Obama designates 3 new monuments in Calif.

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — President Obama designated three national monuments Friday in California, setting aside nearly 1.8 million acres for permanent conservation and bringing to fruition Sen. Dianne Feinstein's years-long effort to protect some of the desert's most treasured landscapes and ecosystems.

The Sand to Snow National Monument stretches from the desert floor near Palm Springs to the peak of Mount San Gorgonio in the San Bernardino National Forest, comprising 154,000 acres. The Mojave Trails National Monument, which spans 1.6 million acres, surrounds historic Route 66, between the Mojave National Preserve and Joshua Tree National Park. The Castle Mountains National Monument fills a 21,000-acre gap in the Mojave National Preserve, protecting a rare desert grassland teeming with Joshua trees.

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Obama's decision to establish the monuments, using his authority under the 1906 Antiquities Act, is sure to draw criticism from some Republican politicians, even those who supported legislative efforts to protect the lands in question. Feinstein spent six years pushing versions of the monument plan in Congress, but when her latest bill failed to get traction last year, she urged Obama to designate the monuments himself.

The monuments should help fortify the desert against the impacts of climate change, the White House said in a statement announcing Obama's decision Thursday night. The newly protected lands connect millions of acres of already protected lands, creating corridors through which at-risk species like bighorn sheep can travel as some areas become less habitable because of rising temperatures.

"Building on the administration’s commitment to protect our land and water, today’s designations will nearly double the number of acres of public lands previously protected as national monuments by President Obama — demonstrating the administration’s strong commitment to aggressive action to protect the environment for future generations," the White House said.

Obama creates three new national monuments

Obama came Friday to Palm Springs from Los Angeles where he attended several Democratic fundraisers Thursday night and filmed an episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show. On his trip, he diverted to fly over the newly designated national monument areas.

He is expected to leave Tuesday afternoon, following a summit with Southeast Asian leaders at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

In some ways, the road to the new monuments began in 1994, when Feinstein wrote the California Desert Protection Act. The Senate and House passed the bill by overwhelming margins, creating Joshua Tree and Death Valley national parks, and the Mojave National Preserve. The legislation, which protected about 9 million acres, was spurred by a desire to limit mining, grazing and off-roading.

By 2009, conservationists saw a new threat to the California desert: solar and wind farms. Encouraged by Obama's support for renewable energy, developers proposed dozens of solar and wind projects on public land in California, alarming environmentalists who saw the industrial facilities as a threat to sensitive ecosystems, at-risk species and breathtaking landscapes.

Most of those power plants never got built, many of them bogged down by opposition from conservation groups. But the specter of the renewable energy "gold rush" still looms large over desert conservationists, many of whom worked with Feinstein on her legislation.

"These national monuments will play a vital role in the long-term sustainability and health of the region, and the protection of our beautiful, diverse deserts," Theresa Pierno, president of the National Parks Conservation Association, said in a statement.

Monument status precludes industrial development, from solar and wind farms to new mining. The designations are also expected to bring money from the federal government, which the National Park Service could use to study wildlife and plant species and to teach visitors about the areas' histories and ecologies. The park service will also promote the monuments, probably boosting tourism.

The Sand to Snow National Monument help link the San Bernardino National Forest, the San Jacinto Mountains and Joshua Tree National Park, connecting a diverse array of ecosystems and protecting a wildlife corridor traversed by mountain lions, bighorn sheep and desert tortoises, among other species. The monument includes 30 miles of the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail.

The Mojave Trails area includes sand dunes, ancient lava flows, 550-million-year-old fossil beds and the Sleeping Beauty Valley, an intact West Mojave Desert ecosystem. The protected lands also boast significant historical value, conservationists say.

"The monument will protect irreplaceable historic resources including ancient Native American trading routes, World War II-era training camps, and the longest remaining undeveloped stretch of Route 66," the White House said.

Feinstein's bill called for the Mojave Trails monument to cover 942,000 acres, but the White House said its version of the monument would span 1.6 million acres. It wasn't immediately clear what additional lands Obama decided to include in the monument.

The 20,920-acre Castle Mountains monument will be small by comparison, but conservationists say it's no less important.

The area fosters a diversity of plant and animal life unmatched almost anywhere else in the California desert, thanks to its high elevation and monsoonal summer rains. The area is also part of the world's largest Joshua tree forest.

In some ways, it provides better habitat for Joshua trees than Joshua Tree National Park, where the namesake species is struggling to reproduce amid a changing climate.

Feinstein's latest bill would have created the Sand to Snow and Mojave Trails monuments while adding the Castle Mountains to the Mojave National Preserve.

A competing proposal from Rep. Paul Cook, a Yucca Valley Republican who represents the High Desert, would have handled Sand to Snow and the Castle Mountains the same way while offering a lesser level of protection to the Mojave Trails. Under Cook's bill, 10% of the Mojave Trails "special management area" would have been opened to new mining.

At a contentious public meeting in October, John Sobel, Cook’s chief of staff, expressed hope that his boss and Feinstein could compromise. He criticized Feinstein and conservation groups for calling on Obama to use the Antiquities Act, saying a presidential designation would create "second-rate monuments because they lack the adequate support of locals and of Congress."

A diverse coalition of large mining companies, off-road vehicle enthusiasts and local politicians joined conservationists in supporting Feinstein's bill since she included provisions to protect their interests. Many of those supporters rejected the push for executive action, fearful a presidential designation would hew more closely to the desires of conservationists, perhaps banning off-roading or mining in certain areas.

Obama has now used the Antiquities Act to create or expand 22 national monuments, including eight in California. The Mojave Trails monument is his second largest designation, trailing only a 258-million-acre addition to the Pacific Remote Islands Marine monument.

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