Letter From the Regional Director
Dear Park Protectors,
We wrap up 2025 with our national parks continuing to be in a state of chaos, coming off of the nation’s longest government shutdown and threats of mass firings hanging over the heads of park rangers. Doom and gloom is ever present, but please know this: National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) was made for this moment. As you’ll see in the three stories below, NPCA is stepping in to defend our parks at a time when the federal government is recklessly managing them. We have exposed unauthorized mining taking place in the Mojave National Preserve and are litigating to improve air quality in our parks. At a time when our nation’s institutions are being pressured to rewrite American history, NPCA is mobilizing advocates from around the country to protect our parks from censuring and erasing history. These are just a few of the numerous types of campaigns we are leading. I have been working with NPCA for over 20 years in the Pacific Region, running advocacy campaigns that range from establishing new parks, monuments and wildlife crossings to building bipartisan support for park funding to defending parks from development threats. Earlier this year, I was named our Pacific regional director, and I have the privilege to lead a small but mighty team committed to our parks, especially in this moment. Earlier, I said that NPCA was built for times like these and for this movement to be the voice of our national parks. We know this now, and have known it for years. In the 1920s, on the back page of “The Nation’s Parks,” the pamphlet sent to members of the nascent National Parks Association, an appeal for support included the following reasoning:
BECAUSE our National Parks System is suddenly facing a new and deadly peril, far the greatest in its history, which we shall need your help to combat. BECAUSE our Government, being the servant of Congress, is unable to fight effectively since Congress itself will be the battle ground. It is the people who must save their own National Parks. BECAUSE this combined assault upon the essential quality of our National Parks, which is their untouched condition of nature, is the result of ignorance in and out of Congress of their spirit and noble history, and you must understand these yourself. BECAUSE your pleasure in the scenery and wildlife, not only of our National Parks, but of every part of America, will be many fold increased by comprehension of their meaning. BECAUSE our National Parks constitute a new national economic asset of untold, but still unappreciated value, and you will be helping your country by helping the cause.
We strongly believe that our parks are beloved by Americans across the political spectrum, and that this deep care will prevail over the extreme, unprecedented policies that we see from the federal administration. This belief guides our work in this moment, and gives us hope.
Thank you for caring about our national parks and working with NPCA to help protect them in their time of need.
Unauthorized Mining in the Mojave Sets Dangerous Precedent for Parks Nationwide
Chance Wilcox, California Desert Program Manager
Standing in the blackbrush scrub, looking up at Clark Mountain, I’m overwhelmed by the awe I have for Mojave National Preserve and the beauty within its borders. From this perfect vantage point, I can see south toward the Ivanpah Valley, the huge dry lake bed and specks of green indicating Joshua trees in the distance. The drive up the mountain from the lake bed below demonstrates every beautiful ecosystem that the Mojave Desert can possibly put on display. I pass through washes of cholla and creosote, go past deep ravines dotted with barrel cacti and Joshua tree seedlings, enter into a vast saddle of blackbrush and sage, and finally reach the highest elevations of the Mojave, where white fir, pinyon pine and juniper thrive in the cooler climate, creating an intoxicating scent on the crisp breeze. This is one of the most biodiverse mountain ranges in California and as I crane my neck up to view the craggy peak in front of me, I feel solitude and appreciation for this wild and untamed beauty that Mojave National Preserve protects. Except, when I turn around, with my back to the peak, it’s a completely different view and I’m standing on the edge of the large pit of Colosseum Mine.
Mining has always been a prevalent industry in the Mojave Desert, and the extraction of minerals has shaped our use and protections of the landscape for centuries. Colosseum Mine is another dot on the large, saturated map of mining claims throughout the Southwest United States, but unlike many of those claims that have been abandoned or returned back to the natural landscape under the process of reclamation, Colosseum is bulldozing forward. Originally established as a large-scale gold and silver mine in 1985, Colosseum was required to close operations due to the passing of the California Desert Protection Act of 1994 (CDPA). This act of Congress set aside a large swath of the Mojave Desert for further protections and created Joshua Tree National Park, Death Valley National Park and Mojave National Preserve, increasing the protections of these landscapes from development. The CDPA required that certain mining operations within the boundaries of the newly designated Mojave National Preserve initiate the process of reclamation (i.e. rehabilitation of land) and terminate extraction operations, including Colosseum Mine in the Clark Mountains section of the preserve. The former owner of the mine agreed, poured the mine’s last bar of gold in 1993, and began returning the earth and water back to a healthier state. The mine remained in reclamation for the last 30 years, in an attempt to reduce sulfate levels in the water that continued to linger after the closure of the mine. Colosseum was largely forgotten about and, besides the large pit that served as a reminder of its existence, the Clark Mountains were relatively quiet once again.
Everything changed in 2021 when Dateline Resources, Ltd., a junior Australian mining corporation, purchased Colosseum Mine. Immediately, changes began to be seen in this remote section of the preserve. National Park Service staff discovered that the company had begun developing the dirt road that passes through the preserve up to the mine, destroying native plant species and leaving large scars on the landscape. The Park Service issued a cease and desist order on all development, stating that authorization and permitting was required for any industrial development and that the mine required a new plan of operations, approved by the Park Service, for any activity. The Park Service also fined the company over $200,000 for ecosystem damages from the unauthorized operations. In the first weeks of this Trump administration, we saw an executive order touting American energy dominance and a push to pursue more mineral extraction across the United States. A few months later, the Bureau of Land Management (which doesn’t manage national park sites) put out a press release stating that Colosseum Mine was valid and that they could continue operating in Mojave National Preserve as a rare earth elements mine. Dateline Resources began receiving huge investments and started exploration within the pit in September, alongside full, unchecked development of the access road in October. With a free pass from the government to operate under an expired plan of operations, the company has been allowed to forgo any authorization from the National Park Service to develop preserve lands for access and extraction, and Park Service staff have been forced to keep quiet as the Department of the Interior pushes an agenda of energy development. The precedent set by this administration with Colosseum Mine is dangerous. With nothing more than a press release, it has essentially stripped the National Park Service of its jurisdiction of its own lands, a right and process established in multiple acts of legislation, including the CDPA and the Mining in the Parks Act, as well as the Organic Act. With the Department of the Interior supporting energy development in park units, the rescission of national monument designations, and the reduction of regulatory processes for development projects, it is clear that this administration values mineral extraction over the protection of these unique and special landscapes. Colosseum Mine should be held to a regulatory standard at the very minimum and forced to seek authorization from the National Park Service, on whose lands the mine is located, although the designation of those lands eliminated the possibility of this type of mining operation to begin with. NPCA’s California Desert team is considering all options to hold the administration accountable to protect Mojave National Preserve. They must know that the American people value these landscapes and that inside a national park unit is not the place for hard rock mining. In this administration, where regulation and legislation have seemingly been dismissed, we must look to the courts and to working with Congress to protect our public lands. This administration may view the Mojave Desert as a wasteland, good only for natural resource extraction, but if you’ve ever stepped foot in the Mojave, taken in the scent of creosote after the rain or watched a desert tortoise cross the road in a Joshua tree forest, you know that this place is special and must be protected. We must take a stand against unauthorized mining in our national parks that sets a dangerous precedent for parks all across America. Mojave National Preserve must be protected for generations to come.
NPCA Files Lawsuit to Improve Air Quality Across California’s National Parks
Mark Rose, Sierra Nevada & Clean Air Senior Program Manager
Numerous California national parks, including Yosemite, Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, rank among the dirtiest parks in the country for air pollution. To address the significant air quality issues for parks in California and beyond, Congress amended the Clean Air Act decades ago resulting in the creation of the Regional Haze Rule, which is the only law in the U.S. specifically aimed at reducing air pollution and improving visibility at scenic vistas in America’s national parks.
To help meet the Regional Haze Rule’s requirements, all states, including California, must develop plans every 10 years to reduce haze pollution and improve visibility conditions in affected parks. Once completed, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) then reviews and ultimately finalizes state plans. Unfortunately, instead of seizing this opportunity to develop a strong plan to reduce pollution from a myriad of sources including large industrial facilities, oil and gas operations, and vehicles, California submitted a plan that failed to look at most of the major polluting sources in the state. As a result, EPA rightfully rejected much of California’s flawed plan in 2024. However, under the Trump administration, EPA reversed course and has fully approved the plan without addressing its numerous flaws. Moreover, EPA also led efforts to successfully revoke California’s ability to implement rules addressing car and truck pollution that the state’s regional haze plan is entirely dependent upon. The revocation of California’s vehicle rules means there’s likely no feasible path forward for the state to meet its regional haze goals for parks. EPA’s decision to now allow California to move ahead with a defective plan is part of a larger effort by the agency to chip away at requirements for regional haze planning. To this end, EPA has begun a separate rulemaking process to drastically weaken the Regional Haze rule nationally and make it easier for states to get away with doing little to nothing to improve air quality in our parks. Throughout this planning effort, NPCA led a broad coalition in advocacy efforts seeking to improve California’s plan. We also submitted three separate, lengthy legal comment letters to California and EPA highlighting the multitude of issues baked into the state’s plan. Unfortunately, our calls were ignored. Left without any other recourse, NPCA filed a lawsuit in November 2025 challenging EPA’s final approval of this flawed plan. NPCA simultaneously filed a petition asking EPA to reconsider its approval until it completes a new review of the plan.
Advocacy is one of the most powerful tools NPCA has used for more than a century, and through this legal action we are once again looking to hold the federal government accountable to the very laws designed to protect our national parks.
Our actions are necessary to help ensure both EPA and California to develop a stronger plan that adheres to the law and prioritizes clean air and clear views in our national parks. Support from NPCA members and partners makes this work possible and helps protect the health and beauty of these places for generations to come.
Hundreds Gather in Los Angeles to Protest Erasure of History and Protect Japanese American History
Dennis Arguelles, Southern California Director
Our national parks preserve important aspects of our history, including times when we failed to live up to our own democratic ideals. Helping us learn from past mistakes make us a better democracy, and it’s why parks are such essential American institutions. Protecting these stories reflects NPCA’s core commitment to integrity, inclusion and respect. These values guide our work, and we will continue to fight to ensure our parks tell honest, complete stories of our nation's history. Current threats to our parks motivated some 500 people to gather at the plaza of the Japanese American National Museum in downtown Los Angeles on Aug. 23 to protest the Trump administration’s attempts to whitewash history and erase stories that do not conform to its narrow view of American heritage. It was just one of four events that day across the West focused on protecting the story of the 120,000 Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II, actions the federal government later admitted were unconstitutional and the result of wartime hysteria, racism, and a failure of leadership. These four events also coincided with NPCA’s Day of Action to protect our parks, which is one of the many ways NPCA is organizing to advocate for our national parks and the stories they hold. The unjust incarceration resulted in lost jobs, interrupted education, the separation of families, and forfeiture of homes, farms and businesses. The museum plaza was chosen in part because on that spot in 1942, hundreds of Japanese Americans, most U.S. citizens, were forcibly assembled before being transported to remote incarceration centers such as Manzanar and Tule Lake, now national park sites where supporters staged their own actions that day. NPCA collaborated with the museum, the Manzanar Committee and other groups to organize the action, which was a specific response to President Trump’s Executive Order 14253 and its recent erasure of critical stories at Stonewall National Monument, Gateway National Recreation Area, Muir Woods National Monument and other park sites. Speakers included Japanese American community leaders, a 100-year-old incarceration camp survivor, civil and immigrant rights activists, and clergy.
“People and places will not be erased!” was among the chants rising from the spirited crowd.
Glen Kitayama of the Manzanar Committee summed up the day’s message best: “We’re not going away. Democracy is fragile, and we need to keep going. I know these are really dark times right now, but remember, there’s always hope.”
While the erasure of history remains a dire threat, resistance continues to grow, and NPCA will continue to protect the stories told in our parks. Support from our members and partners makes efforts like the Day of Action possible and helps ensure these stories are not erased from our public lands.
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Credits:
Super moon rising over mountains in Joshua Tree National Park. © MelissaMN/Adobe Stock Clark Mountain and Part of Colosseum Open Pit Mine in Winter © Tom/Adobe Stock A clear view in Yosemite National Park, showing the visibility strong air protections help preserve. ©JFL Photography/Adobe Stock Sign for Manzanar National Historic Site on highway © Mikeby/Adobe Stock Lake Manzanita, Lassen Volcanic National Park, California, USA © Michael Brake/Adobe Stock