Letter follows visit by Secretary Haaland to the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Representatives John Garamendi (D-Calif.-08) and Mike Thompson (D-Calif.-04) led a letter to President Biden and Interior Department Secretary Deb Haaland urging the Administration to use its authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to expand the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument to protect the entirety of Molok Luyuk. This effort follows a letter Padilla, Garamendi, and Thompson sent earlier this year — which pushed the Administration to include adjacent federally owned land known as the “Walker Ridge” tract — after the lawmakers received overwhelming local Tribal support to protect additional sacred land.

The updated letter also requested that Secretary Haaland order the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to rename “Walker Ridge” to “Condor Ridge” and “Molok Luyuk” in the Patwin language of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation and other local Indigenous tribes.

“We write to augment our previous request that you issue a proclamation under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to expand the boundary of California’s Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. Following Secretary Haaland’s recent visit to the Monument, we now write in full support of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation’s request that you include the entirety of Molok Luyuk within the Monument. Currently, this parcel is administered as part of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Indian Valley Management Area. Furthermore, we urge you to issue the proclamation at the upcoming White House Tribal Nations Summit or the soonest possible opportunity,” wrote the lawmakers.

“Molok Luyuk is culturally significant to numerous federally recognized tribes and other Native peoples including the Patwin, Pomo, Wappo, and Miwok peoples,” continued the lawmakers. “That is why our legislation would require the federal land management agencies to engage in meaningful consultation and voluntary co-management of the expanded Monument with federally recognized tribes. We hope that any presidential proclamation under the Antiquities Act would provide similar direction for the BLM and Forest Service to provide ample opportunity for federally recognized tribes to comanage the Monument.”

In addition to Senator Padilla and Representatives Garamendi and Thompson, the letter was signed by Representatives Julia Brownley (D-Calif.-26), Judy Chu (D-Calif.-28), Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.-10), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.-02), Mike Levin (D-Calif.-49), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.-18), Doris Matsui (D-Calif.-07), Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.-19), and Katie Porter (D-Calif.-47).

Senator Padilla and Representatives Garamendi and Thompson are strong advocates for the preservation of California’s natural lands. Earlier this year, Padilla introduced S.4080, the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument Expansion Act, with the late Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Representatives Garamendi and Thompson. The legislation would expand the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument to include approximately 3,925 acres of adjacent Bureau of Land Management-administered public lands in Lake County, California. It would also require the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service to improve tribal engagement and co-management of the National Monument, including for historic preservation, archaeological sites, and forest health. S.4080 was passed by the Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources with strong bipartisan support and is endorsed by over 50 local and national organizations.

Presidential proclamations under the Antiquities Act of 1906 only apply to federally owned land and do not affect privately owned or other non-federal land in any way.

Over 30 local and national organizations and Tribal governments support the effort to protect all of Molok Luyuk via the Antiquities Act, including the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, Cachil Dehe Band of Wintun Indians, the Robinson Rancheria Citizens Business Council, California Environmental Voters, California Native Plant Society, CalWild, Conservation Lands Foundation, Tuleyome, The Conservation Alliance, Defenders of Wildlife, Hispanic Access Foundation, the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, The Mountain Pact, The Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, Vet Voice Foundation, Defenders of Wildlife, Friends of the Earth, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, The Center for Biological Diversity, and Western Watersheds Project.     

Full text of the letter to President Biden and Secretary Haaland can be found here and below:

Dear President Biden and Secretary Haaland:

We write to augment our previous request that you issue a proclamation under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to expand the boundary of California’s Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. Following Secretary Haaland’s recent visit to the Monument, we now write in full support of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation’s request that you include the entirety of Molok Luyuk within the Monument. Currently, this parcel is administered as part of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Indian Valley Management Area. Furthermore, we urge you to issue the proclamation at the upcoming White House Tribal Nations Summit or the soonest possible opportunity.

For several Congresses, we have introduced the “Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument Expansion Act” to include adjacent federal lands in the Monument, rename the “Walker Ridge” parcel to “Condor Ridge” or “Molok Luyuk” in the Patwin language, and require the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service to improve tribal engagement and co-management of the Monument. In the 117th Congress, the House of Representatives passed the bill as part of the “National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023.” This past May, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources unanimously voted to report the bill favorably. Both the BLM and the Forest Service have testified in support of our bicameral legislation to expand the Monument which they co-manage. Since then, we have continued to hear overwhelming support from Californians to protect an even larger footprint than envisioned in our legislation, which is why we now support including all of Molok Luyuk within then Monument.

Molok Luyuk is culturally significant to numerous federally recognized tribes and other Native peoples including the Patwin, Pomo, Wappo, and Miwok peoples. That is why our legislation would require the federal land management agencies to engage in meaningful consultation and voluntary co-management of the expanded Monument with federally recognized tribes. We hope that any presidential proclamation under the Antiquities Act would provide similar direction for the BLM and Forest Service to provide ample opportunity for federally recognized tribes to co- manage the Monument. In addition to the endorsement of numerous tribal governments, the National Congress of American Indians adopted a resolution this past June supporting the expansion of the Monument to include all of Molok Luyuk and the efforts by local Tribes to engage in co-management agreements with the federal land management agencies.

As previously requested in our original letter dated October 17, 2022, we also recommend that any Antiquities Act proclamation to expand the Monument be accompanied by a Secretarial order directing the Board on Geographic Names to formally rename the BLM parcel commonly referred to as “Walker Ridge” as “Molok Luyuk” (Condor Ridge). This renaming will reflect the area’s rich cultural significance to the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation and other Native peoples.

Expanding the Monument would advance to the Administration’s National Conservation Goal under Executive Order 14008 of permanently conserving 30 percent of the United States by 2030. Following the Secretary’s and other federal official’s visit to Molok Luyuk on September 24, we hope you will now act to conserve Molok Luyuk’s unique biodiversity, geological formations, and cultural connection to the Yocha Dehe and other Native American tribes that have called the area home for thousands of years.

We look forward to working with you to permanently conserve this unique landscape in California for future generations to enjoy while ushering in a new era of tribal co-stewardship of ancestral public lands. Thank you for your leadership and consideration of our request.

Sincerely,

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