Fly with Tribal members, media, and conservation partners to advocate for the protection of Chuckwalla under National Monument designation.

Chuckwalla Bench is home to desert forests, cinder cones and spectacular cactus gardens, and summer monsoons bring the area to life. Interlacing river channels and canyons filled with ironwood, Palo Verde trees, bunchgrasses, and ocotillo separate expanses of “desert pavement.” The area is one of the largest and most intact tortoise habitats in the California desert and contains historic World War II training sites.

The Bench remains a largely preserved ecosystem because of its early recognition as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern. But, the region is threatened by massive proposed residential developments, nearby energy sites, and a lack of legislative protections. A coalition of environmental groups is working to create stronger and lasting environmental protections through national monument designation. The designation will preserve a critical ecological buffer for Joshua Tree National Park. The National Monument will allow this desert space to continue to be a source of clean solar energy, while creating protections for important habitat that supports sensitive desert species like desert tortoise, and the endemic Munz’s Cholla – California’s largest cactus.

Designating this area as a national monument will protect important historical lands, cultural resources, and biodiverse species.