FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(WASHINGTON, D.C.–April 16, 2024) – The Nationwide Audubon Society immediately celebrated bicameral legislation launched by Senators Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler (each D-CA) and Congressman Raúl Ruiz (D-CA-25) that will designate a brand new Chuckwalla Nationwide Monument, simply east of Joshua Tree Nationwide Park within the deserts of southeast California. The designation would shield some 620,000 acres of wildlife habitat, websites of nationwide historic significance, in addition to landscapes deeply sacred to native Iviatim, Nüwü, Pipa Aha Macav, Kwatsáan and Maara’yam Indigenous peoples. The laws would additionally develop Joshua Tree Nationwide Park by practically 18,000 acres.
Frank Ruiz, director of Audubon California’s Deserts and Salton Sea Applications, joined members of Congress, Tribal leaders, and neighborhood organizations immediately in presenting 840,000 signatures from throughout California and the USA – together with greater than 136,000 for Chuckwalla alone – calling on the administration to develop, designate, and shield nationwide monuments and sacred lands throughout the USA. The signatures had been gathered in petition drives supporting proposed nationwide monuments nationwide.
“We’re very excited to see the help and momentum for this necessary effort,” stated Audubon’s Ruiz. “This historic designation would improve wildlife corridors by providing threatened wildlife areas to thrive and a buffer from a warming local weather. It might be an enormous increase to native communities, benefiting native economies, and bringing mountaineering trails and different out of doors recreation alternatives to communities that desperately want them. And it will lastly give Indigenous peoples a voice in managing the lands which have sustained them for generations.”
“We’re thrilled that Senators Padilla and Butler have joined Congressman Ruiz and hundreds of Californians in calling to guard California’s incomparable desert landscapes,” stated Felice Stadler, vp of presidency affairs for the Nationwide Audubon Society. “These lands sit on the nexus of the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts and harbor huge biodiversity. They provide entry to the outside for some 650,000 residents of desert communities. And for hundreds of years, they’ve been the homeland and sacred landscapes for native Indigenous peoples. You’d must look laborious to discover a place extra worthy of safety, and Audubon appears ahead to working with our companions, Congress and the administration to maneuver this monument designation ahead.”
Audubon has been working in coalition with greater than a dozen conservation organizations and neighborhood companions, together with native and Tribal voices, within the Protect California Deserts Coalition.
Situated on the junction of the Mojave, Sonoran and Colorado Deserts, the Chuckwalla region is residence to astonishing biodiversity, together with the Phainopepla, Western Tanager, Verdin, Cactus Wren, and Greater Roadrunner — together with bighorn sheep, desert tortoises, American badgers, desert pupfish, and different endangered wildlife. Throughout World Conflict II, Basic George Patton educated U.S. troopers for desert fight within the area.
Nationwide monument designations have boosted local economies by as much as 10 percent, and a Chuckwalla Nationwide Monument may very well be a boon for companies in close by cities like Coachella, Mecca, and Thermal. Out of doors recreation is a significant contributor to California’s economy, including greater than $54.7 billion to the state’s gross home product (GDP) and supporting greater than 517,000 jobs within the state.
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Media contacts:
Jason Howe/Nationwide Audubon Society: jason.howe@audubon.org; 415-595-9245
Shineh Rhee/Audubon California: shineh.rhee@audubon.org
About Audubon
The Nationwide Audubon Society protects birds and the locations they want, immediately and tomorrow. Audubon works all through the Americas utilizing science, advocacy, training, and on-the-ground conservation. State applications, nature facilities, chapters, and companions give Audubon an unparalleled wingspan that reaches hundreds of thousands of individuals annually to tell, encourage, and unite various communities in conservation motion. A nonprofit conservation group since 1905, Audubon believes in a world wherein folks and wildlife thrive. Study extra at www.audubon.org and on Fb, Twitter and Instagram @audubonsociety.
