Statement from Trust for Public Land on President Biden Designating Avi Kwa Ame and Castner Range as National Monuments 

Washington D.C. – A statement from Diane Regas, Trust for Public Land [TPL] president and CEO, on President Biden designating Avi Kwa Ame in Southern Nevada and Castner Range in West Texas as National Monuments, providing permanent protections via the Antiquities Act:

“Trust for Public Land applauds President Biden’s historic commitment to Nevada’s Tribal Nations and communities to designate Avi Kwa Ame a National Monument. The Avi Kwa Ame National Monument will protect sacred land and connect sensitive desert landscapes, spanning from the Mojave National Preserve in California to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Southern Nevada. The land within Avi Kwa Ame is sacred to 12 Tribal nations, includes critical habitat for a wide range of wildlife, provides world-class outdoor recreation opportunities, and contains some of the most stunning landscapes in Nevada and America’s Southwest. 

Further southeast lies an iconic gem of West Texas, the now Castner Range National Monument. With its premier access to the outdoors, majestic views of yellow poppies in bloom along the Franklin Mountains – these 7,000-plus acres hold incredible significant historical, ecological, and cultural value to those across West Texas and southern New Mexico and we applaud the Biden Administrations designation today. 

Our national monuments and other public lands serve as fulcrums of history, family ancestry and heritage. By protecting special places, like Avi Kwa Ame and Castner Range, we are deepening our shared connection to the land, and in turn, building and honoring those that came before us. The use of the Antiquities Act to ensure these sacred and majestic landscapes are protected forever could not be more fitting.”

The Trust for Public Land has contributed to the protection of more than 6,800 acres of national monuments, visited by millions of people annually, as they connect to nature, experience cultural treasures, and enjoy the outdoors. These monuments have included projects at Bandelier, California Coastal, Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers Boyhood Home, Fort Sumter, Pipestone, Rio Grande del Norte, and Stonewall, demonstrating the depth and breadth of places the Antiquities Act protects and the American stories our national monuments tell.  

Passed by Congress and signed by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, the Antiquities Act permanently protects land that is determined to be of significant cultural, scientific, or natural value. Without it, places like the Grand Canyon or Zion National Park would never enjoy the level of protection that today enables visitors to experience their majesty.   

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