#Avi Kwa Ame

[wachinyeya]

https://ictnews.org/news/biden-designates-avi-kwa-ame-a-national-monument

Joe Biden designates Avi Kwa Ame a national monument

President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday Avi Kwa Ame as a national monument in Nevada, following up on a promise he made in late 2022.

Biden also declared a national monument in Texas and the creation of a marine sanctuary in U.S. waters near the Pacific Remote Islands southwest of Hawai'i.

Biden spoke at the White House Conservation in Action Summit at the Interior Department with Fort Mojave Indian Tribal Chairman Timothy Williams commending him during his introduction.

“Under his leadership we have a seat at the table and we are seeing an unprecedented era and opportunity for our tribal communities,” Williams said. “And we are all grateful to the president for taking historic action to combat the climate crisis and conserve and restore our nation’s land and waters.”

Williams was among the proponents to make Avi Kwa Ame, also known as Spirit Mountain, a national monument. It’s considered sacred to the Mojave people and for the nine other Yuman-speaking tribes along the Colorado River, as well as the Hopi and Chemehuevi Paiute tribes, Williams said.

The site in southern Nevada spans more than 500,000 acres near the Arizona and California state lines. It’s home to bighorn sheep, desert tortoises and a large concentration of Joshua trees, some of which are more than 900 years old. It’s also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

It took more than three months for Biden to make the announcement.

“It’s a place of reverence, it’s a place of spirituality, it’s a place of healing and now it will be recognized for its significance it holds and be preserved forever,” Biden said. “I look forward to visiting it myself.”

He thanked Williams and the legislative leaders who advocated for Avi Kwa Ame including Nevada Rep. Dina Titus, Democrat, who sponsored a bill to protect the rugged region near the Mojave National Preserve from development, including solar farms and a proposed wind farm.

“To the native people who point to Avi Kwa Ame as their spiritual birthplace, and every Nevadan who knows the value of our cherished public lands: Today is for you,″ Titus tweeted.

The Honor Avi Kwa Ame coalition, which includes tribes, local residents, state lawmakers and conservation groups, said its members were "overjoyed" to learn the site will be a new national monument.

"Together, we will honor Avi Kwa Ame today — from its rich Indigenous history, to its vast and diverse plant and wildlife, to the outdoor recreation opportunities created for local cities and towns in southern Nevada by a new gorgeous monument right in their backyard," the group said.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland released a press release praising the announcement.

“I am grateful to President Biden for taking this important step in recognition of the decades of advocacy from tribes and the scientific community, who are eager to protect the objects within its boundaries,” Haaland stated.“Together with tribal leaders, outdoor enthusiasts, local elected officials, and other stakeholders, we will manage this new monument for the benefit of current and future generations.”

In Texas, Biden plans to create the Castner Range National Monument in El Paso. It’s the ancestral homeland of the Comanche and Apache people, and its cultural ecology is considered sacred to several Indigenous communities.

The designation will protect the cultural, scientific and historic objects found within the monument's boundaries, honor U.S. veterans, service members and tribal nations, and expand access to outdoor recreation on public lands, the White House said.

Located on Fort Bliss, Castner Range served as a training and testing site for the U.S. Army during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The Army ceased training at the site and closed Castner Range in 1966.

The Castner Range monument "will preserve fragile lands already surrounded on three sides by development,'' help ensure access to clean water and protect rare and endangered species, said Rep. Veronica Escobar, Democrat-Texas.

“The people of El Paso have fought to protect this for 50 years. Their work has finally paid off,” Biden said.

Biden designated his first national monument, in Colorado, last year. In 2021, he restored the boundaries for Bears Ears National Monument in Utah after they were significantly narrowed by President Donald Trump, a Republican.

In the Pacific, Biden will direct the Commerce Department to consider initiating a new national marine sanctuary designation within 30 days to protect all U.S. waters around the Pacific Remote Islands. If completed, the 777,000 square miles, southwest of Hawaii, will help ensure the U.S. reaches Biden's goal to conserve at least 30 percent of ocean waters under U.S. jurisdiction by 2030, the White House said.

Among Hawaiian state leaders, Biden thanked Native Hawaiian leaders who “worked tirelessly to protect our oceans. I want to thank you. I genuinely mean it, it wouldn't have happened without you.”

Biden also announced a series of steps to conserve, restore and expand access to public lands and waters across the country, the White House said.

The proposals seek to modernize management of America's public lands, harness the power of the ocean to help fight climate change, and better conserve wildlife corridors. Biden also will announce new spending to improve access to outdoor recreation, promote tribal conservation and reduce wildfire risk.

Bidden added he’s committed to working with tribal leaders and legislative leaders on bringing “healthy and abundant” salmon run back to the Colorado River system.

“There’s nothing beyond our capacity if we work together,” Biden said.

#Avi Kwa Ame #hawaiʻi #natives #indigenous #native hawaiian #america #land conservation #good news

[gwydionmisha]

#Biden Administration #Nevada #Avi Kwa Ame #Indigenous Lands #News

[o-francisco-silva]

Speech at the Avi Kwa Ame one year Anniversary! To commemorate this special milestone and to reflect on the beauty and significance of our natural surroundings.

#Avi Kwa Ame

[yowalmitztli]

#avi kwa ame #monument #sacred space #chollas #teddy bear #🧸 🐻

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from the LA Times:

The remote mountain from which Mojave Desert tribes believe the universe unfolds rises above a corner of southwestern Nevada defined by Joshua trees, outcroppings, and fortress-like gorges that change color by the minute.

For centuries, Native Americans have made pilgrimages to the 5,600-foot-high monolith they call Avi Kwa Ame, or Spirit Mountain, to seek religious visions and give thanks for Earth’s bounty.

An eclectic coalition of Native Americans, artists, biologists and environmentalists has stepped in with a proposal to have the mountain and more than 443,000 acres that surround it designated Avi Kwa Ame National Monument.

The effort comes at a time when the Biden administration has pledged to safeguard Indigenous, cultural and environmental sites under its “America the Beautiful” initiative, which seeks to conserve and connect 30% of the nation’s lands and waters by 2030.

The entire area within the proposal is considered sacred by more than a dozen tribes, and the eastern face of the mountain in 1999 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its religious and cultural importance.

The diverse terrain of overlapping biological zones including native grasslands, Joshua tree forests, natural springs, canyonlands and boulder fields creates habitat for Gila monsters and some of the highest densities of bighorn sheep, desert tortoises and golden eagles in Nevada.

Scientists continue to find and catalogue plants and creatures that have become uniquely adapted to this sun-scorched biological frontier.

Congresswoman Dina Titus (D-Nev.) earlier this year introduced a bill to establish Avi Kwa Ame National Monument. Meanwhile, supporters have been meeting with federal officials in Washington to promote the effort.

The proposed monument would consist of 443,671 acres of public lands connecting Mojave National Preserve, Castle Mountains National Monument, Mojave Trails National Monument and Dead Mountain Wilderness Area in California with Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada.

Of particular concern are 62,371 acres within the proposed monument boundary that have no special protective designations and are vulnerable to mining operations and large-scale wind and solar energy projects.

#Mojave Desert #Native Americans #Spirit Mountain #national monument #Avi Kwa Ame National Monument #Nevada

[kenneturner]

Avi Kwa Ame National Monument

Avi Kwa Ame National Monument Area A few weeks ago, President Biden designated the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Southern Nevada. Stretching fromthe Newberry mountains in the east to the New York, South McCullough, Castle, and Piute mountains in the west, these lands feature dramatic peaks, scenic canyons, natural springs, sloping bajadas covered with ancient Joshua treeforests, unique…

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#Avi Kwa Ame National Monument #Nevada #Photo Essay #Spirit Mountains

[dionysus-complex]

man not to vaguepost or come off as humorless but something about that post about Las Vegas I've seen a few times on my dash that's like "Las Vegas is an eldritch horror in the middle of hundreds of square miles of empty lifeless desert with no real suburbs, just scorpions and sand in every direction" rubs me the wrong way because like...it's simply not the case. Vegas sits in the shadow of Nuvagantu (Mount Charleston), the site of the Southern Paiute creation myth, which is a temperate sky island in the Mojave that supports extensive conifer forests. and the Mojave isn't empty or lifeless either - one of the largest Joshua tree woodlands in existence sits just south of Vegas in the Avi Kwa Ame/Spirit Mountain area, which just gained protection as a national monument last year precisely because of its ecological diversity and its religious importance to the Yuman peoples. the Las Vegas valley itself is so named because of its natural springs and meadows and the valley has been inhabited by people for over 10,000 years and specifically by Paiute people since at least 700 CE. (also, I'm not sure where the "Vegas has barely any suburbs" thing is coming from because the whole valley is filled with them??)

anyways I'm begging people to consider that there are real things at stake when we characterize desert ecosystems as wastelands and the whole "Vegas is a city that shouldn't exist"/"why would anybody live there" thing slides real quickly toward ecofascism - it's a city that has a long history of economic exploitation through its association with the gaming industry, sure, but it's also a lot of people's home that they care deeply about and make art about

#sorry i've been trying to hold back on this but idk each time i see the post the more it rubs me the wrong way

[tomorrowusa]

President Biden signed into existence the 917,618 acre Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. The new national monument covers three tracts of land important to indigenous people in Arizona.

Nearly 5 million people visit the Grand Canyon each year, but few are aware that the site has been sacred to Indigenous peoples in the region since time immemorial — and that the national park designation of the region essentially kicked them off their homelands a century ago.  On Tuesday, President Biden recognized this history by designating the nearly one million-acre region including the Grand Canyon and its surrounding areas as the Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument in Arizona. The announcement follows a 15-year endeavor from a coalition of tribes to protect the region from uranium mining that has polluted the Colorado River. Baaj Nwaavjo means "where tribes roam" for the Havasupai Tribe, while I'tah Kukveni translates to "our ancestral footprints" in Hopi.  [ ... ] Former President Barack Obama previously banned new uranium mines in the Grand Canyon area in 2012, but his policy was set to expire later this year. This is the fifth new national monument established by the Biden administration to protect the country's natural landscapes, following the designation of the Avi Kwa Ame national monument in Nevada earlier in 2023.

Republicans, of course, don't like it.

The new designation permanently protects the region from uranium mining, which Republican leaders were quick to oppose, sending a letter to Biden claiming ​​that the protections created for the Grand Canyon would cause the U.S. to over-rely on foreign countries like Russia for uranium. However, The Guardian reported that advocates say the region only contains some 1% of the country's uranium reserves and that uranium is best mined elsewhere.

Contrary to what Republicans and far right media may claim, acreage for the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni was already in federal hands and does not represent a grab of state, tribal, or private lands. Amber Reimondo at Grand Canyon Trust writes...

National monument designations only apply to federally managed lands. The Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument designation thus adds a layer of protection to lands already managed by the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Bureau of Land Management. No private, state, or tribal lands are included in the monument.  This added layer of protection is incredibly popular with the public. The monument has broad support across the Grand Canyon state. [ ... ] Recent polling shows that 75 percent of Arizona voters support designating lands immediately outside Grand Canyon National Park as a national monument to protect clean water supplies and Native American sites.

The three components of the Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni are outlined in green on this map.

#baaj nwaavjo i'tah kukveni – ancestral footprints of the grand canyon national monument #indigenous rights #native americans #arizona #joe biden #us forest service #bureau of land management #conservation #the environment #uranium mining #colorado river

[jeanieology]

[muckraker169]

[gwydionmisha]

#Avi Kwa Ame #Castner Range #Hawaii #Joe Biden #News

[intothewildsstuff]

Spirit Mountain: Biden to declare largest national monument of his presidency in Nevada - CNNPolitics

[rjzimmerman]

Proposed new national monuments (Washington Post)

President Biden will probably designate a historic military site in Colorado as a new national monument in the coming weeks, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Biden has yet to create a national monument since taking office. The new designation would apply to Colorado's Camp Hale, a World War II-era military training ground along the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains, and the Tenmile Range, which have attracted visitors for their stunning landscapes and provide habitat for wildlife including elk, bears, otters, lynxes and migratory songbirds.

The official designation of the Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument could come as soon as this month, although no final decisions have been made, according to one person familiar with the matter, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

Here are three other proposed national monuments, although advocates are pushing for many more:

In March, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland visited Castner Range in El Paso, as The Climate 202 reported at the time. The site encompasses about 7,000 acres that the Army used for weapons training and testing until the 1970s. While Castner Range is off-limits to the public because of unexploded ordnance, it provides habitat for wildlife including bobcats, mountain lions, coyotes, badgers, sandpipers and roadrunners.

Haaland last week visited a site in southern Nevada known as Avi Kwa Ame,or Spirit Mountain, to discuss how to protect the area with tribal and local community leaders. Several Native American nations consider the site sacred, including the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe and the Bishop Paiute Tribe. “It's an area that has been occupied since time immemorial, and it's home to so many important cultural resources for all of the Indigenous people in this region,” said Taylor Patterson, executive director of the Native Voters Alliance Nevada and a Bishop Paiute tribal member.

In an Aug. 31 letter, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) urged Biden to protect Plum Island [on Long Islandf] from development, whether by designating it as a national monument or a national heritage area. The island is home to several endangered and vulnerable species, such as the piping plover and roseate tern, as well as two locations on the National Register of Historic Places.

#national monuments

[bxbakery]

Safeguarding Avi Kwa Ame in Nevada, ‘The Place Where Shamans Dream’ 

[bharathidasanprabhu]

Watch "These are America’s new National Monuments" on YouTube

[rjhamster]

Advocate for Wilderness

Advocate for Wilderness — Read on act.wilderness.org/a/thank-biden-protect-avi-kwa-ame-castner-range-osp

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