Daily Republic: Local representatives continue push to expand Snow Mountain
By Staff
Interior Department Secretary Deb Haaland has been asked to order the U.S. Board of Geographic Names to rename a section of foothills between Colusa and Lake counties as “Condor Ridge” and “Molok Luyuk.”
The area is currently known as Walker Ridge.
The request, led by U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla and U.S. Reps. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, and John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, is part of effort to expand the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument.
The California legislators, among others, sent another letter to the White House, urging the president to use the Antiquities Act of 1906 to add 13,753 acres of public land administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to the monument footprint.
Regional tribal and community leaders recently met with Haaland and Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning about the expansion. The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation has taken the lead in requesting the expansion of the monument area to include an area the tribal nation refers to as Molok Luyuk.
Molok Luyuk, in the Patwin language, means Condor Ridge.
“Molok Luyuk is culturally significant to numerous federally recognized tribes and other native peoples including the Patwin, Pomo, Wappo and Miwok peoples,” the letter states. “That is why our legislation would require the federal land management agencies to engage in meaningful consultation and voluntary co-management of the expanded monument with federally recognized tribes. We hope that any presidential proclamation under the Antiquities Act would provide similar direction for the BLM and Forest Service to provide ample opportunity for federally recognized tribes to comanage the Monument.”
The letter also was signed by Reps. Julia Brownley, Judy Chu, Mark DeSaulnier, Jared Huffman, Mike Levin, Zoe Lofgren, Doris Matsui, Jimmy Panetta, and Katie Porter – all Democratic congress members who represent California districts. A small part of Matsui’s district includes Solano County.
Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument stretches from Napa County in the south to Mendocino County in the north, and includes parts of seven counties, including Solano, Yolo, Lake, Colusa and Glenn counties, and includes the Cache Creek Wilderness Area. It encompasses 330,780 acres of public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. President Barack Obama designated the national monument in 2015.
Popular recreation activities on these lands include hiking, mountain biking, photography, camping, horseback riding and off-highway vehicle use on designated routes.
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