August 28, 2024
President Joe Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Biden,
The Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks supports the Pit River Nation’s effort to permanently protect sacred and traditional cultural lands, Sáttítla, in the Medicine Lake Highlands of Northern California by designating the area as a national monument. Protections for the countless unique resources, cultural history, and Tribal connections of this region are long overdue and urgently needed.
The Coalition is a non-profit organization composed of more than 2,700 retired, former, and current employees of the National Park Service who collectively have over 50,000 years of experience managing and protecting our national parks. The Coalition studies, educates, speaks, and acts for the preservation of America’s National Park System.
Sáttítla is culturally significant. It is a place that is deep-rooted in heritage for the Pit River Tribe and other Indigenous people. These lands are imbued with unique resources and contain historical and cultural resources that are reflective of the long-standing connections to the region.
In addition to their cultural significance, these lands are critical to the protection of water and wildlife. Sáttítla serves as critical headwaters in California. Aquifers below the surface capture snow melt and store as much water as California’s 200 largest surface reservoirs. Freshwater springs not only provide a buffer from increasing drought and climate change but are also key to ensuring drinking water for millions of people. These aquifers deliver clean water to the Fall River – the largest spring system in the state, and one of the biggest aquifer networks in the Western United States – which then flows from Shasta Lake to the San Francisco Bay.
The waters, lakes, and streams of Sáttítla – and the forest canopy – also provide a home to many unique plant and wildlife species that depend on these clean and healthy features to survive.
The Pit River Nation seeks to ensure long-term protection for Sáttítla through a national monument designation. The Coalition supports this effort and believes this region should be designated as a national monument to honor the cultural history of the land and to better safeguard land, water, wildlife, and habitat.
Sincerely,
Phil Francis, Chair
Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks
Ed****@pr********.org
(202) 819-8622