WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) delivered a letter co-signed by Senator Laphonza Butler (D-CA) and Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) to President Joe Biden, calling for the President to use the Antiquities Act to designate Sáttítla National Monument, lands sacred to the Pit River Nation. The request is an important demonstration of California’s strong support for Tribally-led national monument efforts.
“With its quiet, forested woods and volcanic hills, Sáttítla is a landscape of exceptional biodiversity, a vital water source of the state’s largest spring system, and the site of irreplaceable Tribal cultural resources,” said CNPS Executive Director Jun Bando. “The California Native Plant Society thanks Senator Padilla, Senator Butler, and Congressman Shiff for calling on President Biden to designate Sáttítla National Monument. National monument designation would honor the Pit River Tribe’s leadership and generational efforts to protect their homelands, which nourish California communities and habitats near and far.”
Sáttítla, also known as Medicine Lake Highlands, is a spiritual center for the Pit River and Modoc Tribes, who continue to use the area for religious activities, ceremonies, and gatherings. The area is also home to old-growth forests and over 450 documented native plant taxa–including at least 19 rare, threatened, or endangered species. One noteworthy species, the rare talus collomia (Collomia larsenii), has only two population centers in California, one of which is the exposed lava flows left behind by Sáttítla’s Medicine Lake Volcano. The volcano is part of the Cascade Arc extending to British Columbia and contains every lava type possible in Cascade volcanism. The unique topography created by the Medicine Lake Volcano also provides the foundation for Sáttítla’s immense hydrologic catchment system, which sends a steady supply of cold, pristine water to the Sacramento River.
Hundreds of community members, scientists, and organizations have organized behind the Pit River Tribe’s request to permanently protect the region also known as Medicine Lake Highlands.
“National monument campaigns represent some of the most inspirational actions in conservation,” said CNPS Conservation Program Director Nick Jensen. “Sáttítla National Monument provides an opportunity to center the knowledge and goals of Tribes, local people, and the environmental community to conserve this spectacular landscape and its habitats for future generations.”
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