Windstorm forces Biden to cancel event creating new national monuments

A media platform is set ahead of a planned President Joe Biden’s trip Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, to the Eastern Coachella Valley, Calif., where he was supposed to announce the creation of the Chuckwalla National Monument before the trip had to be cancelled due to dangerously high winds. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

LOS ANGELES – One of the worst windstorms to hit Southern California in years forced President Joe Biden Tuesday to cancel a planned trip from Los Angeles to Riverside County, where he was going to formalize the creation of two national monuments in the state, including one just south of Joshua Tree National Park.

Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrived at Los Angeles International Airport aboard Air Force One at 9:32 p.m. Monday from New Orleans, where they met with “families and community members impacted” by the New Year’s terror attack on Bourbon Street that left 15 people dead and dozens more injured, according to the White House.

The president had been scheduled to travel to Thermal in Riverside County early Tuesday afternoon to officially announce his action establishing the Chuckwalla National Monument near Joshua Tree, as well as the Sáttítla National Monument in Northern California.

A sign is set up ahead of President Joe Biden’s visit to the Chuckwalla National Monument, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, to the Coachella Valley, Calif. Dangerously high winds have forced President Biden to cancel a trip to the Eastern Coachella Valley to announce the creation of two new national monuments. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

White House officials said the two monuments will protect 848,000 acres of land that are of “scientific, cultural, ecological and historical importance.”

With Santa Ana winds whipping across the region, however, the White House initially decided to cancel Biden’s trip to Thermal and have him instead make the monument announcement from the Los Angeles area.

But the White House later announced that the event was being rescheduled for next week “so that key stakeholders can attend.” No details of the rescheduled event were immediately released.

Biden, who had already gotten into a vehicle in a planned motorcade in the West Los Angeles/Santa Monica area for the planned trip to Thermal, later returned to his hotel. It was unclear when he would be leaving the LA area.

According to the White House, establishment of the Chuckwalla monument is Biden’s “capstone action to create the largest corridor of protected lands in the continental United States, covering nearly 18 million acres stretching approximately 600 miles.

This new Moab to Mojave Conservation Corridor protects wildlife habitat and a wide range of natural and cultural resources along the Colorado River, across the Colorado Plateau, and into the deserts of California. It is a vitally important cultural and spiritual landscape that has been inhabited and traveled by Tribal Nations and Indigenous peoples since time immemorial.”

White House officials said the Moab to Mojave Conservation Corridor covers nearly 18 million acres stretching approximately 600 miles, protecting wildlife habitats and a wide range of natural and cultural resources along the Colorado River, across the Colorado Plateau, and into the deserts of California.

The Moab to Mojave Conservation Corridor stretches from Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southwestern Utah through Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni — Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument in Arizona and Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada, both established by Biden in 2023, according to the White House.

It extends to the desert and mountain regions of southwest California in the Coachella Valley and the Chuckwalla National Monument.

Establishment of the Chuckwalla National Monument south of Joshua Tree National Park, makes drilling, mining and other energy- and industrial-related activity illegal in the area.

“The designation of Chuckwalla and Sáttítla National Monuments is another powerful action to protect California’s natural beauty, preserve critical habitats, and ensure future generations can enjoy these iconic landscapes,” Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California, said in a statement.

“This thoughtful step reflects a deep commitment to conservation, and recognizes the efforts of environmental and tribal advocates, conservationists, and local communities who have long fought to safeguard these lands. As one of the Biden Administration’s final acts, it is a lasting gift to Californians and to the nation.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom, who had been scheduled to join Biden at the Riverside County event Tuesday, issued a statement praising the creation of the monuments.

“California is now home to two new national monuments that honor the tribes that have stewarded these lands since time immemorial,” Newsom said.

“Thanks to President Biden and the leadership of California tribes and local communities, we’re protecting 840,000 acres of some of our state’s most culturally significant lands. This is a huge boost for our efforts to protect 30% of California’s lands and coastal waters.”

Having previously advocated in Washington, D.C., for Biden to issue such a designation, Southern California tribal leaders spoke in October about their desire to protect the homelands of the Iviatim, Nüwü, Pipa Aha Macav, Kwatsáan and Maara’yam peoples, also known as the Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Mohave (CRIT Mohave), Quechan and Serrano nations.

“Since time immemorial, we have called the lands in the proposed Chuckwalla National Monument home,” said Secretary Altrena Santillanes of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians. “These lands contain thousands of cultural places and objects of vital importance to the history and identity of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians.”

Advocates said the monument would also “protect important heritage values tied to the land, such as multi-use trail systems established by Indigenous peoples and sacred sites,” in addition to further recognizing tribal sovereignty and allow new ways for tribes to co-steward their homelands with federal agencies.

They said added protections for public lands would increase equitability in accessing the natural parts of the eastern Coachella Valley and surrounding areas, such as Mecca’s Painted Canyon trail and the Bradshaw Trail in southeastern Riverside County.

As outlined, the potential monument holds spiritual significance and contains natural resources sustaining multiple Indigenous peoples.

The organization Protect Chuckwalla cited the proposal as complementary to the developmental Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan.

Monument boundaries were drawn not to interfere with areas the DRECP focused on as “suitable for renewable energy development,” with the DRECP in turn identifying parts of the lands in the eastern Coachella Valley as necessary for biological conservation.

“As the original stewards of these lands we have been tasked with preserving the cultural, natural, and spiritual values imparted by our ancestors,” said David Harper of the Mojave Elders for the Colorado River Indian Tribes. “Therefore, caring for these lands is a sacred duty and honor.”

Last year, at least two dozen members of the California congressional delegation, including Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Indio, and U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler, called for the issuance of a Presidential Proclamation under the 1906 Antiquities Act to formally approve the national monument.

The idea also has support from tribal leaders and representatives, at least eight city governments in the Coachella Valley and more than 225 local businesses and establishments.

“For the Quechan people, a national monument designation status for the land means preserving the lifeways, culture, stories and teachings that connect us to our past, present and future,” said Donald Medart Jr. of the Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe Council.

“We’re calling on President Biden to help us continue to share the beauty of these places that our ancestors entrusted us to steward by indefinitely protecting them.”

More information about the campaign to establish Chuckwalla National Monument can be found here. (CNS)