WASHINGTON, D.C. — With just a few months left in the administration of President Joe Biden, tribal nations are hoping to score one more win for the protection of their sacred places.

Leaders of several tribes in southern California traveled to the nation’s capital this week to lobby for the creation of the Chuckwalla National Monument. They are boasting the support of key members of Congress and the local community as they seek to protect, preserve and continue to use their ancestral homelands

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

“We urge President Biden to designate this National Monument,” said Santillanes.

The Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians are joined by the Chemehuevi Tribe, the Colorado River Indian Tribes, the Quechan Tribe, the Cahuilla Band of Indians and the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians in calling for the creation of a monument that would encompass about 627,000 acres near the popular Joshua Tree National Park. The plan would also protect another 17,000 acres of public lands in the Eagle Mountains.

“These lands encompass our origins, history, songs, religious ceremonies, ancient sites, trails, petroglyphs, artifacts, and intaglios spread throughout our traditional territories,” said Glenn Lodge, Chairman of the Chemehuevi Tribe. “Our footsteps are etched into the landscape since the beginning of time, and we continue to provide stewardship over these lands.”

The tribes have already secured the backing of Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California), Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-California) and nearly every other member of California’s delegation to the U.S. Congress. Current and former elected officials from communities in Imperial and Riverside counties, along with more than 220 business, organizations and individuals throughout the region, are also getting behind Chuckwalla.

“Establishing the Chuckwalla National Monument across California’s vast desert landscape would help us fight the climate crisis, protect critical wildlife corridors, preserve sacred tribal sites, and improve equitable access to nature for our local communities,” Padilla said at a community meeting in June that was called to discuss the proposal.

All that would be needed to protect Chuckwalla under the Antiquities Act, a federal law, is a designation by the president. The Biden administration has signaled its serious consideration of the national monument by sending Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, who is the first Native person to serve in a presidential cabinet, to the site.

“This visit from Secretary Haaland is a crucial next step towards the President establishing the Chuckwalla National Monument and protecting lands adjacent to Joshua Tree National Park,” Ruiz said of the May 20 trip.

Since taking office in January 2021, Biden has taken numerous actions to protect sacred places under the Antiquities Act. One of the most significant decisions was to restore the original boundaries of the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah following a reduction that occurred without tribal consent during the Donald Trump era.

Trump, a Republican who served one term in office, was defeated in the November 2020 election by Biden. The former president is running for office again this year, and over the weekend in Montana, he accused Haaland of carrying out a “radical” agenda at the Department of the Interior, the federal agency with the most trust and treaty responsibilities in Indian Country.

According to Trump, Haaland and other political appointees at Interior, including one who spent most of her career in Montana, have been put in place to “wage war on your rights and on your industries.”

In addition to restoring the boundaries of Bears Ears and ensuring tribes play a role in helping manage the sacred lands there, Biden designated the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument in Arizona at the request of tribes and local supporters. The August 2023 proclamation requires co-stewardship with Indian Country.

“As tribal leaders, it’s important that the Navajo Nation has a seat at the table when it comes to the management of this new national monument,” Navajo Nation Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley said as she joined Biden for the designation. “The federal government should always be inclusive of tribal nations in the designation of our homelands.”

Another tribally-driven designation came with the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada in March 2023. The Fort Mojave Tribe, the Moapa Band of Paiutes, the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe, the Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada and the Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona were among those who lobbied for the protections for sacred places and for incorporating tribal knowledge into federal decision-making.

Co-stewardship is a central part of the proposed Chuckwalla National Monument as well. Tribes want to ensure they have a say in safeguarding ancestral territories while also improving access to places where the public can learn more about tribal ways while enjoying trails, mountains and historic sites, including sites once used by the U.S. military.

“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., council member for the Quechan Tribe, whose reservation at Fort Yuma spans California and Arizona.

“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,” said Medart.

Tribal nations and their allies note that Biden so far has protected more than 1.6 million acres of public lands using the Antiquities Act. Designation of Chuckwalla would boost the number to well over 2 million.

“Preserving this vast desert landscape will help ensure more equitable access to nature and recreation, protect biodiversity, and preserve decades of cultural riches, particularly for the local tribal communities,” Sen. Padilla, Rep. Ruiz and 24 other members of Congress from California wrote in an April 16 letter to President Biden and Secretary Haaland.

Although Biden is no longer running for re-election, having withdrawn from the race on July 21, Vice President Kamala Harris, who is from California, has stepped in for the Democratic Party. Last Wednesday, Padilla and Ruiz were among the speakers who joined a virtual call organized by Native men, who said the new presidential candidate would carry on the achievements of the current administration.

“The Biden-Harris administration has worked hard to protect tribal communities and cultural places,” said Mark Macarro, the chairman of the California-based Pechanga Band of Indians, citing the national monument designations.

During the August 7 event, Macarro pointed out that the policy successes reach far into the U.S. government. He noted that federal agencies, for the first time, are required to consider the Traditional Ecological Knowledge, or TEK, of tribes as a result of new directives from Biden and Harris.

“You know, we talk about TEK as if it’s always been there,” observed Macarro, who has endorsed Harris for president. “This is the policy of a forward-thinking partnership, an enduring administration, and we’ve not had this before like this. And so, you recognize it as a leap forward in terms of where things should always be as we roll out of this administration.”