Blog: A new era of monument designations
HECHO was created to ensure that Hispanic and Latinx communities have a voice in the public-land management process. Since our inception, we’ve worked hard to make sure that Hispanic and Latinx leaders and communities have a seat at the decision-making table when it comes to energy development, the management of federal lands, conservation funding, and the permanent protection of important landscapes across the West.
Permanent protection of landscapes comes in many ways, and among the most useful tools for permanent protection is national monument designation, which can be legislated by Congress, or enacted by a sitting President under his authority granted by the Antiquities Act. Over the years, we’ve been a part of several monument campaigns, and more often than not, we’ve experienced inequitable coalition and funding structures that put people of color in the backseat, often tokenized or consulted, rather than being included in positions of leadership.
That’s why we’re proud to be a founding member of Monumental SHIFT, a coalition led by ethnically and racially diverse leaders working to protect landscapes as national monuments. Before deciding what campaigns to endorse and engage in, we undertake a thorough vetting process to ensure that campaigns are being organized equitably and include a diverse and representative leadership, placing a special emphasis on ensuring that local voices are not just amplified, but have seats at the decision-making table.
Most recently, the Monumental SHIFT coalition endorsed its first two monument campaigns, Castner Range, and Avi Kwa Ame, located in El Paso, Texas, and southern Nevada, respectively. The Castner Range, within the Franklin Mountains range, totals more than 7,000 acres and abuts the majority-Hispanic community of El Paso and its southern neighbor, Cd. Juarez. Here, in this very industrialized border community with little access to federal public land, Castner Range would provide an outdoor refuge to low-income and middle-class Hispanic communities, as well as conserve critical Chihuahuan Desert landscapes that provide refuge to a variety of native plant and animal species. Community advocates in El Paso have sought protection and public access for this landscape for decades, and the latest iteration of the campaign includes community leaders from the region who truly represent the borderlands.
The proposed Avi Kwa Ame national monument, spanning more than 380,000 acres in Clark County, Nevada, neighbors the Fort Mojave reservation. The area is sacred to ten Yuman-speaking tribes as well as the Hopi and Chemehuevi Paiute, and Spirit Mountain, called Avi Kwa Ame by the Mojave Tribe, is on the eastern boundary of the Monument. Spirit Mountain is currently designated as a Traditional Cultural Property. The area’s surrounding tribes, with Fort Mojave in particular, have long fought off development projects that threaten the ecologic and cultural integrity of this vast desert landscape. They are now key players in the development of a national monument proposal, as well as other surrounding community leaders, including in the city of Las Vegas.
We joined as co-founders of Monumental Shift to create a new system of monument advocacy and monument designations, one in which people of color and local communities are leading the way to create the right-sized monuments, with authentic local support, and with management prescriptions that preserve traditional and historical uses, and in many cases, Tribal co-management. Rather than be consulted with or be tokenized once a campaign is already developed, HECHO is working closely with its coalition partners to endorse and engage in monument campaigns that are being done right.
It is imperative that we use one of our nation’s most powerful conservation tools in a way that reflects and honors the local communities and the history and culture of the people who live there. Monuments protect objects of historic, scientific, commemorative and cultural values. That means that those who seek their protection, and whose history and culture is tied directly to these lands, must be at the forefront of protecting them. The Antiquities Act has great value to our country and our Hispanic and Latinx communities, but only if its used equitably and with the right decision-makers at the table. HECHO, along with its Monumental SHIFT partners, is ushering in a new era of monuments in which access is prioritized, people of color are leading, and local stakeholders are helping to draft monument proposals. Together, we will conserve our nation’s history, culture and landscapes in a way that brings pride to our communities, and create protected landscapes that are managed to conserve the traditional and historic uses that we cherish.
To learn more, visit Monumental SHIFT.