Jessica Hill
A rock formation is seen Nov. 12, 2021, in the Spirit Mountain Wilderness area in Clark County, where Avi Kwa Ame, also known as Spirit Mountain, is located. Avi Kwa Ame is a mountain and region that Native American tribes and conservation leaders are trying to protect and turn into a national monument.
Published Tuesday, March 21, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Updated Tuesday, March 21, 2023 | 12:38 p.m.
Spirit Mountain designation a long time coming
Avi Kwa Ame is now a U.S. National Monument, President Joe Biden declared today.
Timothy Williams, chairman of the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe of the tristate area, joyously introduced Biden and warmed up the crowd of conservationists, preservationists, and tribal leaders who gathered in Washington, D.C. to hear the designation that protects a wide swath of ecologically and culturally significant Southern Nevada from development.
The 506,814-acre site is located about 80 miles from Las Vegas, near Laughlin.
“The Mojave people, known as the People By the River, hold Avi Kwa Ame in our hearts,” Williams said. “It is the place we know as our creation, it is the beginning of our traditional songs, and it is a place that native nations throughout the Southwest hold sacred.”
The designation, which Biden affirmed at the White House Conservation in Action Summit, is a victory for tribal activists and elected leaders who have long called for federal protections for the landmark. The Mojave are among a dozen peoples to hold Avi Kwa Ame holy.
“It’s a place of reverence, it’s a place of spirituality and it’s a place of healing, and now it will be recognized for the significance it holds and be preserved forever,” Biden said during his remarks.
The Honor Avi Kwa Ame coalition thanked Biden and several other influential federal leaders, including Nevada Sens. Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto, Nevada Reps. Susie Lee and Dina Titus, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, and Bureau of Land Management Director Tracey Stone-Manning for their efforts in securing the national monument status.
“Our coalition looks forward to continuing to educate our Nevada community, our elected officials, and the nation about the importance of Avi Kwa Ame, the leadership of those who made this designation possible, and the need for respecting and honoring Indigenous history in the Southwest,” the coalition said in a statement.
Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, however, bristled at the designation. He said the Biden White House has not consulted with his administration about any of the details of the national monument, “which, given the size of the proposal, seems badly out of step,” Lombardo said in a statement.
“Upon learning that the President was considering unilateral action, I reached out to the White House to raise several concerns, citing the potential for terminal disruption of rare earth mineral mining projects and long-planned, bi-partisan economic development efforts,” Lombardo said. “While I’m still waiting for a response, I’m not surprised. This kind of ‘Washington Knows Best’ policy might win plaudits from unaccountable special interests, but it’s going to cost our state jobs and economic opportunity – all while making land more expensive and more difficult to develop for affordable housing and critical infrastructure projects.
“The federal confiscation of 506,814 acres of Nevada land is a historic mistake that will cost Nevadans for generations to come,” he added.
In addition to Avi Kwa Ame, Biden designated the Castner Range near El Paso, Texas, as a national monument on Tuesday. Combined, the designation of these two sites will protect more than 514,000 acres of public lands, according to a release by the White House.
“When we conserve our country’s natural gifts… we’re protecting the heart and the soul of our national pride,” Biden said. “We’re protecting pieces of history, telling our story that will be told for generations upon generations to come.”
Biden also urged Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, to initiate a new National Marine Sanctuary designation within the next 30 days to protect all U.S. waters around the Pacific Remote Islands — an area consisting of nearly 500,000 square miles in the central Pacific that encompass Baker, Howland and Jarvis Island, Kingman Reed and the Johnston, Wake and Palmyra Atoll, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The designation of the new national monument creates one of the largest contiguous areas of protected wildlife habitat in the United States, the White House said. The designation now ties together the protected lands of the Mojave Desert in California to the southwest with the Lake Mead National Recreation Area and other protected areas to the east near the Colorado River.
Under the new protections, access to hunting, camping and other recreational activities can continue. The land, however, cannot be used for development or mining operations.
“This has been a decades-long effort on behalf of not just the congressional delegation but also conservationists and, obviously, the tribes,” said Lee, D-Nev., whose district includes Avi Kwa Ame. “This has been a long time coming and something we have been working diligently on and part of the Biden administration’s commitment to protect and conserve historically significant sites.” Cortez Masto, D-Nev., said the designation would “preserve sacred tribal sites, protect critical habitat and expand access to world-class outdoor recreation opportunities for Nevadans and visitors alike.”
Rosen, D-Nev., said today’s action would protect an area of “great cultural significance to tribal nations for generations to come.” The land “is rich with natural beauty, diverse wildlife and immense ecological importance,” she said.
In December, Biden announced his intent to designate the Native American holy site a national monument. Biden is able to declare the site a national monument under authority given to him via the Antiquities Act of 1906.
The site is considered the sacred center of creation by 10 Tuman-speaking tribes, as well as the Hopi and Chemehuevi Paiute tribes.
Last November, tribes, conservation groups and activists called on the Biden administration to designate 380,000 acres to make Avi Kwa Ame a national monument. The designation officially makes it Nevada’s fourth national monument and protects it from development.
Beyond being the site of creation for the 12 above tribes, Avi Kwa Ame also serves as a place to gather sacred medicines and to trade with other tribes. It’s also part of the Salt Song Trail for Southern Paiute tubes, which tells the traditional life cycle of the Southern Paiute people.
In the late 1990s, the mountain and its surrounding 48,000 acres were designated as a traditional cultural property on the National Register of Historic Places. A couple of years ago, a company proposed using the area as a wind farm with a project known as the Crescent Peak Wind Project, but the proposals were denied.
When the Crescent Peak Wind Project proposal was rejected, the Fort Mojave Indian Council passed a resolution in September 2019 and sent a letter to the Nevada congressional delegation requesting that the area be protected as a national monument. In 2020, national and local conservation groups launched a public awareness campaign to garner support.
Efforts to protect the area were renewed in 2021, when Crescent Peak Renewables LLC submitted another application to the Bureau of Land Management for a 308-megawatt wind farm called the Kulning Wind Energy Project, which would be located nine miles west of Searchlight.
Those efforts to develop the land, however, were generally met with swift opposition.
Boulder City Council unanimously passed a resolution in support as well as the Searchlight Town Advisory Board. And last November, the Laughlin Town Advisory Board voted 3-1 to support the designation of Avi Kwa Ame National Monument.
