Among the national monuments in Southern California, Mojave Trails in San Bernardino County appears to be most at risk, according to Danielle Segura, executive director of the Mojave Desert Land Trus

Conservationist Frazier Haney drove with intent on Skeleton Pass Road, a dirt byway that stretched miles ahead to somewhere beyond the horizon in the Mojave Trails National Monument. As he cruised through the Fenner Valley, Haney remarked that the four-wheel-drive Chevy Suburban felt more like a boat at sea because of the vast, uninterrupted landscape all around him.

President Trump aimed to dismantle part of our nation’s heritage when he called recently for a 120-day review of national monument designations since 1996. This egregious order is an affront to our country’s history and an attack on the protected lands in our backyard, including Mojave Trails and Sand to Snow National Monuments.

On Monday, May 8, Mojave Desert Land Trust hosted a rally in Joshua Tree to oppose “federal attacks on the California desert national monuments.” The group said about 160 people attended the rally. “It’s up to all of us to make sure these monuments remain protected,” Danielle Segura, the trust’s executive director said in the statement.

A group calling itself “Desert Defenders” rallied at the Mojave Desert Land Trust offices in Joshua Tree yesterday. In April, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Secretary of the Interior to review all national monuments over 100,000 acres that were created between 1996 and 2016 by the Antiquities Act of 1906, to determine if the monuments should be downsized or eliminated. Two of the 27 monuments under review are in our local region: Sand to Snow, and Mojave Trails National Monuments.

Today, Mojave Desert Land Trust (MDLT) hosted a rally with over 160 attendees standing up against the federal attacks on the California desert national monuments. The rally was held in response to the executive order signed April 26, 2017, instructing the Department of the Interior to review the designations of national monuments under the Antiquities Act. The executive order threatens the protections for the three California Desert national monuments – Castle Mountains, Sand to Snow, and Mojave Trails.