Chuckwalla National Monument Defense

August 11, 2025 — Nine veteran, recreation, and conservation organizations—including Conservation Lands Foundation—followed the Ft. Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe, Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, and three other Tribal Nations in filing motions to intervene in a lawsuit to defend California’s Chuckwalla National Monument. Through our long-standing partnership, Advocates for the West is providing legal counsel to Conservation Lands Foundation in defense of Chuckwalla National Monument.

The lawsuit in which the groups and Tribal Nations have moved to intervene was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan by an Idaho-based motorized recreation special interest group, BlueRibbon Coalition, and an individual miner from Michigan, against the U.S. Department of Interior. These plaintiffs, represented by the Texas Public Policy Foundation and Mountain States Legal Foundation, seek to undo the designation of the monument, established in January 2025. The monument is located on desert lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management in California’s Riverside and Imperial Counties.

The organizations filing for intervention spent years carefully vetting boundaries and collaborating with Tribes, veterans, business owners, local elected officials, recreation and conservation groups, and community members to identify and document Chuckwalla’s unique resources and values worthy of monument-level protections. These organizations each have interests and expertise in the monument’s designation, and intervention by interested parties is critical. Even if the U.S. government vigorously defends the monument, it does not have the same interests as local Tribes or this intervening coalition.

Chuckwalla National Monument benefits local economies, protects lands significant to 13 Tribal Nations, ensures equitable access and outdoor recreation (including camping, picnicking, driving off-highway vehicles, hunting and more), and safeguards numerous historical, scientific, and ecological values. The monument designation was called for and celebrated by local Tribes, local and state governments, state and federal elected officials, veterans, 300+ businesses, business groups and Chambers of Commerce, 370+ scientists, and residents of surrounding communities.

Democrats and Republicans have used the Antiquities Act to designate monuments for more than 100 years. The Supreme Court, a century ago and other courts in the decades since, have consistently upheld the president’s authority to determine whether and how much area to protect. Lands protected as National Monuments have included important stretches of public lands in California like Joshua Tree and Death Valley, which were designated as National Monuments in the 1930s by presidential proclamation.

In addition to Conservation Lands Foundation, groups filing the motion to intervene include CactusToCloud Institute, California Native Plant Society, CalWild, Center for Biological Diversity, the National Parks Conservation Association, Sierra Club, Vet Voice Foundation, and The Wilderness Society. They are represented by Earthjustice and the Law Offices of Joseph Lavigne.