Five California tribes have established an intertribal commission to co-manage Chuckwalla National Monument, marking a historic step toward tribal sovereignty over sacred desert lands.

Though the commission lacks veto authority, it will have formal advisory power with the federal government, advancing the tribes’ long-term goal of full management control.

With the Trump administration signaling potential reversal of the monument’s designation, tribal leaders vow to continue stewarding ancestral territory regardless of political shifts.

Chuckwalla National Monument is more than an epic expanse of towering rocks, hidden canyons, ghost flowers, smoke trees and its namesake lizard. One of America’s newest protected public lands is a birthplace, a crossroads, a beloved relative and a histo

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