LAS VEGAS — President Joe Biden designated Avi Kwa Ame as Nevada’s fourth national monument Tuesday during the White House Conservation in Action Summit, protecting about 500,000 acres of public land from future development.
Biden’s designation through the Antiquities Act of 1906 will protect 506,814 acres, marking his largest land conservation act thus far, and creating one of the largest contiguous areas of protected wildlife habitat in the country, according to the White House. It ties together the protected lands of the Mojave Desert in California with the Lake Mead National Recreation Area and protected areas to the east near the Colorado River.
Avi Kwa Ame, meaning “Spirit Mountain” in Mojave, is an area of cultural significance to nearby Native American tribes as well as a popular site for outdoor recreation among hikers and campers in southern Nevada. The public lands are home to unique geological features, Joshua trees and petroglyphs, and it serves as an important migration corridor or habitat for threatened wildlife like the Mojave Desert tortoise and the desert bighorn sheep.
