In a historic move back in 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt leveraged the Antiquities Act to protect Devils Tower in Wyoming, marking the first national monument designation. This bold action by Roosevelt set a precedent for safeguarding America’s unique landscapes and cultural sites.
The Antiquities Act has since played a crucial role in the protection of numerous iconic sites, including the Petrified Forest in Arizona, Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, and the Grand Canyon. Presidents have continuously used this powerful tool, with only three exceptions, to conserve vital cultural and natural resources.
Recently, President Joe Biden has continued this tradition by creating six new monuments and revising the boundaries of several others. This move has garnered support from Native American tribes and conservation groups, who are advocating for further designations before Biden’s term ends.
Among the proposed sites for new monument designations are palm tree-laden areas with petroglyphs in Southern California, a sacred Native American site in Nevada’s desert, a historic Black neighborhood in Oklahoma, and a homestead in Maine linked to Frances Perkins, the first female cabinet member in the U.S.
Protecting Historical and Cultural Sites
The Antiquities Act, signed by Roosevelt, was initially motivated by the need to protect sites from looting and unregulated artifact collection. It provided the first legal framework in the U.S. to preserve cultural and scientific resources on federal lands.
Roosevelt’s designation of Devils Tower was driven by scientific interest in preserving the unique geologic formation. Native American tribes, who have their ceremonial sites there, also have stories that explain its origin.
President Biden, invoking the Antiquities Act in 2021, emphasized the cultural significance of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante areas in Utah. These sites were among the numerous monuments established by President Barack Obama, whose actions were later partially reversed by President Donald Trump due to concerns over energy development limitations.
Biden described Bears Ears — the first national monument created at the request of federally recognized tribes — as a “place of healing.”
Preserving Sacred Grounds
Originally, monument designations often displaced tribes from their ancestral lands. For example, in 1933, President Herbert Hoover designated Death Valley as a national monument. This decision halted mining activities but also displaced the Timbisha Shoshone from their lands. It took decades for the tribe to recover a portion of their territory.
President Biden has taken steps to collaborate with tribes on managing public lands, integrating Indigenous knowledge into decision-making processes.
The Avi Kwa Ame National Monument, Biden’s second designation, holds cultural importance for tribes in Nevada. However, it faced criticism from Nevada’s Republican governor, Joe Lombardo, who claimed the federal government did not consult with state authorities, potentially hindering energy developments.
Similarly, Biden’s designation of the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni National Monument in Arizona aimed to protect against uranium mining near the Grand Canyon, with tribes and environmentalists supporting the move.
Establishing Conservation Corridors
While Biden’s actions have not broken records in terms of monument numbers or land area, conservationists believe strategic use of the Antiquities Act is essential to protect lands as renewable energy projects expand.
Conservationists are advocating for the expansion of California’s Joshua Tree National Park and the creation of a new monument stretching to the Colorado River. The proposed Chuckwalla National Monument has garnered tribal support.
This new monument would enhance one of the largest contiguous protected corridors in the U.S., stretching from Utah’s Canyonlands through existing monuments to the desert oases of Southern California.
“The concern out there is that so much land is getting used for renewable energy and it just kills the desert completely. And so if we’re not more proactive about protecting these places in the desert, we could lose them forever,” expressed Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs for the National Parks Conservation Association.
Beyond Natural Wonders
Biden’s monument designations have also focused on historical significance beyond natural landscapes. In May, he recognized the site of the 1908 race riot in Springfield, Illinois, as a national monument, aiming to maintain relevance and support Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign.
In 2023, Biden established a national monument honoring Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, across sites in Illinois and Mississippi, commemorating the teenager who was brutally murdered in 1955.
Petitions are ongoing to designate the Greenwood area of North Tulsa, Oklahoma, the site of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, as a national monument, and to create a monument in North Dakota’s Badlands, where tribes seek to highlight the land’s original inhabitants.
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