Healthy public lands
The California desert is home to three national park units; Joshua Tree and Death Valley National Parks, and Mojave National Preserve. The Bureau of Land Management oversees another 11 million acres, including the new Chuckwalla National Monument. But our public lands and the people who manage them for our benefit are in dire straits.
Tell Congress: Hands off our public lands!
Congress has initiated an action against Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument that could have a ripple effect on monuments across the nation.
Members of the Utah congressional delegation have introduced a resolution that would dissolve the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument's resource management plan (RMP). RMPs are carefully crafted plans involving in-depth public comment to ensure a strategy that balances access, recreation, and the preservation of these special places. These plans can take years to develop. If passed, the proposed legislation would reject years of input from tribes, hikers, campers, hunters, OHV drivers, anglers, grazers, and any other sectors of the public with an interest in our national monuments. This action would set a new precedent, exposing national monuments across the country to similar challenges and allowing partisan politics to determine uses of public lands rather than the communities that rely on them the most. Within the California desert, this uncertainty would affect the economies, landscapes, and biodiversity tied to national monuments like Mojave Trails, Sand to Snow, and Chuckwalla.
A vote is expected in Congress soon. Use our quick action form to tell your representatives you oppose any congressional attempt to overturn national monument resource management plans.
Keep public lands fully funded
The 2025 One Big, Beautiful Bill Act brought deep cuts to land management agencies. January’s 2026 budget saw across-the-board cuts to public lands management agencies. Congress is still considering even more massive defunding proposals for our public lands and waters. A second budget reconciliation, the process used to pass the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act with a slim majority, is planned for this spring. Severe cuts, layoffs, and attempts at a public lands selloff are on the table.
Protect Chuckwalla National Monument
Chuckwalla National Monument was designated on January 14, 2025 by President Joe Biden. It spans approximately 624,000 acres from the Coachella Valley region in the west to the Colorado River in the east. In establishing the national monument, President Biden recognized that the lands "hold extraordinarily diverse ecological, cultural, and historical value". The Mojave Desert Land Trust is proud to have served as part of the movement to designate this new desert national monument. These new public lands offer a beacon of hope for the future stability of one of North America’s strongholds of biodiversity.
