Future of Sattitla (Medicine Lake) National Monument remains uncertain

A fact sheet put out by the White House earlier this month included a statement saying the Trump administration would terminate “proclamations declaring nearly a million acres of new national monuments that lock up vast amounts of land from economic development and energy production.”

The New York Times reported that Trump had issued an executive order eliminating the two monuments. The Washington Post later reported that officials confirmed Trump’s plans to eliminate the two national monuments, which are both in California.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who Trump said is his “energy czar” because he supports increased drilling for oil, gas and minerals, recently conducted a review to determine whether to alter the boundaries of national monuments. The review concluded Feb. 18, but its results have not been made public.

Despite the uncertainty about the future of Sattitla and Chuckwalla, several groups said they will oppose a change in designation for the two sites. The 224,000-acre Sattitla monument includes portions of Modoc, Siskiyou and Shasta counties, while the Chuckwalla monument in Southern California spans 624,000 acres. More than 800,000 people signed a petition seeking the creation of the two sites and others.

Native American tribes, including the Modoc, Pit River, Karuk and others that consider these landscapes sacred, had urged Biden to put them off-limits to drilling, mining, clean-energy development and other industrial activity.

The Sáttítla National Monument encompasses an area known as the Medicine Lake Highlands northeast of the Mount Shasta volcano. The area is sometimes called the headwaters of California because of its crucial role in supplying clean water from volcanic aquifers to communities across the state, including farms downstream.

Shortly after Trump’s executive order was reported, the bullet point about eliminating national monuments was gone. The New York Times reported that no announcement of the elimination of the new monuments has been put out publicly and that The White House had not yet responded to request for comments from various media outlets.

The lack of clarity has left local proponents uncertain over the future of the two new monuments, which had gained widespread support.

“I’m shocked to learn that after decades of work to protect Sáttítla Highlands National Monument, the White House is attempting to alter it without talking to anyone in the community,” Casey Glaubman, a Mount Shasta City council member and executive director of the Mount Shasta Avalanche Center, said in a statement. “This move jeopardizes the area’s exceptional outdoor recreational opportunities and crucially important reserves of fresh, clean water. Tribal nations, local elected officials, business leaders, and local sportsmen have all strongly supported the designation and were engaged in a years-long process to make it happen. Everyone in our community agrees that this landscape deserves permanent protection.”

The possibility of eliminating or shrinking national monuments is not new. During his term as president, Trump significantly shrunk Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, which had been created by the Obama and Clinton administrations. The Biden administration restored the monuments to their initial sizes, but Trump has said he will again shrink those monuments.

Project 2025, the policy roadmap for a second Trump administration coordinated by the conservative Heritage Foundation, has suggested repealing the Antiquities Act of 1906 that allows presidents to create national monuments. The act was signed by President Theodore Roosevelt and was used to create the Grand Canyon as a national monument before it later became a national park.

It is unclear, however, whether Trump has the authority to abolish the proclamations outright. The Antiquities Act of 1906 authorizes the president to protect lands and waters for the benefit of all Americans, including by establishing or expanding national monuments. But the law does not indicate if a president can remove the designation without Congressional approval.

Adding to the confusion, a White House fact sheet said Trump had signed an executive order “terminating proclamations declaring nearly a million acres of new national monuments that lock up vast amounts of land from economic development and energy production.” But that line had disappeared from the fact sheet by the following day. The White House did not respond to requests for clarification.

When the first Trump administration shrank Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, a coalition of environmental groups and tribes swiftly filed lawsuits challenging the actions. Lawyers for Earthjustice, the group representing the coalition, previously told Inside Climate News the group would revive its case or bring others if monuments were targeted again. Environmental groups have also joined the chorus against the threats to Chuckwalla and Sáttítla.

“Trump’s gutting of the Chuckwalla and Sáttítla national monuments is a gruesome attack on our system of public lands,” said Ileene Anderson, California desert director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Both these monuments were spearheaded by local Tribes with overwhelming support from local and regional communities, including businesses and recreationists. This vindictive and unwarranted action is a slap in the face to Tribes and all supporters of public lands. Any tiny amounts of minerals in these areas aren’t worth the destruction of priceless wildlife habitat, sacred Tribal lands and world-class recreation.”
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