Community Voices: The Biden Administration Needs to Protect Nature and Our Climate by Designating the Chuckwalla National Monument

I was at an event recently at the Whitewater Preserve and had the opportunity to speak with a man who’s been a ranger in Barstow going on 45 years.

His name was Art Basulto. He shared his deep concern over the slow disappearance of wildlife throughout the Southern California deserts and mountains. When he started working as a ranger, he could spot dozens of varieties of lizards and snakes; he would see desert tortoises underneath cars getting shade; and he would hear so many birds in the trees around him when he was in the mountains. He often had to slow down while driving, because there were so many animals crossing the road.

Unfortunately, that is no longer the case. He has witnessed the gradual disappearance of species and the changing landscape through the impacts of human development and climate change.

I have heard the same concerns from youth in our community. During hikes in the La Quinta Cove and lectures at high schools, we’ve talked about the importance of protecting our natural resources and wildlife. I was glad to hear about the increasing environmental and climate advocacy growing in local high schools.

All of this is why I am grateful for Rep. Raul Ruiz and his leadership in joining the community to urge the Biden administration to use the Antiquities Act to designate the Chuckwalla National Monument.

By protecting 675,000 acres of public lands from the Coachella Valley to the Colorado River, designating the Chuckwalla National Monument and expanding Joshua Tree National Park, we will conserve this critical landscape and our wildlife, improve the connection between our people and the environment in which they live, and help address climate change.

In California, desert lands account for 10% of the state’s carbon sequestration through the soil, plants and fungi found on our lands. Calcium carbonate crystals actively store carbon throughout our desert, deep into our soils.

If these lands are disturbed, that carbon will be released into our atmosphere, and the process of carbon storage, which mother nature is so good at, will no longer function. These lands would no longer help us clear out the increasing fossil fuel emissions in our environment.

The Chuckwalla National Monument would also enhance our local environmental education opportunities and help us teach future generations to appreciate our lands—helping them understand that these extremely complex systems need to be cared for and rejuvenated. The more we understand these systems, the better we can help protect them, and the more we’ll be prepared for the challenges that are coming our way.

I support Rep. Ruiz’s request to our federal government to permanently preserve this land for the good of our community and the benefit to our environment. We hope to get that support from President Biden and his administration.

Indio Mayor Oscar Ortiz is an immigrant from Mexicali, Baja California, and grew up in Indio. He went on to study at Stanford University, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 2012. Oscar has seven years of experience working in the production of pharmaceuticals and currently works in environmental education. Oscar was elected to Indio’s City Council in 2018 by District 4, which has the highest level of poverty within the city.