Updated March 21, 2023 at 5:50 PM ET

President Biden on Tuesday proclaimed two vast swaths of land — Avi Kwa Ame in Nevada, and Castner Range in West Texas — as national monuments, a designation that preserves a total of more than 500,000 acres of land from new development.

"We're protecting the heart and the soul of our national pride. We're protecting pieces of history, telling our story that will be told for generations upon generations to come," Biden said at a conservation summit.

Biden had pledged to conserve more land when he took office. But lately, he has come under intense criticism from environmental groups for approving a new oil drilling project in Alaska. Some environmentalists argued the Willow project violated the administration's climate and conservation goals, even though the administration also announced it will prevent or limit oil drilling in 16 million acres in Alaska and the Arctic Ocean.

Biden's first new national monument was Camp Hale - Continental Divide, which he designated in Colorado in October.

Avi Kwa Ame is considered sacred ground

In Nevada, the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument — also known as Spirit Mountain — is considered sacred by a dozen tribes. There are petroglyphs and other artifacts that show how people traveled through the area for more than 10,000 years. Advocates say the desigation will help preserve ancestral native lands.

More than 506,000 acres in size, the mountains and valleys are home to one of the world's largest Joshua tree forests, and provides habitat for desert bighorn sheep, desert tortoise, migratory birds, endangered bats and Gila monster lizards.

"It's a place of reverence, its 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.

Indigenous groups and state and local leaders applauded the move.

"This land is considered sacred to tribes who trace their creation story to this land and it deserves to be protected and those tribes have been involved in this effort to protect Avi Kwa Ame for years," said Taylor Patterson, executive director of Native Voters Alliance Nevada.

But Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo, who took office in January, complained that he was not consulted, calling the monument a "historic mistake." He said the protections would put rare earth mineral projects and other long-planned development at risk.

The White House said it reached out to Lombardo's office in January and said the Interior Department held public and private meetings and consultations in the state ahead of the announcement.

Castner Range is an old firing range that's part of Fort Bliss

In Texas, Biden will preserve the Castner Range National Monument, which comprises about 6,600 acres of land within the city limits of El Paso. It is part of Fort Bliss, and was a training site until 1966.

It's known for waves of yellow and orange poppies in the spring. "When you see it, it's just breathtaking," Biden said. "The people of El Paso have fought to protect this for 50 years. Their work has finally paid off."

The site has ancient rock art, cultural deposits and historic military locations. The land needs to be remediated because of unexploded munitions.

Advocates pushing to make Castner Range a national monument have argued it would increase access to nature for underserved communities nearby.

"Once it is safe for public access following remediation of military munitions ... Castner Range will become a natural classroom offering unique opportunities to experience, explore, and learn from nature in a unique setting that is close to a major urban center," Biden said in his official proclamation for the monument.

Biden is also starting the process for a new marine sanctuary

Biden also started the process to designate a new marine sanctuary he said would be the largest on the planet around the Pacific islands southwest of Hawaii. The sanctuary will protect 777,000 square miles of islands, reefs and diverse marine life — an area he said was three times the size of Texas.

The president also said the White House will release its first United States Ocean Climate Action Plan. The plan includes offshore wind farming, land and water conservation and a strategy for reducing international shipping emissions.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

President Biden is creating two new national monuments today. His declarations would protect two spots - one in Nevada, one in Texas - from major development while also keeping them open for recreation. NPR's Ximena Bustillo is covering the story. Good morning.

XIMENA BUSTILLO, BYLINE: Good morning.

INSKEEP: Glad you're in our studios here, Studio 31 in Washington, D.C. So what are these places?

BUSTILLO: Well, first, Nevada's Avi Kwa Ame is also called the Spirit Mountain. That's derived from the Mojave language. And it's a massive area, over 450,000 acres located in southern Nevada. And it has one of the largest Joshua tree forests. It's a desert. And I haven't been there, but I've seen a lot of pictures on social media, and it seems really beautiful.

INSKEEP: Oh, I've just been Googling it myself. This is amazing. You see these wide landscapes. You see craggy mountains. You do see those Joshua trees and other desert plants - really beautiful.

BUSTILLO: Yeah, plenty of vegetation. It's a rocky area that's home to plenty of wildlife like desert bighorn sheep, the desert tortoise and really big lizards. But a really important thing is that it's also a location for a lot of historical artifacts, and it is the location of the origin stories for about a dozen tribal groups.

INSKEEP: Oh, cool.

BUSTILLO: Yeah. So that's why the president hinted at the designation during Tribal Nations Summit a few months ago.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: When it comes to Spirit Mountain and its surrounding ridges and canyons in southern Nevada, I'm committed to protecting this sacred place that is central to the creation story of so many tribes that are here today.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: All right.

BUSTILLO: So today, he is going to make it official at the conservation Summit at the Interior Department.

INSKEEP: OK, so that's one designation he's making out in Nevada. What's the other?

BUSTILLO: The second is a place called Castner Range, and it's located next to El Paso in Texas. And it's a part of Fort Bliss. And until the 1960s, it was an actual firing range.

INSKEEP: Wow.

BUSTILLO: These days, it's really known for its carpet of yellow poppies that you can see rolling through the hills. It's probably my favorite of the two personally just because of that.

INSKEEP: I'm now looking at pictures of this, and this - just the yellow. It's just amazing, the yellow in that otherwise desert-y (ph) kind of landscape.

BUSTILLO: Yeah. And so people want to use it for hiking and camping and other outdoor recreation. There's also, however, a lot of unexploded ammunition still remaining from the early 1900s.

INSKEEP: Do not go for an unsupervised walk out there, I suppose.

BUSTILLO: No matter how pretty the poppies are. The Army is currently conducting a study on how feasible it could be to clean it.

INSKEEP: So how do these two designations that are coming today fit with Biden's overall record on conservation?

BUSTILLO: Some climate advocates have criticized the president because he recently approved an oil drilling project up in Alaska. But, you know, these projects have also been in the works for some time. And community groups in both states, Nevada and Texas, have been asking for the president to designate these sites. So this isn't necessarily new. Biden came into office pledging to make more of these national monuments. And the first one that he announced was actually in Colorado back in October.

INSKEEP: NPR's Ximena Bustillo, I feel like I got a little tour of the country in the last few minutes. Thanks so much.

BUSTILLO: Thank you.

INSKEEP: Glad you came by. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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