Fire Prevention and Forest Health Are Priorities for Monument Designation

Agencies Maintain Existing Authority in National Monuments - It is important to note that fire agencies like CAL FIRE, the US Forest Service, and local entities retain their full existing authority and ability to fight wildfires within a national monument.

The Pit River Nation, Tribal Citizens who call the region home, elected officials, and local supporters share common goals about safety and fire management in the face of climate change and the ongoing drought’s impacts on the region’s national forests.

The Pit River Nation has long partnered with the Forest Service to restore and care for the national forests. The Tribe is seeking co-stewardship and eventually co-management for this national monument to include our Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). TEK favors active management to return forests to more natural fire regimes through implementation of traditional culture burning practices which have been employed for thousands of years.

“The Pit River Nation has been working closely with land managers, including the US Forest Service, to improve the health of the forests which have been poorly managed for decades. Our Tribal citizens continue to call this region home, and along with our neighbors we have been personally impacted, and shared concerns that climate change and drought increase the risk of fire and catastrophic events We need to best manage the forest with this threat in mind.

The Pit River Tribe's vision for the area incorporates continued safety and fire suppression activities, including timber harvests, and Tribal ecological burns. Agencies like CAL FIRE, the US Forest Service, and other local entities retain their full existing authority and ability to fight wildfires in national monuments to keep our communities safe, and the proposed legislation for the monument includes intentional language to ensure fire management is clearly addressed.  

We believe a national monument, Tribal co-stewardship that builds on our existing work and knowledge, and the Resource Management Plan that will guide this needed work will help agencies better manage the forests to prevent repeated catastrophic events in the future."

- Brandy McDaniels, Pit River lead for the Sáttítla National Monument Campaign

National Monument proclamations are typically shaped by a legislative proposal. Proclamation language from recent designations makes it clear that pro-active fire mitigation activities are allowed in national monuments; these same pro-active fuel reduction activities would be permitted in a Sáttítla National Monument.

National Monument proclamations, particularly those designated on lands managed by the US Department of Agriculture, have a fair bit of flexibility in terms of fire management including pre-suppression activities like forest thinning. Forest supervisors can employ “all means necessary” to suppress fires, particularly when private property and structures are threatened.

Previous national monuments designated by President Biden on US Forest Service land have been permissive in terms of fire management, with the Camp Hale National Monument and Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument being good examples.

• Both proclamations ensure continued authority by local, state and federal agencies to manage and prevent fires.

• Both proclamations provide for vegetative management treatments to clear over growth, underbrush, and remove invasive species that threaten the health of the forest.

Camp Hale National Monument (USFS lands in Colorado)

The Secretary may carry out vegetative management treatments within the monument consistent with the proper care and management of the objects identified above, except that commercial timber harvest may only be used when the Secretary determines it appropriate to address ecological restoration or the risk of wildfire, insect infestation, or disease that would endanger the objects identified in this proclamation or imperil public safety.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to alter the authority or responsibility of any party with respect to emergency response activities within the monument, including wildland fire response, or to preclude avalanche control efforts within or adjacent to the monument, including efforts to mitigate avalanche risks to neighboring communities, roads and infrastructure, or recreation facilities or destinations.

Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument

The Secretaries may carry out vegetative management treatments within the monument to the extent consistent with the proper care and management of the objects identified above, with a focus on addressing ecological restoration; wildlife connectivity; or the risk of wildfire, insect infestation, invasive species, or disease that would endanger the objects identified in this proclamation or imperil public safety.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to alter the authority of any party with respect to the use of prescribed fire within the monument.

Important facts to know about the proposed national monument:

• The bill recently introduced by Senator Alex Padilla includes management language that is permissive of active management for suppression and pre-suppression activities.

• The proclamation would allow for continued timber harvesting within the monument boundaries for the purpose of addressing wildfire, watershed protection, or forest health.

• The Pit River Nation has indicated a strong preference for traditional cultural burning practices to be restored in the Sáttítla National Monument which would reduce combustible vegetation that fuels wildfires.

• The lands being proposed for protection are already federally managed by the US Forest Service (there are no new private lands being proposed for inclusion) and that would continue under a monument proclamation, allowing the agency full fire management control in emergencies.

• Modern fire management practices in national monuments improves the health of a forest.

Read more FAQs and facts about the proposed national monument here.