"Parks Coalition Presses Biden To Establish 6 New Protected Monuments"

"A coalition of former National Park Service employees is lobbying President Joe Biden to safeguard several sites rich in natural, cultural and historical resources."

"An organization representing current and former National Park Service employees is calling for President Joe Biden to use his executive power to establish several new national monuments around the country and advance his goal of conserving 30% of the nation’s lands and waters by 2030.

TheCoalition to Protect America’s National Parks published a report Tuesday that identifies six “national treasures in need of protection” and urges Biden to use the Antiquities Act of 1906 to make it happen.

Those sites include Castner Range, a 7,000-acre former military weapon testing facility east of El Paso that is home to archeological sites and a diversity of wildlife, and Avi Kwa Ame, meaning “Spirit Mountain” in the Mojave language, an area of southern Nevada that is sacred to 12 Native American tribes.

Signed into law in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt, the Antiquities Act authorizes the president to “declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States to be national monuments.” Sixteen presidents, both Republicans and Democrats, have used it to create more than 150 monuments."

Chris D'Angelo reports for HuffPost April 19, 2022.

Source: HuffPost, 04/20/2022