California Native Plant Society Applauds Secretary Haaland’s visit to Molok Luyuk
September 25, 2023, Sacramento — The California Native Plant Society (CNPS) is deeply appreciative of U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland’s recent visit to Molok Luyuk, where she toured the proposed national monument expansion, met with the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, and visited with community leaders and organization representatives.
Statement from Dr. Nick Jensen, CNPS Conservation Program Director:
“We thank Secretary Haaland for visiting Molok Luyuk to experience first-hand its sweeping vistas, blue oak woodlands, and important cultural sites. We’re grateful for the time and interest she took in hearing from the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, community leaders, and organizations like ours, who’ve been working – in some cases for decades — to permanently protect this evocative, but at-risk land.
The California Native Plant Society and thousands of supporters stand behind the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation’s request to add Molok Luyuk to Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. This special landscape is a botanical treasure with one of the most biodiverse concentrations of plants in the state. Its varied habitats are home to nearly 500 types of plants, 40 of which are rare plants in urgent need of stronger protection. This designation for Molok Luyuk would secure that protection and allow for its ongoing management to be informed by generations of tribal knowledge.
More than a million species are now at risk of extinction, and scientists across the globe agree that we must conserve at least 30% and as much as 70% of the Earth’s lands and waters to stabilize the climate and safeguard biodiversity. The expansion of Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument would advance our nation’s America the Beautiful goal to protect 30% of lands and waters by 2030 (30×30) and help California meet its commitment to conserve 6 million acres as part of national and international efforts. We’re grateful to Secretary Haaland for taking the time to visit, and we hope she left inspired and in agreement that it’s time to permanently protect Molok Luyuk.”