The area to be protected is "larger than Alaska and Colorado put together,'' Biden said.īiden's actions come as he faces sharp criticism from environmental groups and youth activists over his approval of the huge Willow oil drilling project in Alaska.īiden has made fighting global warming a central part of his agenda and has pledged to cut planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. jurisdiction by 2030, the White House said. reaches Biden's goal to conserve at least 30% of ocean waters under U.S. If completed, the new sanctuary would help ensure the U.S. In the Pacific, Biden directed the Commerce Department to initiate a marine sanctuary designation to protect 777,000 square miles around the Pacific Remote Islands. The Avi Kwa Ame landscape is sacred to 12 tribes and is home to rare wildlife and plants, while Castner Range is the ancestral homeland of the Comanche and Apache people, and its cultural ecology is considered sacred to several Indigenous communities “Spirit Mountain will now be protected for future generations,″ Titus said. Dina Titus, D-Nevada, 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,″ tweeted Rep. Together, the two new national monuments protect nearly 514,000 acres of public lands. The Army ceased training at the site and closed Castner Range in 1966. Army during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Located on Fort Bliss, Castner Range served as a training and testing site for the U.S. veterans and tribal nations, and expand access to outdoor recreation on public lands, Biden said. In Texas, the Castner Range designation will protect cultural, scientific and historic objects, honor U.S. ‘Part of My Soul': Biden Wraps Up Ireland Tour With Moving Speech to Thousands The rugged landscape near the Arizona and California state lines is home to bighorn sheep, desert tortoises and a large concentration of Joshua trees, some of which are more than 900 years old. The Nevada site spans more than 500,000 acres and includes Spirit Mountain, a peak northwest of Laughlin called Avi Kwa Ame (ah-VEE’ kwa-meh) by the Fort Mojave Tribe and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. “They’ve always been and always will be central to our heritage as a people and essential to our identity as a nation.″ “Our national wonders are literally the envy of the world,″ Biden said in a speech at the Interior Department. “This kind of ‘Washington Knows Best’ policy might win plaudits from unaccountable special interests, but it’s going to cost our state jobs and economic opportunity,” Lombardo said in a statement. Joe Lombardo, who unseated the state’s Democratic governor in November, said the White House did not consult with his administration before moving to block clean-energy projects and other development in his state. Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. waters around the Pacific Remote Islands.Ĭonservation and tribal groups praised Biden's actions, but Nevada's new Republican governor slammed the Avi Kwa Ame monument as “federal confiscation” of Nevada land and “a historic mistake that will cost Nevadans for generations to come.” He also moved to create a national marine sanctuary in U.S. They’re a birthright we have to pass down to generation after generation.''īiden designated Avi Kwa Ame (ah-VEE’ kwa-meh), a desert mountain in southern Nevada that Native Americans consider sacred, as a national monument, along with the Castner Range in El Paso, Texas. Speaking at a White House summit on conservation action, Biden said the new monuments are among the “natural treasures” that "define our identity as a nation. The conservation measures are “protecting the heart and soul of our national pride,'' Biden said. waters near the Pacific Remote Islands southwest of Hawaii. President Joe Biden said Tuesday he is establishing national monuments on more than half a million acres in Nevada and Texas and creating a marine sanctuary in U.S.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |