Joshua Tree National Park could get new neighbor — a national monument
By Orange County on October 30, 2022
An effort is underway to createa new national monument next to Joshua Tree National Park that would preserve almost 700,000 desert acres for recreation while protecting plants, animals and cultural and historic sites.
The proposed Chuckwalla National Monument — named for the lizard found in the Sonoran and Mojave Desert and northwestern Mexico — would need a presidential order or a vote by Congress to become reality.
“What’s really important in this case is we want the national monument to be a resource for the community,” said Colin Barrows, founding board member of CactusToCloud Institute,an organization that is part of the Protect California Deserts campaign that’s behind the proposal.
Joshua Tree National Park, which straddles the San Bernardino and Riverside counties, is well known for hiking, camping and rock climbing as well as for the iconic Joshua trees. The park, which sits today at 795,156 acres, was established in 1936 as a national monument, then named a national park 58 years later when Congress passed the California Desert Protection Act of 1994.
A car travels Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022, from the Cottonwood entrance of Joshua Tree National Park toward the Orocopia Mountains west of Desert Center. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
A ladder, seen Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022, assists hikers who climb into a slot canyon in the Ladder Canyon trail at Painted Canyon in the Mecca Hills Wilderness near Mecca. Organizations are working to establish a new national monument in the Chuckwalla Valley, south of Joshua Tree National Park. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
A unique landscape is seen Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022, in Box Canyon in the Mecca Hills Wilderness, north of Mecca. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
A cyclist waves Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022, while riding through Box Canyon in the Mecca Hills Wilderness, north of Mecca. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Drivers travel Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022, along the 10 Freeway, south of Joshua Tree National Park, with a view of the Chuckwalla Mountains in the background near Desert Center. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Sendy Hernández Orellana Barrows, conservation program manager for the Council of Mexican Federations, and Colin Barrows, a member of the CactusToCloud Institute, hike through a slot canyon in the the Ladder Canyon trail in the Mecca Hills Wilderness near Mecca on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Sendy Hernández Orellana Barrows, conservation program manager for the Council of Mexican Federations, left, and Colin Barrows, a member of the CactusToCloud Institute, hike into the Painted Canyon near Mecca on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Sendy Hernández Orellana Barrows, conservation program manager for the Council of Mexican Federations, left, and Colin Barrows, of the CactusToCloud Institute, climb into the Ladder Canyon trail at Painted Canyon near Mecca on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Ants crawl on desert willow flowers in the Mecca Hills Wilderness near Mecca on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
A car travels into Joshua Tree National Park from the Cottonwood entrance near Desert Center on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
A car travels out of Joshua Tree National Park at the Cottonwood entrance near Desert Center on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Visitors embark on a hike into the Painted Canyon near Mecca on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
A monument for Camp Young, a World War II military training camp, in Chiriaco Summit near Desert Center is seen Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Colin Barrows, a member of the CactusToCloud Institute, points toward Joshua Tree National Park on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022, while giving a tour of Camp Young, a World War II military training camp in Chiriaco Summit near Desert Center. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Colin Barrows, a member of the CactusToCloud Institute, walks along a trail at Camp Young, a World War II military training camp, in Chiriaco Summit near Desert Center on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
A sign stands Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022, at the entrance to Dos Palmas Preserve near North Shore on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Clusters of native California fan palms are thriving at Dos Palmas Preserve near North Shore on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Sendy Hernández Orellana Barrows, conservation program manager for the Council of Mexican Federations, climbs up one of several ladders in a slot canyon during a Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022, hike on the Ladder Canyon trail in the Painted Canyon near Mecca. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Colin Barrows, a member of the CactusToCloud Institute, is surrounded by towering native California fan palms during a Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022, visit to the San Andreas Springs near North Shore. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
A zebra-tailed lizard basks in the sun Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022, to regulate its body temperature at Chiriaco Summit near Joshua Tree National Park and Desert Center. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
A sulphur butterfly draws nectar from a desert lavender near Mecca on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
A queen butterfly sits on a desert lavender plant in the Mecca Hills Wilderness near Mecca on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
A vehicle travels through Box Canyon in the Mecca Hills Wilderness, north of Mecca on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Colin Barrows, a member of the CactusToCloud Institute, left, and Sendy Hernández Orellana Barrows, conservation program manager for the Council of Mexican Federations, hike Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022, into Painted Canyon, which is in the Mecca Hills Wilderness near Mecca. Organizations are working to establish a new national monument in the Chuckwalla Valley, south of Joshua Tree National Park. The proposed Chuckwalla National Monument would protect historical lands, cultural resources and biodiverse species. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
If the park gets the Chuckwalla monument as a neighbor, the new entity would include land in far eastern Riverside County and in Imperial County, a proposed map shows. Chuckwalla would border the southern edge of the Joshua Tree park.
The campaign is led by organizations that include the nonprofit California Wilderness Coalition, spokesperson Ryan Henson said. In addition to protecting species, the monument designation would protect against development, he said.
Separate from the monument, the campaign also seeks to add about 20,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management landsoutheast of Joshua Tree in Riverside County to the national park. It would be open for development, mining or road construction and was once used for small-scale mining.
“The proposed park addition is critically important to understanding mining in the 19th and 20th centuries,” Henson said.
According to a National Parks Service blog, one difference between a national park and a national monument is how they are established.
The monument proposal could succeed in one of two ways: Congress could pass legislation to create the monument or the president could make an executive order under the Antiquities Act of 1906, which protects federal, historic and public sites, Henson said.
In addition, national parks are created for educational, inspirational and recreational purposes, while the federal government preserves national monuments for their historic, prehistoric or scientific interest such as preserving wildlife and historical sites, according to the blog.
Entrance to the monument would be free and aim to increase the public’s accessibility to wildlife, Barrows said.
The proposed monument area would includes the Bradshaw Trail near Riverside County, a trade route used by 19th-Century gold prospectors and “an even more ancient Native American trade route that crosses the region connecting one spring to another spring,” Henson said.
That area was also used to train soldiers during World War II from 1942 to 1944. Tank tracks, abandoned camps and training areas can still be seen in the area, Henson said.
The proposal would protect native plants and animals, too.
The monument would includes themicrophyll woodlands, a rare plant habitatfor theCalifornian native plant, which hosts 90% of songbirds in California deserts, Henson said.
Species found in and around Joshua Tree such as the desert tortoise, which live up to 80 years, and desert bighorn sheep would also be protected, Henson said.
The desert tortoise has been on state and federal endangered species lists since the early 1990s. Since then, they’ve been considered “threatened,” a notch below “endangered,” according to the National Park Service.
Bighorns from the San Jacinto Mountains to the U.S. border and areas of Joshua Tree are also on the Federal Endangered Species List, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
But before winning approval for the proposal, there is still “a lot of work to do,” Henson said.
Backers would need support from Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Palm Desert, Henson said.
Ruiz, who represents the 36th Congressional District that includes part of Joshua Tree National Park, is interested in continuing to work with the Protect California Deserts campaign to protect California lands, Kelly O’Keeffe, a spokesperson for Ruiz said in an email. But he is not yet ready to sign off on the campaign.
“As both proposals are not yet finalized, we would like to see a final plan,” O’Keeffe said.
Seeking to preserve cultural heritage is a key element of the plan, Henson said.
Indigenous history in the proposed monument area includes rock art, structures and trails left by Indigenous peoples, he said.
Working with Indigenous tribes such as the Cahuilla Band of Indians, Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, Fort Mojave Indian Tribe, Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe and the Serrano, the campaign intends to ensure proper and respectful care of the lands and that their sacred places are preserved, a LinkedIn post from the Mojave Desert Land Trust states.
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