President Biden recently announced his commitment to designate Avi Kwa Ame as a national monument! This is exciting news, but he's yet to officially make the designation. Please help us tell President Biden to quickly follow through on his promise to designate Avi Kwa Ame a national monument.
Avi Kwa Ame, which is the Mojave name for Spirit Mountain, has deep cultural, spiritual, and environmental importance for the region --- and is significant to 12 Indigenous Tribes. However, this fragile ecosystem is currently facing significant threats from climate change and development. The proposed Avi Kwa Ame (Spirit Mountain) National Monument is a proposal to establish a new national monument on roughly 450,0,000 acres of public land in southern Clark County. The lands would be managed to conserve their outstanding ecological, cultural, recreational, scenic, and other values and would be preserved for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations.
By permanently protecting Avi Kwa Ame as a new national monument, the treasures of this desert landscape -- from prehistoric turquoise mining sites to important desert bighorn sheep habitat -- would be protected for generations to come.
For the Yuman tribes, like the Mojave, Hualapai, Yavapai, Havasupai, Quechan, Maricopa, Pai Pai, Halchidhoma, Cocopah and Kumeyaay, the area is tied to their creation, cosmology, and well-being. Part of the area is also the traditional and ancestral lands of the Southern Paiute Peoples(Nuwu) and part of their Salt Song Trails. The Salt Songs are a cycle of songs of over 140 pieces that tells of the Southern Paiutes travels throughout various areas of present-day California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. The songs are sung at funerals and memorials and literally tell the story of the Salt Song Trail sharing the location of springs, salt and mineral deposits, as well as the location of other resources and culturally significant sites. Avi Kwa Ame was designated a Traditional Cultural Property on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999 in recognition of its religious and cultural importance.
The proposed monument is a hotspot of botanical diversity, providing habitat for a wide range of plant and animal diversity, including many species found nowhere else on Earth. The Joshua Tree forests within the proposed monument are among the most significant ones on the planet. The proposed monument includes the eastern edge of the world’s largest Joshua tree forest, which is home to some of the oldest and largest Joshua trees in existence. The oldest of these ancient wonders have survived for over 900 years. Please help us protect this ecologically important section of the Mojave Desert by signing our petition to protect the proposed Avi Kwa Ame National Monument here: sc.org/AKAnow.
And if you feel passionate about protecting this beautiful area, please help us by writing a letter to the editor urging President Biden Protect the area. Here is our Letter to the editor guide: http://bit.ly/akasclte