Biden to designate environmental national monuments in California

President Biden plans to add another national monument, this one near Joshua Tree National Park, and is making plans to travel to California in the coming days to dedicate the Chuckwalla National Monument, according to people familiar with the matter. 

Some Native American tribes, environmentalists and members of Congress have been pushing Mr. Biden to set aside land for the proposed Chuckwalla monument, which lies between the Colorado River and Coachella Valley in Southern California.

The designation will add a large new chunk of land to the area next to the Joshua Tree National Park — making it the biggest contiguous protected area in the country. 

The size of the monument was not immediately clear. There were discussions over how much land to designate, as developers seek to build more solar and wind farms required for a green energy transition, one of the sources said. The Washington Post reported earlier Thursday that it would be 644,000 acres. 

The White House declined to comment. 

The designation will bolster the Biden administration’s efforts to protect at least 30% of lands and waters by 2030, and will block the Chuckwalla from mining, drilling and logging, sources said. 

Mr. Biden will use authority in the Antiquities Act, which allows presidents to preserve lands via executive action. Biden has already used the act 13 times. He has created six monuments and expanded two others and protected more than 46 million acres of land and water, Biden officials have said. 

Soon, the Biden administration also plans to take action to protect old-growth trees in the national forest system, two of the sources said, as the countdown to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration heightens the sense of urgency for environmental advocates.

The president will also sign a proclamation creating the Sáttítla National Monument in Northern California, the Washington Post reported. 

Mr. Biden has previously named other new national monuments, including one in Pennsylvania focused on Indian boarding schools, and one in Maine that recognized the accomplishments of the first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet.