| Avi Kwa Ame National Monument | |
|---|---|
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape) | |
 Summit area of Spirit Mountain (Avi Kwa Ame) | |
  Avi Kwa Ame National Monument  Avi Kwa Ame National Monument | |
| Location | Clark County, Nevada, United States |
| Nearest city | Searchlight, Nevada |
| Coordinates | 35°24′N115°00′W / 35.4°N 115°W /35.4; -115 |
| Area | 506,814 acres (2,051.00 km2) |
| Established | March 21, 2023 |
| Governing body | Bureau of Land Management |
| Website | https://www.blm.gov/avi-kwa-ame-national-monument |
Avi Kwa Ame National Monument (/əˌviːkwəˈɑːmeɪ/ə-VEE kwə AH-may;[1][2]Mojave:ʔaviː kʷaʔame, "highest mountain", fromʔaviː, "mountain, rock", andʔamay, "up, above")[3][4] is anational monument that protects approximately 506,000 acres (2,050 km2) of theMojave Desert in southernNevada. PresidentJoe Biden established it as a monument under the authority of theAntiquities Act on March 21, 2023.[5][6] It is named forAvi Kwa Ame, also known as Spirit Mountain, which is visible from most of the monument and is considered sacred as the site of creation by theYuman tribes.[7] Most of the monument is managed by theBureau of Land Management as part of theNational Conservation Lands, and theNational Park Service manages the portion withinLake Mead National Recreation Area.[8]
The area protected includes portions of theNewberry Mountains,Eldorado Mountains,New York Mountains,McCullough Range, andDead Mountains, as well as most of thePiute Valley andEldorado Valley which separate them. The monument surrounds excluded areas around the towns ofSearchlight,Palm Gardens andCal-Nev-Ari, Nevada.[9]
The monument includes all of theSpirit Mountain,South McCullough,Wee Thump Joshua Tree,Nellis Wash, andBridge Canyon wilderness areas and a portion ofIreteba Peaks Wilderness.[10] It borders Lake Mead National Recreation Area,Mojave Trails National Monument,Mojave National Preserve, andCastle Mountains National Monument thereby creating a much larger contiguously protected area of the Mojave Desert.[11]
The Hiko Springs and Grapevine Canyon areas have Native Americanpetroglyphs, some of which have already been worn off.[12][13]
TheMojave Road section of theOld Spanish National Historic Trail passes through the monument.
Significant species that live in the desert includedesert bighorn sheep,desert tortoise, andgolden eagles.[14] The Mojave Desert has more than 200 endemic plants.[7] A significant habitat of theJoshua Tree is in the western portion of the monument.[10] The majority of the area (330,000 acres) was designated as the Piute/EldoradoArea of Critical Environmental Concern in 1996 to conserve critical habitat for the threatened desert tortoise.[15][16]
TheFort Mojave Indian Tribe has long advocated for the protection of the region's natural and cultural resources.[10] Spirit Mountain was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1999. After a proposed large-scalewind farm facedopposition from local Searchlight residents, residents and tribal groups began a push fornational monument designation in 2020.[7] TheClark County Commission voted unanimously to support the monument. In February 2022 U.S. RepresentativeDina Titus introduced a bill that would have designated Avi Kwa Ame as a national monument.[17][18] Interior SecretaryDeb Haaland visited the area to discuss the region's significance in September,[19] before BLM directorTracy Stone-Manning hosted a town hall meeting in November.[13] On November 30, 2022, President Biden announced to attendees of the White House Tribal Nations Summit that he was committed to protecting the area around Spirit Mountain.[14]
Though most of the proposed boundaries already excluded wind energy, the monument designation prevents the development of new wind and solar power, putting land conservation in contention with reducing emissions.[20] Previous proposals for a wind farm had been blocked by the Bureau of Land Management,[14] and the creation of the monument ended speculation for the revised 308 MW Kulning Wind Energy Project.[20][21] Solar power developers requested that an area nearLaughlin, Nevada, be excluded for the proposed 2,500 acre, 400 MW Angora Solar Project, which would havetransmission to the formerMohave Power Station,[22][23][20] but this carve-out was not included in the final monument designation.[24]
President Biden announced the creation of the monument at the White House Conservation in Action Summit with tribal leaders on March 21, 2023, along withCastner Range National Monument.[25] There was a delay of more than three months in designating the monument after President Biden said he would do so, in part due to difficulties in scheduling an event in Nevada to make the proclamation.[6] Local reporters expected Biden to make the designation on a trip to Las Vegas on March 14,[26] but plans changed when members of Congress were unable to attend.[27] Part of President Biden's30 by 30 conservation goals, Avi Kwa Ame was his largest act of land protection, surpassingCamp Hale—Continental Divide National Monument,[27] until he designatedBaaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument in August. The final monument designation was slightly larger than the approximately 450,000 acres (1,800 km2) proposed by advocates, as it also included three wilderness areas already protected withinLake Mead National Recreation Area, including Spirit Mountain itself.[9][28]
The monument is managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the National Park Service; it is not a unit of Park Service, as its portion overlaps Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Small areas are owned by theBureau of Reclamation and will be transferred to the BLM.[8]
In recognition of Indigenous influence on the area, the monument will have an advisory committee with a majority of members belonging to Tribal Nations, and the Tribal Nations will be involved in co-stewardship of the monument similar to the management ofBears Ears National Monument.[7]
Pronounced Ah-VEE kwa-ah-may.
