President Joe Biden declares Colorado’s Camp Hale a National Monument

EL PASO, TEXAS — Congratulations, Colorado! On Wednesday, October 12, 2022, President Joe Biden named Colorado’s Camp Hale, which is located outside of Vail, Colo., a national monument. The monument, named Camp Hale – Continental Divide National Monument, is of particular importance because of the role it played in helping U.S. soldiers train for mountain warfare during World War II.

“The Castner Range Coalition celebrates this accomplishment with Colorado,” said Janaé Renaud Field, Executive Director of The Frontera Land Alliance. “We support this designation and are excited about what this means for generations of Coloradoans. When land anywhere is preserved, Americans everywhere benefit.”

Camp Hale is the first national monument that Biden has created, doing so by using the 1906 Antiquities Act.

“The Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument establishment gets America one step closer to 30 percent protected lands and waters by 2030. We applaud President Biden for this move that will benefit many generations of people to come who will be protected from water pollution and degradation of the landscape,” said Olivia Juarez, Public Land Program Director of GreenLatinos, a national nonprofit working to create equity for Latinx people. “We hope this is President Biden’s first bold action of many to designate national monuments regions such as Texas and Nevada, where communities have been petitioning for national monuments at Castner Range and Avi Kwa Ame.”

The Castner Range Coalition — a coalition of local groups working to get President Biden to designate Castner Range as a national monument — hopes it is not the last. The coalition urges Biden to designate Castner Range as a national monument, also using the Antiquities Act.

“I believe that caring for the environment allows us to respond to the Great Commandment and its notion of ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’” said Pastor Moses Borjas, Lead Pastor at Living Covenant Congregation, member Por La Creación. “Taking care of creation is taking care of our neighbors. Designation of these important lands as monuments will connect with taking care of our neighbors.”

Like Camp Hale, Castner Range’s importance is related to its role in training U.S. soldiers. Castner Range, though, is also home to important cultural, historical and environmental treasures for the Borderland community, including fields of the Mexican gold poppy and land that is culturally important to the Ysleta del Sur and Mescalero Apache tribes.

Gabaccia Moreno, National Monuments Equity Fellow with Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project, a Latinx conservation group rooted in Southwest, explained:

“I feel our community’s excitement to finally see President Biden using the Antiquities Act to support the national monument designation of Camp Hale. It is today, after 50-plus years of advocacy, that we are more hopeful than ever that the protection of Castner Range is a real possibility. May President Biden see the passion and dedication of El Pasoans and gift them a more than well-deserved monument.”

To sign a letter of support, visit www.Castner4Ever.org.

ABOUT CASTNER RANGE FOREVER

Castner Range is home to 7,081 acres of West Texas beauty and has historical significance that dates back thousands of years. It tells the complete story of how our region became home to the world’s largest bilingual, binational workforce in the Western Hemisphere. Visit our website CastnerRangeNationalMonument.org.