"It's a joy to see President Clinton protecting recreational areas, wildlife habitat, and historical sites threatened by destruction by oil and gas extraction and real estate development," said Carl Pope, Sierra Club's executive director. "We are happy that President Clinton saved these national treasures for future generations before they were destroyed forever."

Some members of Congress have mentioned an interest in removing some of the national monument designations the president had given public lands in recent years. However, this will require an act of Congress. Americans consistently poll in strong support of saving the United State's remaining wild areas for future generations. The Sierra Club and other conservation organizations plan to mobilize this overwhelming support to hold congressional members accountable to the public's interests, versus the campaign contributions of oil, gas and real estate developers.

Missouri Breaks is the last undeveloped portion of the Missouri River. The landscape remains largely unchanged since Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out to explore America's wildlands. The Missouri Break covers over one hundred miles of wild river, travels through sandstone formations and multicolored towers of rock, is a favorite recreational area known for canoeing, and provides critical bird habitat.

Pompey's Pillar is a 200-foot high sandstone outcropping, which carries the only physical evidence of the historic Lewis and Clark expedition. William Clark signed his name into the sandstone pillar on July 25, 1806. The outcropping is named for Sacajawea's baby, Little Pomp. From this lookout, one can see a breathtaking view of the Yellowstone River and Bighorn Mountains.

"Two Montana National Monuments make the best gift we could ever give our children to begin 2001," said Mary Wiper, conservation organizer with Sierra Club Montana Chapter. "These designations safeguard the wild corridor of the Missouri and Pompey's Pillar marks the sole physical evidence of the Lewis and Clark expedition. We applaud setting aside these places as monuments for our families and our future."

The Carrizo Plain of California contains some of the last remnants of the vast, sweeping grasslands which used to be common throughout the San Joaquin Valley. Located between the coastal ranges of San Luis Obispo County in the southern San Joaquin Valley, the Plain provides a refuge for the greatest concentration of threatened and endangered species in the state. Threatened species found in the area include the San Joaquin kit fox, giant kangaroo rat, blunt nosed leopard lizard, and sandhill cranes, among many others. It also harbors a number of rare plants, including the California jewel flower, which is found in only one other place in the world, and is a sacred area for Native Americans.

"Carrizo Plain is a sweeping landscape that has all but disappeared in California," said Holly Sletteland, Conservation Chair of the Sierra Club Santa Lucia Chapter. "I'm glad to see that this is one place where it will remain forever."

The Sonoran Desert National Monument protects nearly 500,000 acres of spectacular desert mountains and saguaro-covered plains only 30 air miles from Phoenix, AZ, one of the nation's fastest growing urban areas. The monument will preserve for all time habitat for desert bighorn sheep and desert tortoise, and will protect fragile cultural sites for several nearby Native American tribes.

"The Sonoran desert is the most biologically rich in North America, but it's being bulldozed away before urban sprawl," said Rob Smith, Sierra Club Southwest Representative. This monument protects America's classic Sonoran desert landscape for future generations -- knife-like mountain peaks, vast valleys and one of the finest Saguaro forests in the world."

The Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument is approximately 4,100 acres in north-central New Mexico near Santa Fe. The area includes volcanic features such as cone-shaped tent rocks, as well as pumice, ash and other deposits from volcanic eruptions between 6 million and 7 million years ago.

"The creation of the Kasha-Katuwe/Tent Rocks National Monument is a symbol of Americans working together to preserve their public wildlands," said Martin Heinrich, member of the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club. "This monument has broad support ranging from Native American leaders at Cochiti Pueblo, to urban hikers in Santa Fe, to county commissioners in rural Sandoval County. It shows what we all know in our hearts that Americans care passionately for their public lands and will work together to protect them."

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Sierra Club has a national campaign to protect the lands explored by Lewis and Clark for our families and our future. Contact our national office for more information or copies of our report "Wild America: Protecting the Lands of Lewis and Clark" offering 33 stories about 33 places in Lewis and Clark country whose wild and untamed lands can be saved; (415) 977-5508 or www.sierraclub.org.

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