President Biden designated two new national monuments Tuesday that will protect land in Nevada and Texas from development. A half-million acres spanning the Spirit Mountain area in Nevada will go down in history as the second national monument created specifically to shield land crucial to Native American history, The New York Times reports. “This designation will honor Tribal Nations and Indigenous peoples by protecting this sacred Nevada landscape and its historically and scientifically important features,” the White House said in a statement. The Castner Range National Monument will also be set up along 6,600 acres near the Franklin Mountains in Texas. That area is home to Native American cave etchings and stone shelters that date back more than a century. The Biden administration is using the Antiquities Act of 1906 for the move, which it said is intended to “protect unique natural and historic features in America.”
