Expansion of Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument coupled with California’s first-ever collaborative management agreement between Tribes and federal agencies
As we reported last month, at a White House ceremony attended by CalWild staff on May 2nd, President Joe Biden signed a proclamation expanding the existing Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument (BSMNM) by over 13,000 acres in the Northern inner Coast Range of California, with the newly protected area found west of Williams in Colusa County and east of Clear Lake in Lake County. The action protected Bureau of Land Management (BLM) parcels that had been repeatedly threatened over the years by proposals for industrial development. President Biden’s declaration also renamed the protected lands from “Walker Ridge” to “Molok Luyuk,” which means “Condor Ridge” in the language of the Patwin people indigenous to the area.
On May 30th the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, one of the Patwin-speaking Tribes, hosted an event to celebrate the BSMNM expansion that was attended by representatives of other Patwin speaking Tribes such as the Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation and by Representative Mike Thompson, Senator Alex Padilla, California Natural Resources Agency Secretary Wade Crowfoot, BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning, and other national, statewide, and regional community leaders. CalWild staff were also honored to be invited as a result of our hard work since 2020 to help the Yocha Dehe and conservation partners in protecting Molok Luyuk after years of fighting off looming development threats.
At the celebration, representatives of the BLM and the Yocha Dehe and Kletsel Dehe signed a historic, first-ever for California agreement for the two Tribes to co-manage Molok Luyuk and the other portions of the BSMNM in their territories. The agreement provides a framework for Tribal officials, planners, resource specialists, and members to share knowledge and expertise with BLM leaders and staff so that the BSMNM can be collaboratively managed by federal and Tribal governments. This is especially important now that BLM is on the cusp of launching an effort to prepare a first-ever management plan for Molok Luyuk and the rest of the BSMNM. This co-stewardship agreement is the first in California stemming from a 2022 order from Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the nation’s first Indigenous cabinet member, directing agencies to care for federal lands in a manner that protects the religious, subsistence, and cultural interests of Tribes, including by developing collaborative management agreements with willing Tribes. The agreement for Molok Luyuk is now being followed by an agreement between Redwood National and State Parks and the Yurok Tribe on whose territory much of the Parks exist.
Representatives Thompson, Jared Huffman, and John Garamendi successfully called for the initial designation of the BSMNM in 2013 by President Barack Obama on lands managed by the BLM’s Ukiah Field Office and the Mendocino National Forest which is managed by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). In 2022 and again in 2023, Senators Padilla and Laphonza Butler and Representatives Thompson, Garamendi, and Huffman introduced legislation to expand the BSMNM by protecting Molok Luyuk, restoring its Patwin name, and requiring the development of a first ever, at least for federal lands in California, Tribal collaborative management agreement. Last October, these champions sent a letter to President Biden and Interior Secretary Haaland urging the administration to use its authority under the Antiquities Act to expand BSMNM and support co-stewardship opportunities at Molok Luyuk. Interior Secretary Haaland visited Molok Luyuk in September and held a listening session with representatives of over a dozen Tribes. This was followed by a well-attended public meeting on the proposed BSMNM expansion in Woodland in December.
In his remarks at the celebration, Senator Padilla noted that, “Today, thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration and decades of advocacy from tribal leaders and allies, the Patwin people will once again have a say in how Molok Luyuk is cared for. We’re setting a new standard of cooperative stewardship and embarking on a new era of public land management that gives tribes a seat at the table. With the historic signing of these co-stewardship agreements, local Tribes will be able to contribute their deep, personal knowledge of the history and ecology of the area more formally to better protect and celebrate this land. The expansion of the monument is also crucial for protecting the rich biodiversity and wildlife corridors that make California so unique, ensuring that these areas endure for the benefit of current and future generations.”
Yocha Dehe Tribal Chairman Anthony Roberts also remarked that, “We are profoundly grateful for this commitment to protect tribal cultural resources and the environment. All the support we received to expand the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument and include Molok Luyuk, especially from U.S. Senator Padilla, Congressman Thompson, Congressman Garamendi, and environmental organizations — their care and commitment to tribal lands has ensured a better world for generations to come. We look forward to additional opportunities to partner in our ancestral lands.”
We are expecting the BLM to launch its effort with Tribes and the USFS to develop a monument management plan for Molok Luyuk and the rest of the BSMNM. When that happens, we will be asking for your help in urging the BLM and USFS to adopt a plan that provides strong and durable protections for the resources and values for which the BSMNM was designated.
