News from Senator Padilla - Sáttítla National Monument Establishment Act
On August 30, 2024 California’s US Senators Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler and Representative Adam Schiff called on President Biden to use his authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to designate the Sáttítla National Monument in northern California.
The Senators also announced they will introduce legislation - Sáttítla National Monument Establishment Act - to set the frame work for a national monument when Congress returns in September.
The creation of the Sáttítla National Monument would protect over 206,000 acres of culturally significant, ecologically rich, and geologically unique public land within the Shasta-Trinity, Klamath, and Modoc National Forests in northeastern California.
Read the full press release from Senator Padilla here.
A map of the proposal is available here.
Full text of the Sáttítla National Monument Establishment Act is available here.
The full text of the letter sent to President Biden is included here below:
Dear President Biden:
We write to request that you issue a proclamation under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to designate the Sáttítla National Monument to protect more than 200,000 acres of public lands in the Shasta-Trinity, Klamath, and Modoc National Forests in northern California. We urge you to use your authority to protect this unique and sacred landscape, and we would be happy to host you for the visit this summer.
Since time immemorial, the Pit River Nation has regarded Sáttítla as sacred, and this area remains a spiritual center for the Pit River and Modoc Nations as well as for surrounding Native Americans who continue to use the area for religious activities, ceremonies, and gatherings. The area comprising Sáttítla contains countless tribal cultural resources that are reflective of the long-standing history of the region. Safeguarding these sacred resources is one of the driving forces behind our effort to permanently protect this important area through designation of the Sáttítla National Monument. This is also why our legislation would ensure the co-management of the Monument with federally recognized Tribes under relevant federal authority. We are proud to have secured the endorsement of several Tribal governments, as well as the National Congress of American Indians.
Sáttítla contains one of the headwaters of the entire California water system. The volcanically formed aquifers below the surface capture snow melt, store as much water as California’s 200 largest surface reservoirs, and discharge over 1.2 million acre-feet of snowmelt annually. Protecting this water resource is critical for providing water to millions of Californians and for agricultural use downstream. The highlands are also of high value for fish and wildlife and host a variety of aquatic and terrestrial habitat, including the Fall River, which hosts a legendary trout fishery and is California’s largest spring creek, which then flows from Shasta Lake all the way south to the San Francisco Bay.
Our effort enjoys broad support from federal, tribal, state, and local entities and was crafted in close coordination with affected communities and key stakeholders after years of grassroots advocacy to bring greater protections and recreation opportunities in northern California. We are proud of the support we have built to date and are confident that any Antiquities Act designation would enjoy equally broad support.
Establishing the Sáttítla National Monument would also contribute to the Administration’s goal under Executive Order 14008 of permanently conserving 30 percent of the United States’ lands and coastal waters by 2030, as well as the Administration’s America the Beautiful initiative, which is intended to address the three interlocking crises of nature loss, climate change, and inequitable access to the outdoors.
Thank you for your leadership and consideration of our request. We look forward to working with you to permanently conserve this sacred, geologically unique landscape in northern California for future generations to enjoy, and we would be pleased to host you for an in-person visit in the very near future.
Sincerely,
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