Biden's last move expands largest swath of protected land in lower 48
The new Chuckwalla National Monument enhances an 18-million-acre corridor spanning four states and abutting the Colorado River. Plus, a roundup of positive environmental news.
In the barrage of frightful headlines from the last few weeks, I didn’t want one incredible story to be lost. One of President Biden’s last acts in office established the Chuckwalla National Monument in California, protecting 624,000 acres from development.
The move enhances a conservation corridor spanning four states and several national parks. It improves protections for rare desert ecosystems and cultural sites, including petroglyphs. It will protect endangered desert tortoises, desert bighorn sheep and the chuckwalla, a medium-sized lizard that is a common sight in this area.
In doing so, Biden has expanded the largest swath of protected land in the lower 48 states.
The entire area is known as the Moab to Mojave Conservation Corridor. Connecting pockets of protected land into a larger whole magnifies the benefits to wildlife by allowing free movement and migration. The corridor cushions the Colorado River, which, as the largest source of water in the Western United States, gives life to both wildlife and people.
“This 18-million-acre corridor links the Mojave Desert to the Colorado Plateau, providing safe migration routes for wildlife like the iconic desert bighorn sheep and ensuring clean water flows through the Colorado River and its tributaries. It protects sacred sites central to Tribal nations for countless generations, and welcomes millions of visitors each year, inspiring exploration and bringing lasting economic strength to surrounding communities,” said Theresa Pierno in a National Parks Conservation Association press release.
During his term, Biden established or expanded five national monuments abutting the Colorado River, all featured in blue below. In his first term in office, President Trump attempted to shrink Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments to make way for more drilling and mining, a move many saw as illegal. Biden restored these to their original size.
The Chuckwalla monument was supported by a broad coalition of tribes, scientists, conservationists, legislators, chambers of commerce and solar companies. A group for offroad vehicle enthusiasts is still opposed, though the monument doesn’t close off any existing legal trails. There doesn’t appear to be oil or mining interests here, though solar power developers clearly negotiated a compromise that protected their interests.
So, one week into the new administration, and the chaotic ax of executive power has been thrown everywhere, it seems, but here.
Fingers crossed.
Earth Hope provides a deluge of success stories
I want to welcome a lot of new subscribers. Earth Hope, in a nutshell, shares reminders of how we make environmental progress. We don’t do this to provide a balm, but instead to inspire individuals to take action, to remind ourselves that the seed of success is often defiant, raging hope.
There’s a constant stream of success stories to share. I fret I can’t fit them all into 52 weekly newsletters. Here’s a few I collected in the past couple of weeks:
Birdwatchers rally behind endemic hummingbird, spurring conservation movement in Mexico:
“Since 2022, Chavarrillo started leveraging revenues brought through birdwatching to establish a natural reserve for hummingbirds. They adopted a community-based conservation model that allows individuals from across Mexico to donate their family or communal farmland in a specific ecosystem for biodiversity conservation without waiting for government action.”
Finding Sanctuary | The sunflower sea star may shine again in local waters
Invasive green crabs threaten West Coast ecosystems. One solution? Otters : NPR
Rabbit Feared Extinct Spotted For The First Time In 130 Years, And It's Feisty
So much amazing news! Please read more about Earth Hope and what inspired it here. I aggregate news, share personal anecdotes and conduct some original reporting.
What’s the point of information?
Lately, I’ve noticed a trend when speaking with friends and relatives who state that they don’t or can’t read the news. It’s understandable. News can be rough. But I have to say: “Don’t turn away.” Information helps us make decisions. It helps us understand where we are complicit in creating a better world — or a worse one. Now more than ever, don’t turn away. This information is vital. Journalists are heroes.
When I consume bad news, I raise a few mental shields. When I discover good news, I let all boundaries down. I let it sink in deep. I turn it into a meditation, where I envision the life that is healing from these monumental successes or tiny strokes of beauty. I feel it in my veins, enlivening and urging my hands and heart to take environmental action.
Under the “Don’t Turn Away” category this week, I feel compelled to share these two headlines:
From The New York Times: What Elon Musk’s Salute Was All About
“A Hitler salute is a Hitler salute is a Hitler salute,” the prominent German weekly Die Zeit wrote in an editorial.
And, regarding North Atlantic right whales that are on the brink of extinction due to ship strikes and lobster gear entanglements,
writes in a recent post, “Michael Shellenberger's (Wind) Power Trip”If Shellenberger really wanted to save the most endangered Atlantic whale species, the North Atlantic Right Whale, he would indeed be advocating for President Trump to intervene - not focusing on wind turbines but reviving the proposed vessel-slowing rules the Biden administration just abandoned and helping the offshore lobster industry here in the Northeast (and in Canadian waters) shift practices and gear. Both are urgently needed, as the was made clear when federal biologists confirmed that Maine lobster trap lines were the cause of death of one whale last year. No wind turbines in sight.
We’ve got to take in this information and not let it poison us, but allow it to deepen our understanding of how our own actions can contribute to creating a better world. Should we buy Maine lobster if the industry insists on its ropes, instead of switching to readily available ropeless technology? No. Should we fall for Musk’s “strategic ambiguity?” No.
When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.
— Maya Angelou
A few more inspirational reads
From Substack, I’d like to share a few articles that moved me. In reference to the historical resistance to fascism, from
, who proclaims, “Creativity emerges not despite darkness but because of it — as witness, as protest, as hope”:
From
, a magical visitation of mountain bluebirds on a cold winter’s day, and a reminder to listen to that “voice”:
But wait, there’s more
From self-described “misanthropic prairie rat”
, please read an “Ode to grasslands.”Grasslands. No matter what you call them; plains, prairie, uplands, savanna, sagebrush steppe; or where they are found, grasslands are our national cathedral of space, wind, and sky.
If you’d like to feel more grassland love, check out my piece from last month:
Another uplifting piece was
’s short photo chronicle of volunteers clearing thirsty and invasive Russian olive trees to replenish water and make way for beaver-feeding willows.I recommend reading
’s “How do we make progress now?” Some good news contained in that piece is that congestion pricing has already halved the rate of accidents in New York City after just one week. This echoes an older piece from Distilled, which discusses “How the Netherlands Built a Biking Utopia”:All of these changes have had an incredible impact on The Netherlands. In the 1970s about 500 children were dying from car fatalities per year. Four decades later in 2010, 14 children died, a decrease of about 97%.
And, finally, treat yourself to these few minutes with Andy Revkin as he dismantles the “Climate Change Complexity Monster” and see what he says about the role of love at the end.
About Earth Hope:
Earth Hope is a solutions-based journalism project that highlights environmental success stories from around the globe, because hope is the foundation of progress. I’m Amanda Royal, a former newspaper reporter and current eco-news junkie. Read more about this project and what inspired it.
Visit earthhope.substack.com for more stories.
Thank you, Amanda, for sharing so much optimism in dark times; we all need that. Somehow I had missed the establishment of the Chuckwalla National Monument. It’s a decision that makes me happy, it’s a part of the US where I have travelled many times. It needs protection, now more than ever. And thank you for mentioning my article 😊. As a Dutchman, I also enjoyed reading the history of making Dutch cities bike-friendly; it describes the 1970s until now, so it brought back memories of a lifetime. This line I wanted to share: “Similar bicycling rates in the United States would save a staggering 125,000 lives each year.”
Amanda, this may be my favorite amongst your excellent posts. Despite having a lot to do this morning, I stopped the presses and dug into several of the highlighted stories attached to your main post. I’m feeling a sense of hope, tempered by some trepidation in this political climate. If the orange one cancels the newly protected desert, I imagine he’ll return as one of the threatened lizards in his next life. Of course, the noble chuckwallas will likely insure that he remains under the rock where he was hatched. Andy Revkin’s YouTube talk was a special treat—I will replay it later to be sure I absorb all of what he says. And yes, love is the critical element in saving this planet.