Chuckwalla National Monument

Chuckwalla National Monument is a proposed National Monument located in the Colorado Desert of Southern California. The proposed monument's area would protect roughly 660,000 acres (1,031 sq mi; 2,671 sq km) of desert habitat in Riverside and Imperial counties from development. In September 2023, Congressman Raul Ruiz introduced federal legislation to create the monument, with support from California senators Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler. The act would also expand the adjacent Joshua Tree National Park by roughly 17,000 acres, and split management of the monument between the Bureau of Land Management and the local Cahuilla Indian tribe.

Features

The monument is named after the chuckwalla lizards native to the area. Other local wildlife include Desert bighorn sheep and Desert tortoise. Some of the areas that would be absorbed into the monument include the already protected Mecca Hills and Orocopia Mountains. Existing outdoor recreational and historical sites that would become part of the monument include the Eagle Mountain Railroad, various training sites dating from World War II, and already existing hiking trails.

Protection Efforts

Calls for land protection in the area have come from a variety of sources, including the Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Mohave, Quechan, and Serrano tribes, who together propose that Joe Biden create the monument under the powers of the Antiquities Act. The nearby Yuma tribe also seeks to protect nearly 400,000 acres as the Kw'tsán National Monument. Additionally, the monument designation is supported by Audubon, California Native Plant Society, Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, 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.