Updated March 21, 2023 at 11:47 AM ET
President Biden on Tuesday will proclaim two vast swaths of land – Avi Kwa Ame in Nevada, and Castner Range in West Texas – as national monuments, a designation that effectively preserves a total of nearly 514,000 acres of land from new development.
Biden also will start the process to designate 777,000 square miles around the Pacific islands southwest of Hawaii as a National Marine Sanctuary. Part of this area includes an existing marine national monument.
Biden had pledged to conserve more land when he took office. But lately, he has come under intense criticism from environmental groups for approving a new oil drilling project in Alaska. Some environmentalists argued the Willow project violated the administration’s climate and conservation goals, even though the administration also announced it will prevent or limit oil drilling in 16 million acres in Alaska and the Arctic Ocean.
Biden’s first new national monument was Camp Hale – Continental Divide, which he designated in Colorado in October .
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AP
President Joe Biden speaks at the White House Tribal Nations Summit at the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C., Nov. 30, 2022.
Avi Kwa Ame is considered sacred ground
In Nevada, the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument – also known as Spirit Mountain – is considered sacred by a dozen tribes. Advocates say would help preserve ancestral native lands.
It is home to one of the world’s largest Joshua tree forests, and provides habitat for desert bighorn sheep, desert tortoise, and Gila monster lizards.
Biden first said he intended to protect it in November at the White House Tribal Nations Summit. “When it comes to Spirit Mountain and its surrounding ridges and canyons in southern Nevada, I’m committed to protecting this sacred place that is central to the creation story of so many tribes that are here today,” he said at the time.
Castner Range is an old firing range that’s part of Fort Bliss
In Texas, Biden will preserve the Castner Range National Monument, near El Paso. It is part of Fort Bliss, and was a training site until 1966. The site has ancient rock imagery, cultural deposits and historic military locations. The land needs to be remediated because of unexploded munitions.
Advocates pushing to make Castner Range a national monument have argued it would increase access to nature for more people in the community.
Biden will make the proclamations official during a conservation summit at the Interior Department.
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The national monument designation effectively preserves the land from new development. President Biden is also starting the process for a vast new marine sanctuary southwest of Hawaii.