On August 30th, U.S. Senators of California Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler, along with Representative Adam Schiff (D- Burbank) called on President Biden to use his authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to designate the Sáttítla National Monument in northern California. The Senators plan to introduce legislation to establish the Sáttítla National Monument when Congress returns in September. The creation of the Sáttítla National Monument would protect over 206,000 acres of culturally significant, ecologically rich, and geologically unique public land within the Shasta-Trinity, Klamath, and Modoc National Forests in northeastern California.
The Pit River Nation regards Sáttítla as sacred land, and this area remains a spiritual center for the Pit River and Modoc Nations, as well as for surrounding Native Americans who continue to use the area for religious activities, ceremonies, and gatherings. For this reason, the lawmakers’ legislation would support the co-management of the monument between the federal government and federally recognized Tribes under relevant federal authority.
The Sáttítla highlands are geologically unique and contain one of the headwaters of the entire California watershed. The volcanically formed aquifers below the surface capture snow melt, store as much water as California’s 200 largest surface reservoirs, and discharge over 1.2 million acre-feet of snowmelt annually. The highlands also host a wide variety of aquatic and terrestrial habitat, including the Fall River trout fishery.