Castle Mountains National Monument

Protected area in Mojave Desert, California
35°15′N 115°07′W / 35.25°N 115.11°W / 35.25; -115.11Area20,920 acres (8,470 ha)AuthorizedFebruary 12, 2016 (2016-Feb-12)Governing bodyNational Park ServiceWebsiteCastle Mountains National Monument
Castle Mountains NM and other newly declared National Monuments, 2016

Castle Mountains National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located in the eastern Mojave Desert and northeastern San Bernardino County, in the state of California.[1][2][3]

The park protects 20,920 acres, located between the interstates I−15 and I−40, and northwest of the Colorado River.

Geography

The national monument protects a section of the Castle Mountains, a range located in San Bernardino County and Clark County, Nevada. The range lies south and east of the New York Mountains, southwest of Searchlight and west of Cal-Nev-Ari, Nevada. The range lies at the northeastern end of Lanfair Valley and reaches 5,543 feet (1,690 m) in elevation at the summit of Hart Peak and 5580 ft at Linder Peak. The mountains lie in a southwest-northeasterly direction. The Piute Range lies to the southeast.[4]

Castle Mountains National Monument is surrounded on three sides by the Mojave National Preserve, managed by the National Park Service.

It surrounds the Castle Mountain Mine Area, an open pit gold mine in the southern Castle Mountains owned by Canadian NewCastle Gold Ltd., who can excavate nearly 10 million tons of ore through 2025, though due to low gold prices mining has been suspended since 2001.[2][5] The national monument proclamation states that after any such mining and reclamation are completed, or after 10 years if no mining occurs, the Federal land in the 8,340 acre Castle Mountain Mine Area is to be transferred to the National Park Service.[5]

Designation and management

It was designated by President Obama on February 12, 2016, along with Mojave Trails National Monument and Sand to Snow National Monument also in Southern California.[1] [6] Of the three it is the only one to be managed by the National Park Service, with the other two being placed under the control of the Bureau of Land Management and/or the United States Forest Service.[7][8][9][10][11]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Whitehouse.gov: Presidential Proclamation − Establishment of the Castle Mountains National Monument, February 12, 2016.
  2. ^ a b Los Angeles Times: "Volcanic spires and Joshua trees: Obama protects 1.8 million acres in California's desert", February 11, 2016, by Louis Sahagun; accessed February 14, 2016.
  3. ^ Campaign for the California Desert.org: Fact sheet for Castle Mountains National Monument
  4. ^ Sahagun, Louis (February 11, 2016). "Obama creates 3 new national monuments to protect 1.8 million acres of California desert". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2016-02-12.
  5. ^ a b Marketwired.com: "NewCastle's Gold Project not included in New Castle Mountain Monument" . accessed February 14, 2016.
  6. ^ Eilperin, Juliet (February 12, 2016). "With 3 new monuments, Obama creates world's second-largest desert preserve". The Washington Post. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
  7. ^ Whitehouse.gov: Presidential Proclamation − Establishment of the Mojave Trails National Monument, February 12, 2016 — "The Secretary of the Interior shall manage the monument through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) as a unit of the National Landscape Conservation System
  8. ^ BLM California: Mojave Trails National Monument website Archived 2016-02-16 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ Whitehouse.gov: Presidential Proclamation − Establishment of the Sand to Snow National Monument, February 12, 2016 — "The USFS shall manage that portion of the monument within the boundaries of the San Bernardino National Forest, and BLM shall manage the remainder of the monument."
  10. ^ BLM California: Sand to Snow National Monument website (83,000 acres)
  11. ^ USDA Forest Service: Sand to Snow National Monument webpage (71,000 acres).

External links

  • National Park Service: official Castle Mountains National Monument website
  • Campaign for the California Desert.org: Castle Mountains National Monument — natural and cultural features.
  • Site location of Castle Mountain Mine, adjacent south of Hart, California, at south region of Castle Mountains
  • v
  • t
  • e
Parks
Preserves
Monuments
Seashores
Historical Parks
Historic Sites
Memorials
Recreation Areas
Parks
Natural Reserves
Marine Reserves
Historic Parks
Beaches
Recreation Areas
Vehicular
Recreation Areas
Other
National Forests and Grasslands
National Forests
and Grasslands
National Wilderness
Preservation System
National Monuments
and Recreation Areas
Wildlife
Areas
  • Antelope Valley
  • Ash Creek
  • Bass Hill
  • Battle Creek
  • Big Lagoon
  • Big Sandy
  • Biscar
  • Butte Valley
  • Buttermilk Country
  • Cache Creek
  • Camp Cady
  • Cantara/Ney Springs
  • Cedar Roughs
  • Cinder Flats
  • Collins Eddy
  • Colusa Bypass
  • Coon Hollow
  • Cottonwood Creek
  • Crescent City Marsh
  • Crocker Meadows
  • Daugherty Hill
  • Decker Island
  • Doyle
  • Dutch Flat
  • Eastlker River
  • Eel River
  • Elk Creek Wetlands
  • Elk River
  • Fay Slough
  • Feather River
  • Fitzhugh Creek
  • Fremont Weir
  • Grass Lake
  • Gray Lodge
  • Green Creek
  • Grizzly Island
  • Hallelujah Junction
  • Heenan Lake
  • Hill Slough
  • Hollenbeck Canyon
  • Honey Lake
  • Hope Valley
  • Horseshoe Ranch
  • Imperial
  • Indian Valley
  • Kelso Peak and Old Dad Mountains
  • Kinsman Flat
  • Knoxville
  • Laguna
  • Lake Berryessa
  • Lake Earl
  • Lake Sonoma
  • Little Panoche Reservoir
  • Los Banos
  • Lower Sherman Island
  • Mad River Slough
  • Marble Mountains
  • Mendota
  • Merrill's Landing
  • Miner Slough
  • Monache Meadows
  • Morro Bay
  • Moss Landing
  • Mouth of Cottonwood Creek
  • Napa-Sonoma Marshes
  • North Grasslands
  • O'Neill Forebay
  • Oroville
  • Petaluma Marsh
  • Pickel Meadow
  • Pine Creek
  • Point Edith
  • Putah Creek
  • Rector Reservoir
  • Red Lake
  • Rhode Island
  • Sacramento River
  • San Felipe Valley
  • San Jacinto
  • San Luis Obispo
  • San Luis Reservoir
  • San Pablo Bay
  • Santa Rosa
  • Shasta Valley
  • Silver Creek
  • Slinkard/Little Antelope
  • Smithneck Creek
  • South Fork
  • Spenceville
  • Surprise Valley
  • Sutter Bypass
  • Tehama
  • Truckee River
  • Upper Butte Basin
  • Volta
  • Warner Valley
  • Waukell Creek
  • West Hilmar
  • Westlker River
  • White Slough
  • Willow Creek
  • Yolo Bypass
Ecological
Reserves
Marine
Protected
Areas
National Monuments
National
Conservation Areas
  • California Desert
  • King Range
Wilderness Areas
Heritage registers
National Natural Landmarks
  • v
  • t
  • e
National monuments of the United States
National Park Service
US Forest Service
Bureau of
Land Management
Other (FWS, DOE,
AFRH, NOAA, USAF, Army)
Authority control databases Edit this at Wikidata
International
  • VIAF
National
  • Israel
  • United States