President Biden knows how important it is to protect our public lands for the environment, for Native Americans and for all Americans.
So what has he done? Oh, he’s only signed more proclamations to create national monuments in his first term than any president since Jimmy Carter.
As E&E News reported in May:
Biden’s embrace of conservation through executive action at this point in his presidency is unusual for recent presidents. Even his recent Democratic predecessors — Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, who both embraced use of the Antiquities Act — largely left the declaration of monuments until their second terms.
Many presidents have left at least some of their monument creation until they are walking out the door. For example, Clinton established nine sites and expanded two after the 2000 election.
Biden — who has so far created five monuments and expanded two others — has highlighted the protection of public lands, saying he sees it as a part of his climate change agenda. In 2021, for example, he signed onto an international movement for countries to preserve 30 percent of land and waters by 2030.
Here is one specific example, explained by CNN last year:
Biden designates area sacred to tribes as largest national monument of his presidency
President Joe Biden on Tuesday officially designated a new national monument in Southern Nevada while speaking at a conservation event at the Interior Department.
At more than 506,000 acres, the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument is one of the largest tracts of land to come under federal protection so far during Biden’s presidency, preserving Nevada’s Spirit Mountain and the desert around it.
“It’s a place of reverence, a place of spirituality, a place of healing,” Biden said Tuesday. “It will now be recognized for the significance it holds and be preserved forever.”
And he protected four more at the same time, as Afar magazine told us:
- Camp Hale National Monument in Colorado
- Castner Range National Monument in Texas
- Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument, which consists of sites in Illinois and Mississippi
- Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni National Monument in Arizona
“Our national wonders are literally the envy of the world,” Biden said in a speech at a White House summit on conservation action on March 21, when he announced the Avi Kwa Ame and Castner Range monuments. “They’ve always been and always will be central to our heritage as a people and essential to our identity as a nation.”
In that speech, he said that by granting the protections, the United States is safeguarding “the heart and the soul of our national pride. We’re protecting pieces of history, telling our story that will be told for generations upon generations to come.”
Just last month Biden added nearly 120,000 acres to two national monuments in California important to tribal nations — the San Gabriel Mountains and the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monuments. Per AP:
President Joe Biden on Thursday expanded two national monuments in California following calls from tribal nations, Indigenous community leaders and others for the permanent protection of nearly 120,000 acres (48,562 hectares) of important cultural and environmental land.
The designations are part of the Democratic president’s “America the Beautiful” initiative, launched in 2021 in line with Biden’s campaign promises, and builds on the Great American Outdoors Act. They’re aimed at honoring tribal heritage, meeting federal goals to conserve 30% of public lands and waters by 2030 and addressing climate change, the White House said in a news release. [ . . . ]
“These expansions will increase access to nature, boost our outdoor economy, and honor areas of significance to Tribal Nations and Indigenous peoples as we continue to safeguard our public lands for all Americans and for generations to come,” [Vice President Kamala] Harris said in a written statement.
Is there still more work to be done? 100%! Lots more work. But Biden has done so much more than many people guessed could be done. He deserves a lot of credit. AND he deserves to be re-elected.
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