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REINTRODUCTION OF THE BERRYESSA SNOW MOUNTAIN NATIONAL MONUMENT
EXPANSION ACT
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HON. JOHN GARAMENDI
of california
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, today I reintroduce the ``Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument Expansion Act'' with U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA). I thank Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA04) and U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) for their support as original cosponsors.
Our bicameral legislation would expand the National Monument to include 3,925 acres of adjacent federal land in Lake County, California known as the ``Walker Ridge'' tract. Second, it would provide new opportunities for federally recognized tribes to enter into co-
management agreements for the National Monument with the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Third, it would rename Walker Ridge to
``Molok Luyuk,'' meaning Condor Ridge in the Patwin language of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation and other Native American peoples indigenous to the area. Lastly, it would direct the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service to complete the management plan for the National Monument, which has remained unfinished since 2015.
President Obama issued Presidential Proclamation 9298 in July 2015, establishing the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. This set the boundary as encompassing federal land surrounding the Lake Berryessa reservoir but omitted the Walker Ridge tract. 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 the Walker Ridge tract within the boundary.
On October 17, 2022, I and other members of California's Congressional delegation called on President Biden to use his authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to expand the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. We also called on Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland to order the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to officially rename Walker Ridge. I hope that the Biden Administration will act on our request, which is supported by the Lake County Board of Supervisors and Tribal Council for the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation.
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. Walker Ridge, soon to be known as Molok Luyuk, is one of those special places. It was an honor to represent Lake County as the U.S. Representative for California's Third Congressional District from 2013 to 2023. I look forward to finishing the job for my former constituents in Lake County by expanding the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument for future generations to enjoy.
Mr. Speaker, I encourage all Members of the California delegation to join me in cosponsoring the ``Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument Expansion Act.'' We must conserve this unique landscape and honor the Native American peoples who walked this land long before our country was founded.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 169, No. 43
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