November 15, 2022
The Honorable Joseph R. Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President,
We are writing on behalf of over 2,200 members of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, a non-profit organization composed of retired, former, or current employees of the National Park Service (NPS). The Coalition studies, educates, speaks, and acts for the preservation of America’s National Park System. As a group, we collectively represent over 45,000 years of experience managing and protecting America’s most precious and important natural and cultural resources.
We greatly appreciate your recent designation of the Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument. We applaud your use of the Antiquities Act to preserve this landscape and advance our nation’s goal of conserving 30 percent of federal lands and waters by 2030. We urge you to continue to use the authority granted to the President under the Antiquities Act to designate additional federal lands as national monuments to order to ensure their continued protection.
Many of our treasured national parks began as national monuments, including sites such as Acadia National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, and Olympic National Park. Today, these places are integral to our national identity and hugely popular sites within the National Park System.
However, much work remains to be done to protect critical landscapes and cultural treasures, and advance our conservation goals. Local campaigns with broad community support are underway across our country to encourage you to continue the work of past Presidents by protecting lands at risk through national monument designation. These include sites such as:
- Avi Kwa Ame, where a coalition of Tribes, community members, and elected officials are advocating for the establishment of the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument. This site is at the center of the Yuman Tribes’ creation story. Establishing this national monument would be a critical contribution to the preservation of Native American ancestral lands, joining Bears Ears and Gold Butte National Monuments.
- Castner Range, near El Paso, Texas, where there is a longstanding, locally driven effort to protect the mountains of the Castner Range and open the lands to the public. Establishing the proposed Castner Range National Monument would safeguard the unspoiled land in the Franklin Mountains, which is home to diverse vegetation and wildlife. Additionally, the designation would help protect archaeological and historical resources that date back centuries.
- The 1908 Springfield Race Riot site in Springfield, Illinois. This site is part of the African American Civil Rights Network, and a monument designation would help to ensure the historic and nationally significant events that led to the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) are remembered.
There are currently hundreds of national monuments that protect and preserve landscapes and stories that are critical to our nation’s history. These spaces keep people connected to our natural world and cultural heritage while supporting local communities. But there are more lands to protect and local communities across the United States are seeking your assistance in preserving irreplaceable sites. Now is the time to utilize your authority under the Antiquities Act to protect more of these special places by designating additional national monuments.
Most respectfully,
The Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks Executive Council:
Michael Murray, Chair
Don Hellmann, Vice-Chair
Michael Allen
Sarah G. Allen
Russell Galipeau
Linda Mazzu
Don Neubacher
Jim Northup
Richard Ring
Cheryl Schreier
William Shaddox
Chris Soller
Sheridan Steele
Terri Thomas
Clara Wooden
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