Ellen Montgomery’s public comment delivered at Chuckwalla monument public meeting

Thank you for the opportunity to make a public comment today. My name is Ellen Montgomery. I’m the public lands campaign director for Environment America Research & Policy Center. Our organization recently delivered more than 16,400 petitions from supporters across the country in support of designating the Chuckwalla national monument.

Threats from development and climate change threaten this sensitive desert ecosystem. In the face of a looming biodiversity crisis, we must take action to protect wildlife habitats. One of the easiest actions is to ensure that large areas of land, such as Chuckwalla, are protected from disruptive human activity. 

For centuries, we sacrificed much of our country’s nature in the name of progress. We do not have to do that anymore. We can power our homes and our lives and create enough stuff for everyone and also preserve the open spaces that remain. And we must if we want to save the planet for future generations of wildlife and humans. 

Our nation has a long legacy of conservation and protecting the special natural places that we love.

President Biden has already leaned into that legacy, creating five new monuments. I urge the President to make Chuckwalla our next national monument.