Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument Expansion

Floor Speech

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Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to thank President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. for his proclamation pursuant to the Antiquities Act of 1906 expanding the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. I also thank Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D- CA), Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA04), and the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation for their support in conserving this special place forever.

President Biden's proclamation expands the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument to include approximately 13,696 additional acres of federally owned public land in Lake and Colusa Counties, California, encompassing the entirety of the Molok Luyuk region within the Monument. Second, it directs the federal Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service to improve tribal co-management of the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. Third, it renames the former Walker Ridge tract to ``Molok Luyuk,'' meaning Condor Ridge in the Patwin language of the Yocha Dehe and other Native American tribes indigenous to the area.

I am thrilled that President Biden issued this presidential proclamation to preserve the tribal wisdom, heritage, and cultural traditions that Molok Luyuk has been home to for over 11,000 years. This expansion follows years of advocacy by me, Congressman Thompson, Senator Padilla; federal, tribal, and local officials representing Northern California; and nongovernmental organizations, including environmental conservation, public access, outdoor recreation, and off- highway vehicle groups.

In July 2015, President Obama issued Presidential Proclamation 9298, establishing the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. This set the boundary as federal land surrounding the Lake Berryessa reservoir but omitted Molok Luyuk in Lake and Colusa Counties. My legislation (H.R.761/S.393) in the 114th Congress with then-U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Congressman Thompson to establish the National Monument would have included Molok Luyuk within the boundary.

In the 117th Congress, at the behest of Woodland, California-based Tuleyome, a nonprofit conservation advocacy organization co-founded by my former constituent Bob Schneider in 2002, I introduced the ``Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument Expansion Act'' (H.R.6366/ S.4080) with Senator Padilla and Congressman Thompson. I and other members of California's Congressional delegation then called on President Biden to use his authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to expand the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument and provide opportunities for federally recognized tribes like the Yocha Dehe to engage in voluntary co-management with the relevant federal land management agencies. We also called on Secretary Deb Haaland to order the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to officially rename Walker Ridge to Molok Luyuk. On May 2, 2024, I joined the President in the Oval Office with Secretary Haaland for a signing ceremony granting our requests.

Conserving California's special places has been a lifelong passion throughout my tenure in the state legislature, as Deputy Secretary of the Interior during the Clinton Administration, and now as a Member of Congress. Molok Luyuk is one of those special places. It was a privilege to represent Lake and Colusa Counties as the U.S. Representative for California's Third Congressional District from 2013 to 2023, and I am honored to have played a leading role in expanding the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument to preserve Molok Luyuk's ecological diversity and tribal heritage for future generations.

Lastly, I want to thank my former Legislative Assistant, Mr. Tigran Agdaian, and my former Knauss Fellows, Mr. Sean Mullin and Mr. Jeffrey Beauvais, for their important role in developing this legislation while on my staff.

President Biden's expansion of the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument honors the Patwin Tribes who walked this land long before our country was founded. On behalf of California's Congressional delegation, I thank the President.

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