Briskly venturing and roaming, some are washing off sins and cobweb cares of the devil’s spinning in all-day storms on mountains; sauntering in rosiny pinewoods or in gentian meadows, brushing through chaparral, bending down and parting sweet, flowery sprays; tracing rivers to their sources, getting in touch with the nerves of Mother Earth; jumping from rock to rock, feeling the life of them, learning the songs of them, panting in whole-souled exercise, and rejoicing in deep, long-drawn breaths of pure wildness. — John Muir, Our Nation Parks
Conserve and Restore America’s Lands and Water
President Biden has announced major new actions to conserve and restore lands and waters across the nation, including establishing the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada and the Castner Range National Monument in Texas – and directing the Secretary of Commerce to consider exercising her authority to protect all U.S. waters around the Pacific Remote Islands. This will provide continuous wildlife habitat or migration corridors, create continuous and improved public access for outdoor recreation, and honor the heritage, ancestral pathways, and stopping points. Read more.
Military Installations
A new partnership to preserve green space around military installations and improve access to outdoor recreation will allow the Department of the Interior and the Department of Defense to acquire land in order to prevent development around bases that could impact operational capabilities. Read more.
Action Summit Fact Sheet
The Antiquities Act
The Antiquities Act was signed into law on June 8, 1906, by President Theodore Roosevelt. The bipartisan bill was enacted in an attempt to prevent looting, desecration, and destruction of Native American sites and other unique and treasured places. Either the President or Congress can protect America’s wildlands and historical sites, including marine areas as national monuments.
A member of the Republican party, Roosevelt was the first president to declare a national monument – the Devil’s Tower in Wyoming – under the Antiquities Act on September 24, 1906.
Seventeen presidents have used the Antiquities Act to designate 160 national monuments to date. Of these, President Barack Obama designated the most national monuments at 25, followed by Bill Clinton at 19, and Theodore Roosevelt at 18.
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