LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dangerously high winds forced President Joe Biden to cancel a trip Tuesday to the Eastern Coachella Valley, where he was to announce the creation of two new national monuments in California that will honor Native American tribes.
Winds began gaining strength across Southern California as forecasters warned of “life-threatening, destructive” gusts. The president was in his limousine ready to leave Los Angeles when the event was canceled. The White House initially said Biden would speak in Los Angeles but later announced the event would be rescheduled at the White House next week at a time when others could attend.
The National Weather Service said it could be the strongest Santa Anawindstorm in more than a decade and it will peak in the early hours of Wednesday, when gusts could reach 80 mph (129 kph). Isolated gusts could top 100 mph (160 kph) in mountains and foothills.
Biden's announcement was part of his administration's effort to conserve at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030 through his “America the Beautiful” initiative. But the cancellation of the trip was also a stark reminder of another administration priority: climate change and the increasing effects of extreme weather.
The proclamations name the Chuckwalla National Monument in Southern California near Joshua Tree National Park and the Sáttítla National Monument in Northern California. The declarations bar drilling and mining and other development on the 624,000-acre (2,400-square-kilometer) Chuckwalla site and roughly 225,000 acres (800 square kilometers) near the Oregon border in Northern California.
The new monuments protect clean water for communities, honor areas of cultural significance to tribal nations and Indigenous peoples, and enhance access to nature, the White House said.
Biden, who has two weeks left in office, announced Monday he will ban new offshore oil and gas drilling in most U.S. coastal waters, including in California and other West Coast states. The plan is intended to block possible efforts by the incoming Trump administration to expand offshore drilling.
The flurry of activity has been in line with the Democratic president’s “America the Beautiful” initiative launched in 2021, aimed at honoring tribal heritage, meeting federal goals to conserve 30% of public lands and waters by 2030 and addressing climate change.
The Pit River Tribe has worked to get the federal government to designate the Sáttítla National Monument. The area is a spiritual center for the Pit River and Modoc Tribes and encompasses mountain woodlands and meadows that are home to rare flowers and wildlife.
A number of Native American tribes and environmental groups began pushing Biden to designate the Chuckwalla National Monument, named after the large desert lizard, in early 2023. The monument would protect public lands south of Joshua Tree National Park, spanning the Coachella Valley region in the west to near the Colorado River.
Advocates say the monument will protect a tribal cultural landscape, ensure access to nature for local residents and preserve military history sites.
“The designation of the Chuckwalla and Sáttítla National Monuments in California marks an historic step toward protecting lands of profound cultural, ecological and historical significance for all Americans," said Carrie Besnette Hauser, president and CEO of the nonprofit Trust for Public Land.
The new monuments “honor the enduring stewardship of Tribal Nations and the tireless efforts of local communities and conservation advocates who fought to safeguard these irreplaceable landscapes for future generations,'' Hauser said.
National monuments like Chuckwalla and Sáttítla play a key role in addressing historical injustices and ensuring a more inclusive telling of America’s history, she said.
Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California called the new monuments a major victory that will safeguard the state's public lands for generations to come.
Designation of the Chuckwalla monument “accelerates our state’s crucial efforts to fight the climate crisis, protect our iconic wildlife, preserve sacred tribal sites and promote clean energy,” Padilla said. The new Sáttítla monument, meanwhile, ensures that land that has “long served as the spiritual center for the Pit River and Modoc Nation" will "endure for generations to come," Padilla said.
The Chuckwalla monument is intended to honor tribal sovereignty by including local tribes as co-stewards, following in the footsteps of a recent wave of monuments such as the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, which is overseen in conjunction with five tribal nations.
“The protection of the Chuckwalla National Monument brings the Quechan people an overwhelming sense of peace and joy,” the Fort Yuma Quechan Tribe said in a statement. “Tribes being reunited as stewards of this landscape is only the beginning of much-needed healing and restoration, and we are eager to fully rebuild our relationship to this place.”
In May, the Biden administration expanded two national monuments in California — the San Gabriel Mountains in the south and Berryessa Snow Mountain in the north. In October, Biden designated the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary along the coast of central California, which will include input from the local Chumash tribes in how the area is preserved.
Last year, the Yurok Tribe in Northern California also became the first Native people to manage tribal land with the National Park Service under a historic memorandum of understanding signed by the tribe, Redwood National and State Parks and the nonprofit Save the Redwoods League, which is conveying the land to the tribe.
Daly reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jaimie Ding in Los Angeles and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.
President Joe Biden speaks during an interfaith prayer service for the victims of the deadly New Years truck attack, at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
BEIJING (AP) — Rescuers in the freezing, high-altitude Tibet region in western China searched a second day for any remaining victims of a deadly earthquake that struck near a holy city for Tibetan Buddhists, before shifting their focus to resettling the survivors.
More tents, quilts, stoves and other relief items were being delivered Wednesday to people whose homes were uninhabitable or unsafe. Temperatures fall well below freezing overnight in an area with an average altitude of about 4,200 meters (13,800 feet).
In video aired by state broadcaster CCTV, workers could be seen erecting rows of tents with metal frames and stakes after nightfall Tuesday. Meant as temporary shelter, they were lined with quilted padding to keep out the cold. The workers distributed packaged food items to the shelter occupants, donning blue winter jackets over their orange uniforms.
The confirmed death toll stood at 126 with another 188 injured as of Tuesday evening, and no further updates were issued during the day on Wednesday. Hong Li, the director of Tibet's Emergency Management Department, told a late afternoon news conference that the work had shifted from search and rescue to resettlement and reconstruction.
The earthquake struck an outlying county in the city of Shigatse, the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama, the second-highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism. It was not immediately known whether he was in his Tashi Lhunpo Monastery at the time or how much damage Tibet's second largest city sustained. The epicenter was about 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the main part of the city, which is called Xigaze in Chinese and sprawls across a high altitude plain.
More than 500 aftershocks were recorded after the earthquake, which the U.S. Geological Survey said measured magnitude 7.1. China’s earthquake center recorded a magnitude of 6.8. The quake was also about 75 kilometers (50 miles) from Mount Everest and the border with Nepal, where the shaking sent people running out of their homes in the capital.
A candlelight vigil was planned on Wednesday night in Dharamsala, India, home to the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism’s highest figure, and a large Tibetan population. An announcement on the Dalai Lama’s website said he would lead a prayer ceremony in memory of the victims on Thursday.
The Dalai Lama is viewed by the Chinese government as bent on making Tibet independent of China.
Asked about the prayer ceremony, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said, “We are very clear about the separatist nature and political schemes of the Dalai Lama and remain highly vigilant.”
Guo expressed confidence that the people in the earthquake zone will be able to rebuild under “the strong leadership” of China's ruling Communist Party.
The Chinese government and followers of the Dalai Lama have feuded over who should hold the position of Panchen Lama since a boy appointed by the Dalai Lama disappeared in the mid-1990s and a Chinese-backed candidate was approved for the position. The Dalai Lama denounced the move and has refused to recognize the current Panchen Lama.
China's government says Tibet has been part of its territory for centuries, but many Tibetans say they were functionally independent for most of that time. China's People's Liberation Army invaded the territory in 1950 and the Dalai Lama fled to India nine years later during an uprising against Chinese rule, seen as eroding Tibet's unique Buddhist culture.
The death toll from the quake included at least 22 of the 222 residents of Gurum, the official Xinhua News Agency cited the village’s Communist Party chief, Tsering Phuntsog, as saying. The victims included his 74-year-old mother, and several other of his relatives remained buried in the debris.
“Even young people couldn’t run out of the houses when the earthquake hit, let alone old people and children,” Tsering Phuntsog said.
State broadcaster CCTV showed orange-suited rescue workers with sniffing search dogs clambering over huge chunks of debris in the wreckage of homes. In the hardest-hit areas, rows of houses had been reduced to rubble. Blue disaster emergency tents with bright red Chinese flags flapping in the wind had been set up nearby.
More than 3,600 houses collapsed, according to a preliminary survey, and 46,000 residents had been relocated, state media said.
Tibet is generally closed to foreign journalists over reports about the ill treatment of the population by Chinese authorities.
Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing, who visited survivors in the quake-hit area, called for the acceleration of post-disaster reconstruction to ensure they can be safe and warm this winter, Xinhua reported. Power and communications in the area have been restored, allowing smoother delivery of emergency goods, it said.
Bodeen reported from Taipei, Taiwan.
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, first responders perform rescue work at a village in Changsuo Township of Dingri County in Xigaze, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Jan. 7, 2025 (Hu Zikui/Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescue workers conduct search and rescue for survivors in the aftermath of an earthquake in Changsuo Township of Dingri in Xigaze, southwestern China's Tibet Autonomous Region on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (Liu Yousheng/Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescue workers conduct search and rescue for survivors in the aftermath of an earthquake in Changsuo Township of Dingri in Xigaze, southwestern China's Tibet Autonomous Region on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (Jigme Dorje/Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, medical workers treat injured people at the temporary tents set up at the People's Hospital in the aftermath of an earthquake in Dingri County in Xigaze, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (Ding Ting/Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescue workers check on an injured resident in the aftermath of an earthquake in Changsuo Township of Dingri in Xigaze, southwestern China's Tibet Autonomous Region on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (Liu Yousheng/Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescuers transfer the injured at Zhacun Village of Dingri County in Xigaze, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Tuesday Jan. 7, 2025. (Xinhua via AP)
