Defend Sáttítla Highlands National Monument

In January 2025, the Biden administration designated the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument on the upper elevations of Medicine Lake Volcano in northeastern California. For at least 10,000 years, this landscape has held profound spiritual significance for the Pit River and Modoc Nations, as well as for other surrounding tribes. The Highlands plays a crucial role in habitat connectivity within the state’s northern region, serving as a vital land bridge that connects multiple public landscapes. The area currently welcomes over 40,000 visitors annually, who engage in hiking, fishing, swimming, camping, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, mountain biking, and admiring the exceptional vistas. Local communities see significant economic benefit as “gateways communities” for recreation, allowing them an alternative from seeking extraction-based economies. The management plan for the national monument must be completed within three years, per the Proclamation. Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center will work in partnership with the Pit River Nation to defend the monument and make progress on a management plan that will implement co-stewardship and needed protections. They will also aim for durable protection of the vital hydrologic system underlying Sáttítla Highlands and emerging at the Fall River Springs, California’s largest spring system, through an Outstanding National Resource Waters designation.