For Immediate Release: 

January 7, 2025 

Contacts: 

Nadia Marji, Vice President of Marketing & Communications, [email protected] 

Kaden McArthur, Director of Policy & Government Relations, [email protected]  

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Connecting habitat and wildlife movement corridors from the Joshua Tree National Park in California to the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona, the newly-designated Chuckwalla National Monument will conserve 624,000 acres of public lands while maintaining hunting access. This ensures public land owners across North America will have a vast, intact area to recreate and enjoy backcountry adventures in California’s southern desert landscape. As the nation’s leading public lands advocacy group, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) applauds President Biden for establishing this national monument, and shares thanks with Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Representative Raul Ruiz (D-CA) for their leadership in advocating for the designation, which BHA has supported since inception. 

"As hunters and anglers, we understand the vital importance of conserving intact ecosystems for wildlife, habitat, and for future generations,” said Eric Hanson, Chair for BHA’s California Chapter. “BHA has long advocated for large-landscape conservation measures where hunters have a seat at the table, so we applaud President Biden's decision to establish a national monument where our North American hunting traditions can endure and where BHA and partner organizations can continue to roll up our sleeves to improve wildlife habitat on the ground." 

The designation – announced alongside the designation of Sáttítla Highlands National Monument – is made possible under the Antiquities Act, “an instrument to preserve and protect critical natural, historical, and scientific resources on Federal lands for future generations,” as described by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Beginning with President Theodore Roosevelt, the Antiquities Act has since been used by eighteen presidents, nine Republican and nine Democratic, to conserve unique natural and historic values on public lands. 

In addition to the outdoor recreation opportunities it will afford, the Chuckwalla National Monument will conserve habitat vital to local populations of desert bighorn sheep, burro deer and mule deer, as well as Sonoran pronghorn pending reintroduction. The area will remain under the authority of the Bureau of Land Management, with the State of California overseeing wildlife management, including management of water resources to sustain wildlife populations. 

BHA has consistently advocated for America’s national monuments system and the targeted use of federal conservation tools, such as the Antiquities Act, to permanently conserve the natural heritage and distinctive values of places like Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands. Key to achieving these outcomes is a process that is locally driven, transparent, incorporates the science-based management of wildlife and their habitats, and upholds existing hunting and fishing opportunities. 

To learn more about the value national monuments provide for the hunting and fishing community, see the BHA report, National Monuments: A Hunting and Fishing Perspective. To learn more about issues important to BHA members, visit www.backcountryhunters.org/our_issues. 

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