An Arizona-based coalition is calling on the Department of the Interior to expand the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in addition to returning the Darby Wells town site to the Tohono O'odham Nation and expanding the Hia-Ced O'odham cemetery.

Lorraine Marquez Eiler, a Hia-Ced O'odham elder, board president and co-founder of the International Sonoran Desert Alliance, explained the proposal would transfer a parcel of land managed by the Bureau of Land Management near Ajo to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a part of the Cabeza Prieta Wildlife Refuge. Eiler noted Darby Wells and the cemetery have great meaning to her and Native stakeholders.

"We do need a place where we can have our wakes, our ceremonies," Eiler stressed. "Even though we do, do it at Darby Wells which is on BLM land, it would be much better that we have our own place and of course any land that would come forth whether it's purchased or donated, or in whatever manner comes to us. It would go to the Tohono O'odham Nation."

Eiler has noticed more camping taking place in the area, leading to subsequent degradation which she argued takes away from the essence of the sacred land. She added expanding Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge and returning the sites to the Tohono O'odham Nation will bring a conservation focus to the fragile desert environment.

Aaron Cooper, executive director of the International Sonoran Desert Alliance, said those who live around Ajo value having access to the Sonoran Desert, which means ensuring protection for cultural, ecological and recreational assets is paramount. Cooper added his organization has been empowering communities like Ajo he said are interested in "leveraging," those assets for economic gains but also want to care for them responsibly.

He emphasized now is the time for the Biden administration to act to boost recovery efforts of the threatened Sonoran Desert.

"A lot of different things can happen on BLM land, but that is maybe not the best way to approach this particular track of land," Cooper contended. "Given all the fragility and the importance of the natural resources and endangered species, and some of the irreplaceable culture resources, too."

Cooper explained the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is required to protect species from extinction, restore habitats and foster biological diversity. It would also have the power to limit vehicles to established roads and restrict access to certain areas.

The issues would be discussed as part of a public process to transfer Bureau of Land Management lands to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The group is collecting signatures for its petition.


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Conservation groups, tribes and community organizers are praising President Joe Biden's decision Thursday to expand two national monuments in California.

Together, the monuments will gain about 120,000 acres. The Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument is 90 minutes northwest of Sacramento and the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument lies just east of Los Angeles.

Brenda Gallegos, public lands manager for the nonprofit Hispanic Access Foundation, said millions of urban families live close to the San Gabriel Mountains.

"A lot of our Latino communities don't have access to nature, prominently, like 67% of Latino communities don't have access to green spaces or blue spaces," Gallegos pointed out. "Having these expansions designated today brings us closer to closing that nature gap."

The president used his powers under the Antiquities Act to expand the monuments in order to increase public access and protect the watershed and wildlife habitat. The move also makes progress toward Biden's goal of protecting 30% of the country's public lands by 2030.

Gallegos said Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument in Lake County will include an area previously known as Walker Ridge, now renamed Moluk Loyuk, which means Condor Ridge in the Patwin tribal language.

"This is important because it establishes a co-stewardship with federally recognized tribes and will return the indigenous names of these lands to them," Gallegos explained. "This continues to build that great relationship with tribes."

Land managers will now create a new management plan for the area, which could include new campsites, hiking and mountain biking trails, and even off-highway vehicle-designated routes.

The Bureau of Land Management recently released its final Public Lands Rule, which is set to put conservation on equal footing with other multiple uses taking place on public lands.

The state of Utah has come out in opposition, pointing to the impact it could have on the almost 23 million acres of BLM land in Utah.

Redge Johnson, director of the Utah Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office, said the state supports conservation efforts but called the rule a "solution looking for a problem."

"What we have already put into conservation designations and then what you have for the acts that promote the conservation of the lands, why do you need to level that playing field?" Johnson questioned. "The playing field has more than leveled over the past 40, 50 years with the passage of all these acts."

Johnson contended Utah's lands and wildlife will suffer as a result of the rule and added it'll make mining critical metals used for batteries even more difficult. He and others, like Gov. Spencer Cox, called on the BLM to immediately withdraw the rule and work with stakeholders on more practical solutions.

Conservationists see the rule as a big win for restoring and sustaining public lands for future generations.

Johnson described Utah's public lands a "fire dependent ecosystem," adding fuel loads have accumulated drastically due to over a century's worth of fire suppression. He argued the rule will make executing and continuing vegetation management projects more difficult, including reducing the threats posed by fuel loads.

"One of the biggest contributors we have to carbon dioxide right now are wildfires, at least in the West," Johnson asserted. "Transportation, all the others, yes absolutely. But wildfires are a huge contributing factor to that. One of the best things we could do is reduce the fuel loads on some of these areas to reduce the fire risk and this rule puts that at risk."

The rule also creates the frameworks for "restoration and mitigation leases," which will allow groups to restore public lands or to offset the effects of a particular use. Johnson argued the leases will leave too many loopholes but the BLM said they will not "disturb existing authorizations."


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Conservation groups are rejoicing over the decision Friday by the Biden administration to reject a proposed mining road in Alaska.

The 211-mile Ambler Road would have sliced through the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, severing the migration route for a Western Arctic Caribou herd.

Alex Johnson, interior Alaska director for the National Parks Conservation Association, said it was important for the feds to take a stand in Alaska so mining interests do not start eyeing other national parks.

"This is a very expensive, destructive and just highly speculative project that does not in any way support our clean energy goals as a country," Johnson contended. "And ultimately would permanently threaten the health and well-being of local communities and the tribes."

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski slammed the decision, warning it could limit jobs and tax revenues for Alaska by preventing exploration for minerals she said are important to national security, like copper, cobalt, gallium and germanium.

Jayme Dittmar, a photographer and filmmaker from Fairbanks, said the road would have been very disruptive to the 66 Native American villages along the proposed route.

"That'd be 168 trucks passing through close vicinity to the villages," Dittmar pointed out. "There would be hundreds of bridges built. It would dismantle a subsistence livelihood that's been in place for thousands and thousands of years."

The road was seen as a negative for tourism to the Brooks Range area. According to the Alaska Travel Industry Association, Californians make up 9% of visitors to Alaska.