Victorville Daily Press: Public land in Mojave Desert just named as California's newest national monument
Roughly 740,000 acres of the Mojave Desert comprise California's newest national monument in Riverside and Imperial counties.
Chuckwalla National Monument was established in mid-January by outgoing President Joe Biden as one of his last executive actions after several years of grassroots and advocacy campaigning by groups like Mojave Desert Land Trust (MDLT). It is now the fifth largest land-based national monument in the mainland U.S.
The national monument status offers an alternate future for the southernmost California desert as it grapples with climate change and habitat loss according to MDLT. The monument also serves to preserve the area's incredibly biodiverse land, nearly two-thirds of which is critical habitat for the endangered Mojave Desert tortoise and the desert pupfish.