[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 43 (Tuesday, March 7, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E187]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    REINTRODUCTION OF THE BERRYESSA SNOW MOUNTAIN NATIONAL MONUMENT 
                             EXPANSION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN GARAMENDI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 7, 2023

  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, today I reintroduce the ``Berryessa Snow 
Mountain National Monument Expansion Act'' with U.S. Senator Alex 
Padilla (D-CA). I thank Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA04) and U.S. 
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) for their support as original 
cosponsors.
  Our bicameral legislation would expand the National Monument to 
include 3,925 acres of adjacent federal land in Lake County, California 
known as the ``Walker Ridge'' tract. Second, it would provide new 
opportunities for federally recognized tribes to enter into co-
management agreements for the National Monument with the federal Bureau 
of Land Management (BLM). Third, it would rename Walker Ridge to 
``Molok Luyuk,'' meaning Condor Ridge in the Patwin language of the 
Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation and other Native American peoples indigenous 
to the area. Lastly, it would direct the BLM and the U.S. Forest 
Service to complete the management plan for the National Monument, 
which has remained unfinished since 2015.
  President Obama issued Presidential Proclamation 9298 in July 2015, 
establishing the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. This set 
the boundary as encompassing federal land surrounding the Lake 
Berryessa reservoir but omitted the Walker Ridge tract. 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 the Walker Ridge tract within the 
boundary.
  On October 17, 2022, I and other members of California's 
Congressional delegation called on President Biden to use his authority 
under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to expand the Berryessa Snow Mountain 
National Monument. We also called on Secretary of the Interior Deb 
Haaland to order the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to officially 
rename Walker Ridge. I hope that the Biden Administration will act on 
our request, which is supported by the Lake County Board of Supervisors 
and Tribal Council for the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation.
  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. Walker Ridge, soon to be known as Molok Luyuk, is one of 
those special places. It was an honor to represent Lake County as the 
U.S. Representative for California's Third Congressional District from 
2013 to 2023. I look forward to finishing the job for my former 
constituents in Lake County by expanding the Berryessa Snow Mountain 
National Monument for future generations to enjoy.
  Mr. Speaker, I encourage all Members of the California delegation to 
join me in cosponsoring the ``Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument 
Expansion Act.'' We must conserve this unique landscape and honor the 
Native American peoples who walked this land long before our country 
was founded.

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