Biden to limit development on 500,000 acres in Texas and Nevada with new monuments

The White House announced new plans to create two national monuments in Texas and Nevada, as part of President Joe Biden’s strategy to conserve lands. The government said these plans would preserve and protect 514,000 acres of public land in the West.

Biden will establish the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada and the Castner Range National Monument in El Paso, Texas, by signing a proclamation during the White House Conservation in Action Summit on Tuesday. The monuments will limit development in the areas, including drilling, mining and constructing renewable energy facilities.

The Avi Kwa Ame monument honors the tribal nations who consider this area sacred, and it is home to one of the world’s largest Joshua tree forests. Meanwhile, the monument at Castner Range covers the site of a former training and testing location used by the U.S. Army during World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. It also contains cultural sites significant to tribal nations, including the Apache and Comanche.

Biden’s goal is to conserve at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030, and he has already established another national monument encompassing Camp Hale, another former U.S. Army base, and the site of the Continental Divide in north-central Colorado, in October.

Biden will also take action to direct Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to consider initiating a new National Marine Sanctuary designation on Tuesday to preserve all U.S. waters around the Pacific Remote Islands.

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