Sen. Dianne Feinstein pushes for national monuments in Southland deserts

WHITEWATER, Calif. (KABC) -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein is calling on President Barack Obama to create three new national monuments in Southern California deserts.

A large crowd of supporters and opponents of the initiative gathered at a public hearing on Tuesday in Whitewater Canyon, where one of the monuments would be located.

The issue at hand - a proposal to designate more than 1 million acres of land as three distinct national monuments.

"What this desert carries is the tradition of the West that founded California, and we aim to keep that going," Feinstein said.

Feinstein has failed to get the idea through Congress, so now she wants the president to sign an executive order to create three national monuments, calling them "Sand to Snow," "Mojave Trails" and "Castle Mountains."

President Obama was in Southern California last year to designate part of the San Gabriel Mountains a national monument. But just like with that issue, there are people opposed to this idea, too. They are concerned with the economic impact of preventing future mines.

"Every time we turn around, they block off roads, access to mining areas, they take more and more public land away from us that we can't get to," said Karl Stech of Murrieta. "I emphasize the word public land. It belongs to the people - not the government. It doesn't belong to Dianne Feinstein either."

Supporters of the idea say they don't want to see massive solar farms across the desert. They're also concerned about the wildlife like the desert tortoise and the bighorn sheep. They say the national monument designation is essential.

"We have a really big responsibility as insignificant little things to keep this planet going with minimal harm, and we've been doing maximum harm. Time to turn that around and this is the step to do that," said Joanne Corsica of Cathedral City.