Yesterday, President Biden issued A Proclamation on Establishment of the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument (full text). The lengthy Proclamation sets aside 506,814 acres in southern Nevada, and items within that area, as protected under the Antiquities Act. The Proclamation reads in part:
The mountain and the surrounding arid valleys and mountain ranges are among the most sacred places for the Mojave, Chemehuevi, and some Southern Paiute people, and are also significant to other Tribal Nations and Indigenous peoples, including the Cocopah, Halchidhoma, Havasupai, Hopi, Hualapai, Kumeyaay, Maricopa, Pai Pai, Quechan, Yavapai, and Zuni....
For the Tribal Nations that trace their creation to Avi Kwa Ame, the power and significance of this place reside not just in the mountain itself, but radiate across the valleys and mountain ranges of the surrounding desert landscape containing the landmarks and spiritually important locations that are linked by oral traditions and beliefs. Tribal Nations have shared those traditions and beliefs across many generations through ... origin songs, which are central to Tribal members’ knowledge of the landscape, enabling them to navigate across the diverse terrain, find essential resources, and perform healing, funeral, and other rituals....
This entire landscape is an object of historic and scientific interest requiring protection under ... the "Antiquities Act".... As well as being an object itself, the landscape contains innumerable individual geologic features, archaeological sites, and havens for sensitive and threatened species... and it provides habitat for centuries-old Joshua trees and other objects that are independently of historic or scientific interest and require protection under the Antiquities Act. Some of the objects are also sacred to Tribal Nations; are sensitive, rare, or vulnerable to vandalism and theft; or are dangerous to visit and, therefore, revealing their specific names and locations could pose a danger to the objects or the public.
The White House also issued a Fact Sheet on the Proclamatioin. In another Proclamation issued yesterday, the President also created the Castner Range National Monument in El Paso, Texas. E&E News reports on these and related Presidential actions.
