WASHINGTON, D.C. — Yesterday, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) secured a commitment from Stevan Pearce, nominee for Bureau of Land Management Director at the Department of the Interior, to protect California’s Chuckwalla National Monument amid the Trump Administration’s efforts to abolish protections for America’s public lands. During today’s Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing, Padilla highlighted Pearce’s concerning voting record on public lands as a former New Mexico U.S. Representative and pushed him to honor the monument designation for these sacred, ecologically significant lands in California’s eastern Imperial and Riverside counties.
Padilla emphasized that the monument has broad, bipartisan support. The Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, the Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe, the Cahuilla Band of Indians, the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, and the Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) have also formed the Chuckwalla National Monument Intertribal Commission to sustain their lasting commitment to safeguard these sacred lands. Padilla secured Pearce’s commitment, if confirmed, to meet with the Intertribal Commission to learn more about the monument and engage in meaningful Tribal consultation.
Excerpts from Padilla’s exchange with Pearce are available below.
Key Excerpts:
- PADILLA: I’m going to echo some of the concerns and sentiments that some of my colleagues have raised about public lands and it is a bipartisan [issue] — I know Senator Risch especially was passionate earlier today. From a California perspective, the Bureau of Land Management manages nearly 15% of California’s land mass, so it’s critical for us that BLM and the BLM Director maintain these lands for future generations to enjoy and not just knee jerk sell them to the highest bidder. These BLM lands in California include Chuckwalla National Monument. For years, I worked with numerous Tribal leaders who led the effort to protect the natural resources in that area and to promote access to what is now Chuckwalla. It was a thoughtfully crafted proposal, as you and I discussed in my office, that took into account the input from stakeholders, conservationists, of course, energy developers, utilities, Tribal leaders, hunters, recreation groups, and others, and we ended up with universal local support from the state and bipartisan support here in the Senate and in Congress. As a result, as one of the outcomes of that, five tribes have even formed an Intertribal Commission to solidify their enduring commitment to protecting sacred lands in Chuckwalla. My question is clear and simple, Mr. Pearce. If confirmed, are you committed to honoring these monument designations? Yes or no?
- PEARCE: Yes.
- PADILLA: Thank you. That’s a great answer. Short, clear, concise, and on the record, and I appreciate your support for maintaining these protections, and please know that I also want to work with you to arrange a meeting with you and the members of the Intertribal Commission so you can learn more about Chuckwalla. Don’t expect you to be an expert on day one. Is that a meeting that you’re willing to commit to, should you be confirmed? … The meeting with the Tribal Commission that has been formed now that the monument designation has been finalized.
- PEARCE: Senator, as a Representative of southern New Mexico, we had multiple Pueblos, we had Apache tribes, and we had Navajos. We worked extremely closely with all of those to accomplish objectives they were looking for in their lands. I would visualize very similar. The Native Americans sometimes are overlooked, from Washington.
- PADILLA: Not just sometimes, far too often.
- PEARCE: We became a voice for them, and would continue to do that.
- PADILLA: Right, and we talked about meaningful, substantive consultation, not just the checking of a box that has happened so much over the course of history.
- PEARCE: Absolutely.
Video of the exchange is available here.
Senator Padilla led the charge to establish the Chuckwalla National Monument. Padilla, Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), former California Senator Laphonza Butler, and Representative Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.-25) urged President Biden to use his authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to designate the monument. Padilla, Butler, and Ruiz also introduced legislation to push for its establishment.
The Chuckwalla National Monument protects over 624,000 acres of California’s vast desert landscape. The monument designation protects important spiritual and cultural values tied to the land such as multi-use trail systems established by Indigenous peoples, sacred sites and objects, traditional cultural places, geoglyphs, petroglyphs, pictographs, and native plants and wildlife. It also provides more equitable access to nature for eastern Coachella Valley communities and surrounding areas.
Last year, Padilla condemned a Department of Justice legal opinion that could pave the way for the Trump Administration to eliminate or shrink California’s recently established national monuments, Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands.