Coachella, CA – The effort to create new National Monuments in the California Desert was featured in a new report published by the Vet Voice Foundation (VVF). Veterans, Tribes, and local advocates are calling for the designation of Chuckwalla National Monument and Kw’tsán National Monument. The proposed Chuckwalla National Monument includes 660,000 acres of federal public lands in Riverside and Imperial Counties. This effort also proposes protecting approximately 17,000 acres of public lands in the Eagle Mountains adjacent to Joshua Tree National Park. The Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe is also calling on President Biden to designate 390,000 acres of their ancestral homelands in southeastern Imperial County as Kw’tsán National Monument.  

“California’s national monuments and other public lands have long provided service members and veterans with necessary refuge and respite from the demands of military service,” said Janessa Goldbeck, CEO of Vet Voice Foundation and a Marine Corps veteran. “These lands are places of reflection, reunion, and healing for millions of veterans nationwide. They also protect cultural resources, including military heritage sites, and important habitat, and help ensure access to nature for all communities, particularly those that lack parks or other green spaces close to home.”

Designating Chuckwalla National Monument would help preserve the California Desert’s rich military history. General Patton trained military units in the Desert Training Center (DTC) during World War II to prepare American troops for combat. This designation would honor veterans by preserving training sites like Camp Young and Camp Coxcomb that are located within the proposal. 

Moreover, analysis shows that desert conservation is critical to support ongoing modern-day missions from five major military bases – Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range, Edwards Air Force Base, Fort Irwin National Training Center, and Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms. Protecting public lands in the desert helps the military fulfill its mission by providing a buffer for military installations from urban and rural development and other developments that interfere with military airspace.  

“After eighteen years and multiple deployments, I left the Army and I was struggling. A major part of my transition back to civilian life and healing has been time spent with nature,” shared Craig A. Meling, a U.S. Army Veteran living in Palm Springs. “I support the designation of the Chuckwalla National Monument not only for these reasons but also because such protections will help preserve sites important to our nation’s military history. I owe it to myself and my fellow veterans to continue to push for the preservation and expansion of these lands for both historical context and to serve as a respite for those seeking a reprieve from the trauma of war. I’m hopeful President Biden will use the Antiquities Act to make the proposed Chuckwalla National Monument a reality.” 

With more than 30 military installations, California is home to 1.8 million veterans, 157,639 active duty military personnel, and 55,537 reservists and National Guard members – more than any other state in the nation. This month, Goldbeck visited Camp Young and Camp Coxcomb to meet with local veterans and hear why they want the President to protect this area. 

“Together with veterans from around our state, I urge President Biden to protect these special places,” continued Goldbeck. “We see protecting these places as an extension of our service to this country and the duty of anyone who thinks of themselves as a patriot. We urge President Biden to designate national monuments in our state.”   

The new report highlights the importance of national monuments and public lands to military and veteran communities throughout California. It features veterans across the state urging the Biden Administration to designate or expand five national monuments in California.

President Biden is currently on track to protect more public land than any other modern first-term President in history. Vet Voice Foundation is urging President Biden to look to California next and expand and designate these national monuments via the Antiquities Act. The Antiquities Act of 1906 is a law that grants the president the ability to designate federal public lands, waters, and cultural and historical sites as national monuments with a Presidential Proclamation. 

The effort to designate Chuckwalla National Monument and to expand the national park has already garnered diverse local support, including from over a dozen current and former local elected officials, the Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe, the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians, the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, the Colorado River Indian Tribes Mohave Council of Elders, the Cahuilla Band of Indians, the cities of Banning, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, Indio and Palm Springs, businesses, Chambers of Commerce, and residents of the eastern Coachella Valley and neighboring areas. 

The effort to designate Kw’tsán National Monument is led by the Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe. The Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe is a federally recognized Tribal Nation with more than 3,200 Tribal citizens and 45,000 acres of reservation land, located along both sides of the Colorado River in Imperial County, CA and Yuma County, AZ.

Learn more at protectchuckwalla.org and protectkwtsan.org.

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About Vet Voice Foundation

Founded in 2009, the mission of Vet Voice Foundation is to empower veterans and military families to have a voice in our democracy by providing the support, training, and tools to shape policy and impact outcomes in their communities. Led by veterans, the Vet Voice Foundation represents more than 1.5 million veterans, military families, and supporters nationwide. Vet Voice Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan organization, organized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, for charitable and educational purposes. More information is available at vvfnd.org.