To save vulnerable wildlife species in California’s desert, we need to protect and connect their habitats

Before the world’s largest wildlife bridge opens in Los Angeles in 2026, President Joe Biden’s administration can act to protect more of California’s wildlife. Development knocks out two football fields’ worth of wilderness every minute in the United States. As we carve up our wild spaces, wildlife gets trapped in dwindling parcels of nature, penned in by roads, fences and other human obstacles. While the state makes wildlife connectivity more of a priority, a proposed national monument in the Southern California desert can do even more good for imperiled wildlife species.

Whether to migrate, hunt, mate or seek out new territory, animals need to move around to thrive. Animals cut off from their species lose genetic diversity and are more vulnerable to disease and human-caused threats. Fast-moving vehicles smash the critters when they’re forced to cross the roads that split their habitat – we’ve all seen the roadkill. Wildlife are also harmed by the effects of climate change, such as drought and extreme heat, that jeopardize their health and available natural resources.

California has already taken steps to help threatened species and reconnect fragmented habitats. State agencies are helping construct the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing to reconnect a population of cougars in the Santa Monica Mountains with habitat in the nearby Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains. In 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Safe Roads and Wildlife Protection Act to reduce animal-vehicle collisions and “address wildlife connectivity needs.” 

The U.S. has multiple federal laws and policies that protect imperiled species, including the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Migratory Birds Treaty Act. But our wildlife needs more assistance to survive and thrive. Luckily, an opportunity to provide such assistance is right in front of us.

In April, United States Rep. Raul Ruiz , U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler and a coalition of tribes and local groups, supported by regional and national organizations, called on President Biden to designate the Chuckwalla National Monument, which will protect more than 660,000 acres of habitat in the desert south and west of Joshua Tree National Park..

Following a May visit to the proposed site, Department of the Interior officials held a public meeting on June 14 to discuss the monument. I testified on behalf of Environment California in support of the proposal’s ability to fight the fragmentation of desert habitat. The monument will enable future generations to experience a planet rich with biodiverse public lands. More importantly, designating the Chuckwalla National Monument would deliver much-needed resources to conserve imperiled wildlife in the region, such as desert tortoises and Sonoran pronghorn. 

The desert tortoise is the state reptile of California, but is considered “threatened” under both the California and Federal Endangered Species Lists. The proposed monument area boasts one of the highest densities of tortoises in California, which have weathered population decline over the past four decades due in part to human factors. As more people settled in desert regions, tortoise habitat became fragmented, and a new predator emerged: ravens. Ravens thrive in developed areas, and hunt for tortoise hatchlings from powerline poles. The proposed monument would permanently preserve and connect tortoise habitat, allowing the species’s population to recover.

The Chuckwalla Bench is also a potential reintroduction site for the critically endangered Sonoran pronghorn. Today, its population is limited to Arizona and parts of northern Mexico after they were driven out of California in 1950. According to experts, fewer than 200 wild pronghorn remain in the U.S. despite dedicated conservation efforts in recent years improving their number. The pronghorn, the fastest land animal in North America, could be re-introduced to the area by the Fish and Wildlife Service to help it fight off extinction.

Currently, there are “islands” of protected public lands in this region, including Joshua Tree National Park and designated wilderness areas. The proposed Chuckwalla National Monument would connect these islands by creating a “corridor” from Joshua Tree National Park to the Kofa National Wildlife refuge in Arizona, giving wildlife species much more space to migrate, hunt and find mates.  The proposed monument perfectly complements the bill that the California legislature passed last year to protect 30 percent of the state’s lands and waters by 2030. President Biden has already designated five new monuments in other states. Now, it’s California’s turn. President Biden and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland must act quickly to protect our desert.