President Joe Biden flew to Los Angeles Monday, one day before traveling to the Coachella Valley to announce the creation of a national monument south of Joshua Tree National Park.

President Joe Biden officially announced the creation of a national monument south of Joshua Tree National Park today. The Chuckwalla National Monument in Southern California creates the largest corridor of protected lands in the continental United States,

The declarations bar oil and natural gas drilling, as well as mining and other exploration and production initiatives, on the 624,000-acre Chuckwalla site, and 225,000-acre Sáttítla site.