This national monument is ‘part of the true history of the USA’. Will it survive Trump 2.0? | California

IIt is easy to get lost in the highlands in Sáttítla in the remote northeast California. There are miles from the lava fields circulating, the forests that they did not touch and the Sabaj mountains. At night, darkness and silence extends indefinitely.

This is one of the latest national landmarks in America. It is also one of the most threatening equipment.

In January, the Pit River tribe celebrated decades Joe Biden Federal protection granted approximately 230,000 acres of forest lands with the creation of Sátítla Highlands.

“The amazing geological wonders of the described combined here as the highlands in Sáttítla have frame the homelands of the original societies and cultures for thousands of years,” the advertisement is read, recognizing the region as “deeply sacred.”

The tribe, along with environmental groups, fought for years to protect the Earth from developing industrial energy. The region, north of Jabal Shassa, which is popular for entertainment and some of the darkest night sky in the United States, is the site of the story of the construction of the tribe and is used regularly for the celebrations.

“This is the place of healing for our people. It is really linked to our traditional health.” “We have spent life in an attempt to defend this area.”

The appointment does not guarantee any energy development in the future and mineral extraction can occur on the ground while keeping it available for general entertainment.

But in March, Donald Trump said that he will back down from Biden’s work and decline in protection in favor of Sáttítla and Chuckwalla National Monument, who argued “by closing huge amounts of land from economic development and energy production.”

Although legal experts say that there is no clear mechanism for the president to cancel the protection of the memorial – only to reduce it – the Ministry of Justice argued in a recent note that in reality within the Trump authority “changing a prior declaration”, indicating that the administration will move forward with efforts to remove national souvenirs of hundreds of thousands of the interest of the impasse.

Now, while the tribe is trying to move forward after years of pressure with limited resources, professional lawyers and “bulldozing every cent” to reach listening and protest sessions, it can be another battle on the horizon.

As if you are in another world

Sátttla is located five hours northeast of Capitol California in the low -population area, and it is far from the structure that was struck.

“You are not trying to reach another place if you are going there. It is very dark, it is very calm, there is no reception for the mobile phone,” said Nick Goslin, Director of Politics and Da`wah at the Mountain of Mountaine, an environmental call, an environmental advocacy group in the region. “It is very easy to get lost.”

The memorial includes 224,676 acres of parts of the Modoc, SHASTA-TRINITY and Klamath national forests, which are home to plants, endangered animals and animals, which are the huge volcanic water layers that provide water for millions of people and store the largest amount of water in California larger than the surface tanks in California. Because of the dense snow, it is not largely accessible by car for a few months of the year.

The landscape, with its islands of old pine forests, snow -covered mountains and scattered lakes, are amazing and other world. Goslin said it was full of unique geological features such as ice caves, lava tubes and lava flows. Then there is a sleeping volcano of half a million, about 10 times the size of the St. Helms Mountain, inside the memorial. Rotally local population, raising hundreds of miles from tracks or taking boats on the Medical Lake.

“It is a place known for a high quality of silence that you cannot try anywhere, as well as its night sky,” said McDanels. “Based on the place where you are, people describe it as if you were in another world, just as I was on another planet.”

There are signs of human disorder. Forests from the forests where the trees were clear, and large extensions from the ground with the second growth -like growth trees.

For the indigenous population, this region is sacred as a place to narrate the creation of the River of the Hafra tribe. The tribe maintains important celebrations there and collects basic foods such as Manzanita berries, currant plants, sugar pine seeds and plants used in medical capabilities.

“The scene of the region literally tells the history of our people. In this way, it is part of the true history of the United States of America,” said McDanels.

An unsupported scene at a threat

She added that the tribe fought to protect the region for nearly three decades, which challenges and registration of thermal thermal development on a scale.

Since Sáttítla is a volcanic area, there was speculation that there may be enough heat to develop the Earth’s Energy Resources, and in the eighties of the last century the federal government granted rental contracts on thousands of acres to private energy companies.

Sivas said that the environmental law clinic represented the tribe in a series of litigation challenges the extension of some lease contracts and proposed projects, on the pretext that the federal government had failed to consult the tribe. The development of industrial energy would have a major transformation of landscapes, and the tribe opposed such infiltration on the Holy Land, and feared that the hydraulic crack used to generate the Earth’s Energy Energy may pollute the groundwater layers.

Sivas said in the end there was no resource’s potential at first. The final settlement was signed with Calpine, the last company remaining with control of the ground, just two days after the memorial announcement.

Goslin indicated that there was support for the wide society for the memorial, but some officials in the conservative region were more beautiful.

Doug Lamalva, a person from the Congress, whose region of Stattela, has described Biden as a “executive transcendent” and argued that “will create unnecessary challenges to land management, especially in preventing forest fires and maintaining their use of the local population.”

But there was no organized opposition against the monument.

The presidents have the authority to give a protected position to decline with cultural, scientific or historical resources of national importance, and Biden and other presidents are usually used to preserve and support tribes.

In the case of Sáttítla, the appointment protects from the development of industrial energy, but it does not prevent entertainment, or prevents American forest service from carrying out the work of the Hynological Fire Management.

But Trump took a fight against national monuments as part of his energy -supporting agenda, as it reduced the size of the bears ears in Utah and the effects of the large national stairs During his first term (It is a step that was later reflected by Biden). Earlier this month, the Ministry of Justice Release On the pretext that Trump has a authority not only shrinking, but completely eliminates the national monuments that his predecessor has established.

But the legal argument for this position seems weak. Sivas said that the Antiquities Law, which is the statute where national monuments are appointed, does not give the president the authority to do so.

“There is no language that indicates that he can remove or retract what the former presidents have done,” said Sivas. She added that the last argument made by the administration was not particularly convincing.

Sivas said that, given that there is no opposition to Sáttítla, this step appears to be designed to test instead the limits of the president’s strength. She added that the administration will continue to decline, and legal procedures are followed, which expects to make its way to the Supreme Court.

“We will provide litigation if this happens. This is a type of canary in the charcoal mine.”

McDanils described the efforts made to decline in protection as “confusing”. She referred to the speech of the Interior Minister Doug Burgum to the National Congress of the American Indians who indicated that he does not believe that “the most precious places”, such as parks and antiquities, should target development.

McDanels said that the tribe focused on celebrating the memorial, informing the public of the importance of these lands and ensuring that they continue to work as a place to recover for the indigenous population who borne a long history of genocide and injustice.

“The truth and recovery cannot begin if we are constantly fighting to protect our sacred lands,” McDaniels said.

“This is what we do not want for our children, grandchildren and all future generations. Everyone deserves the right to try the gifts that this land provides to people.”