[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 78 (Monday, May 6, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E449]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          BERRYESSA SNOW MOUNTAIN NATIONAL MONUMENT EXPANSION

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN GARAMENDI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 6, 2024

  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to thank President Joseph R. 
Biden, Jr. for his proclamation pursuant to the Antiquities Act of 1906 
expanding the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. I also thank 
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-
CA), Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA04), and the Yocha Dehe Wintun 
Nation for their support in conserving this special place forever.
  President Biden's proclamation expands the Berryessa Snow Mountain 
National Monument to include approximately 13,696 additional acres of 
federally owned public land in Lake and Colusa Counties, California, 
encompassing the entirety of the Molok Luyuk region within the 
Monument. Second, it directs the federal Bureau of Land Management and 
the U.S. Forest Service to improve tribal co-management of the 
Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. Third, it renames the former 
Walker Ridge tract to ``Molok Luyuk,'' meaning Condor Ridge in the 
Patwin language of the Yocha Dehe and other Native American tribes 
indigenous to the area.
  I am thrilled that President Biden issued this presidential 
proclamation to preserve the tribal wisdom, heritage, and cultural 
traditions that Molok Luyuk has been home to for over 11,000 years. 
This expansion follows years of advocacy by me, Congressman Thompson, 
Senator Padilla; federal, tribal, and local officials representing 
Northern California; and nongovernmental organizations, including 
environmental conservation, public access, outdoor recreation, and off-
highway vehicle groups.
  In July 2015, President Obama issued Presidential Proclamation 9298, 
establishing the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. This set 
the boundary as federal land surrounding the Lake Berryessa reservoir 
but omitted Molok Luyuk in Lake and Colusa Counties. 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 Molok Luyuk within the boundary.
  In the 117th Congress, at the behest of Woodland, California-based 
Tuleyome, a nonprofit conservation advocacy organization co-founded by 
my former constituent Bob Schneider in 2002, I introduced the 
``Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument Expansion Act'' (H.R.6366/
S.4080) with Senator Padilla and Congressman Thompson. I and other 
members of California's Congressional delegation then called on 
President Biden to use his authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906 
to expand the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument and provide 
opportunities for federally recognized tribes like the Yocha Dehe to 
engage in voluntary co-management with the relevant federal land 
management agencies. We also called on Secretary Deb Haaland to order 
the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to officially rename Walker Ridge to 
Molok Luyuk. On May 2, 2024, I joined the President in the Oval Office 
with Secretary Haaland for a signing ceremony granting our requests.
  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. Molok Luyuk is one of those special places. It was a 
privilege to represent Lake and Colusa Counties as the U.S. 
Representative for California's Third Congressional District from 2013 
to 2023, and I am honored to have played a leading role in expanding 
the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument to preserve Molok Luyuk's 
ecological diversity and tribal heritage for future generations.
  Lastly, I want to thank my former Legislative Assistant, Mr. Tigran 
Agdaian, and my former Knauss Fellows, Mr. Sean Mullin and Mr. Jeffrey 
Beauvais, for their important role in developing this legislation while 
on my staff.
  President Biden's expansion of the Berryessa Snow Mountain National 
Monument honors the Patwin Tribes who walked this land long before our 
country was founded. On behalf of California's Congressional 
delegation, I thank the President.

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