President Joe Biden next Tuesday will dedicate two new California national monuments honoring tribal lands, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Biden will sign proclamations designating 644,000 acres for the Chuckwalla National Monument in southern California's Colorado Desert near Joshua Tree National Park, as well as 200,000 for the Sáttítla National Monument, in the north of the state near the Oregon border.
Brandy McDaniels, a member of the Pit River Tribe who helped lead the effort to establish the Sáttítla National Monument, hailed the news.
"It gives you new faith that the process is working and that people are listening to Indigenous voices," said McDaniels. "We've spent a lifetime fighting to protect this area, and it's hard to put into words how important this is to us."
The designation will restrict mining, solar development, drilling, and logging on the affected areas.
During his first term, President-elect Donald Trump undid several monuments designated by his predecessors and he could do that again in his second term.
The Biden administration has not spoken publicly about plans for the sites. Presidents can designate new monument sites under the 1906 Antiquities Act. Biden has established six monuments and restored or expanded four more, enacting more than any president since Jimmy Carter.