Our national stockpile of national monuments expands now and then—it’s nice to know that we can recognize them for their importance and memorialize and protect them in this way. Last month, President Joe Biden designated two more historical monuments, as reported by Frommer’s. These are Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada and the Castner Range National Monument in Texas. Last fall, he designated the Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument in Colorado.
Avi Kwa Ame National Monument encompasses 506,814 acres in southern Nevada, and its name honors the Indigenous name used for the preserve (Western settlers called it Spirit Mountain). According to the White House announcement, this spot is an incredibly important one: “Yuman Tribes tell that creation began at a towering mountain in the southernmost reaches of Nevada at the confluence of the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts.” It’s important to other Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples as well: the statement includes mention of the Mojave, Chemehuevi, Southern Paiute people, as well as the Cocopah, Halchidhoma, Havasupai, Hopi, Hualapai, Kumeyaay, Maricopa, Pai Pai, Quechan, Yavapai, and Zuni Tribes. “These Tribal Nations have been here since time immemorial, and the area contains evidence of human occupancy reaching back more than 10,000 years,” the statement continues.
The area contains multiple ancient petroglyphs, including the Grapevine Canyon Petroglyphs which are on the National Register of Historic Places, associated with the Amacava, Paiute, and Shoshonean peoples, which may date to the year 500. Here, you’ll find old-growth Joshua tree forests—including Nevada’s largest known Joshua tree—and a migration route for bighorn sheep. Additionally, the valleys are an important habit for the threatened Mojave desert tortoise, as well as other Bureau of Land Management sensitive species like the Mojave desert sidewinder and the Mojave shovel-nosed snake.
The New York Times reported that this area was only the second national monument to be created for the protection of Indigenous history, and Native American groups celebrated the historic seachange in attitudes.
The 6,672-acre Castner Range National Monument in Texas’s high desert was also designated. In the 1900s, it was used as an army weapons testing range and will be cleared of any unexploded weapons. This area, like Avi Kwa Ame, includes sites significant to members of Tribal Nations, including Apache and Pueblo peoples and the Comanche Nation, Hopi Tribe, and Kiowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma. It contains “more than 40 known archeological sites including living structures, hearths, remnants of pottery and other tools, as well as a myriad of petroglyphs and images on the rock faces that make up the canyons and mountains of Castner Range,” reads the White House statement. The designation is intended to protect these archeological treasures as well as honor veterans, service members, and Tribal Nations. It will also expand recreational access.
Combined, the two new national monuments protect 514,000 acres of public lands.