands National Monument.
The White House, as part of a two-pronged California land designation – the other was the Chuckwalla National Monument in Southern California’s Coachella Valley – had this to say about the Sáttítla Highlands area:
Establishing Sáttítla Highlands National Monument
The Sáttítla Highlands National Monument in northern California will encompass over 224,000 acres of exceptionally varied habitat, including parts of the Modoc, Shasta-Trinity, and Klamath National Forests. The Sáttítla Highlands include the ancestral homelands of and are sacred to the Pit River Tribe and Modoc Peoples. Many other Tribes and Indigenous peoples in the region, including the Karuk, Klamath, Shasta, Siletz, Wintu, and Yana, hold deep connections to this area. This designation honors the sacred cultural value of these lands, while protecting the area’s rich ecological, scientific, and historical significance. The monument will be managed by the Department of Agriculture’s U.S. Forest Service.
At the new monument’s core sits the Medicine Lake Volcano, a massive dormant volcano covering an expanse roughly 10 times that of Mount St. Helens in Washington. The region’s dramatic volcanic history has fostered an equally dramatic landscape, dotted with cinder cones, volcanic craters, spatter cones, and hundreds of cave-like lava tubes – including Giant Crater, the longest known lava tube system in the world, which originates within Sáttítla. These unique geologic features shaped a landscape in contrast between stark unvegetated lava fields interspersed with islands of relict forest communities, and lush, verdant forests that offer exceptional outdoor recreation opportunities. The volcanic geology and other features – in particular the obsidian deposits that were shaped into blades and other tools – are central to the spiritual beliefs and cultural practices of its Indigenous peoples.
This otherworldly and spectacular landscape is home to many rare, vulnerable, and culturally important flora and fauna, such as the northern spotted owl, the Cascades frog, the long-toed salamander, and the sugarstick, a parasitic plant associated with the roots of old-growth conifers. Much of the rain that falls on the area filters through the porous volcanic rock recharging underground aquifers that are essential for protecting and storing clean water for Northern California communities. The protection of the Sáttítla Highlands conserves a diverse array of natural and scientific resources, ensuring that the cultural, historical, and scientific values of this area, shaped by its volcano, endure for the benefit of all Americans.
Both national monuments only reserve federal lands, not State or private lands. The proclamations establishing the monuments will not affect valid existing rights and will allow a range of other activities, including hazardous fuels reduction in the forests of the Sáttítla Highlands and military training in both national monuments.
Here’s some additional reaction, starting with the U.S. Department of Agriculture:
USDA Celebrates President Biden’s Sáttítla Highlands Monument Designation
WASHINGTON, Jan. 7, 2025 — Today, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack praised President Biden’s designation of a new national monument Sáttítla Highlands National Monument in Northern California. The designation protects Tribal ancestral homelands, historic and scientific treasures, rare flora and fauna, and underground aquifers at the headwaters of vital sources of water for communities in California.
“This landscape, which has been occupied by Indigenous peoples for more than 5,000 years, continues to be integral to Tribal religious and cultural practices despite a history of forced dispossession. Establishing this monument takes a step toward recognizing the history of exclusion of Tribal Nations on these lands,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “The designation also recognizes the unusual geology of one of the largest volcanos in the Cascade Range, and the rare plants and animals that call this dynamic landscape home. The monument also protects the region’s recreational opportunities, dramatic scenic views, and world class dark night skies.”
“Last month, I had heard from hundreds of people about the significance of the Sáttítla Highlands in their personal lives and for their communities, the regional watershed, and our planet,” said Deputy Agriculture Secretary Xochitl Torres Small. “Today’s designation of the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument recognizes the importance of the area’s cultural resources for Indigenous peoples, who have been there since time immemorial, and provides opportunities for collaborative conservation to manage and protect this special place.”
The lands within the national monument are the ancestral homelands of the Pit River and Modoc and are sacred to those peoples. For them and many other Tribal Nations and Indigenous peoples – including the Klamath, Shasta, Wintu, Yana, Siletz, and Karuk – the landscape holds exceptional power and is central to their spiritual beliefs and cultural practices.
This monument designation encompasses nearly 225,000 acres of federally managed public lands on the Modoc, Shasta-Trinity and Klamath National Forests. The area’s rich geologic wonders can give visitors a view into ancient forces that are typically far underground. Sáttítla’s exceptionally varied habitats also support high levels of biodiversity, including at least 16 plants considered threatened, endangered, or rare including the federally threatened whitebark pine and a diverse community of rare or threatened fungi. The monument also contains underground aquifers that provide high quality water to millions of Americans.
President Biden designated this national monument using his authority under the Antiquities Act. President Theodore Roosevelt first used the Antiquities Act in 1906 to designate Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. Since then, 18 presidents of both parties have used this authority to protect unique natural and historic features in America, including the Statue of Liberty, Colorado’s Canyon of the Ancients, and New Mexico’s Gila Cliff Dwellings.
In order to advance protection of the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument, state agencies will allocate additional funding for wildfire prevention and resilience work to make local communities, state and private lands, and road systems in the area safer and more resilient to wildfire threats.
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate-smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.
