The Sáttítla Highlands National Monument in northern California will encompass over 224,000 acres of exceptionally varied habitat, including parts of the Modoc, Shasta-Trinity, and Klamath National Forests. The Sáttítla Highlands include the ancestral homelands of and are sacred to the Pit River Tribe and Modoc Peoples. Many other Tribes and Indigenous peoples in the region, including the Karuk, Klamath, Shasta, Siletz, Wintu, and Yana, hold deep connections to this area. This designation honors the sacred cultural value of these lands, while protecting the area’s rich ecological, scientific, and historical significance. The monument will be managed by the Department of Agriculture’s U.S. Forest Service.

At the new monument’s core sits the Medicine Lake Volcano, a massive dormant volcano covering an expanse roughly 10 times that of Mount St. Helens in Washington. The region’s dramatic volcanic history has fostered an equally dramatic landscape, dotted with cinder cones, volcanic craters, spatter cones, and hundreds of cave-like lava tubes – including Giant Crater, the longest known lava tube system in the world, which originates within Sáttítla. These unique geologic features shaped a landscape in contrast between stark unvegetated lava fields interspersed with islands of relict forest communities, and lush, verdant forests that offer exceptional outdoor recreation opportunities. The volcanic geology and other features – in particular the obsidian deposits that were shaped into blades and other tools – are central to the spiritual beliefs and cultural practices of its Indigenous peoples.

This otherworldly and spectacular landscape is home to many rare, vulnerable, and culturally important flora and fauna, such as the northern spotted owl, the Cascades frog, the long-toed salamander, and the sugarstick, a parasitic plant associated with the roots of old-growth conifers. Much of the rain that falls on the area filters through the porous volcanic rock recharging underground aquifers that are essential for protecting and storing clean water for Northern California communities. The protection of the Sáttítla Highlands conserves a diverse array of natural and scientific resources, ensuring that the cultural, historical, and scientific values of this area, shaped by its volcano, endure for the benefit of all Americans.

Source: The White House Fact Sheet (January 2025)

Establishment Sáttítla Highlands National Monument — January 14, 2025

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Active high-resolution seismic tomography of compressional wave velocity and attenuation structure at Medicine Lake volcano, Northern California Cascade Range (John R. Evans and John J. Zucca, extract from Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 93 No. B12, December 10, 1988)

Bathymetric, geophysical and geologic sample data from Medicine Lake, Siskiyou County, northern California U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 00-043 (Jonathan R. Childs, Jacob B. Lowenstern, R. Lawrence Phillips, Patrick Hart, James J. Rytuba, John A. Barron, Scott W. Starratt and Sarah Spaulding, 2000)

California's Exposure to Volcanic Hazards U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5159 (Margaret Mangan, Jessica Ball, Nathan Wood, Jamie L. Jones, Jeff Peters, Nina Abdollahian, Laura Dinitz, Sharon Blankenheim, Johanna Fenton and Cynthia Pridmore, 2018)

Chemical analyses and K-Ar ages of samples from 13 drill holes, Medicine Lake volcano, California U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2006-1041 (Julie M. Donnelly-Nolan, 2006)

Chemical analyses of pre-Holocene rocks from Medicine Lake Volcano and vicinity, Northern California U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2008-1094 (Julie M. Donnelly-Nolan, 2008)

Chronology of postglacial eruptive activity and calculation of eruption probabilities for Medicine Lake Volcano, Northern California U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2007-5174-B (Manuel Nathenson, Julie M. Donnelly-Nolan, Duane E. Champion and Jacob B. Lowenstern, 2007)

El Observatorio Volcánico de California (CalVO) — Vigilando los Volcanes Activos del Estado USGS Fact Sheet 2014-3120 (Wendy K. Stovall, Mae Marcaida and Margaret T. Mangan, January 2016)

Emplacement of Holocene silicic lava flows and domes at Newberry, South Sister, and Medicine Lake volcanoes, California and Oregon U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5022-I (Jonathan H. Fink and Steve W. Anderson, 2017)

Geologic field-trip guide to Medicine Lake Volcano, northern California, including Lava Beds National Monument U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5022-K1 (Julie M. Donnelly-Nolan and Timothy L. Grove, 2017)

Geologic map of Medicine Lake Volcano, Northern California U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 2927 (Julie M. Donnelly-Nolan, 2010)

Late Holocene volcanism at Medicine Lake volcano, northern California Cascades U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1822 (Julie M. Donnelly-Nolan, Duane E. Champion and Timothy L. Grove, 2016)

Map: Proposed Sáttítla National Monument, California (August 20, 2024)

Map: Sáttítla Highlands National Monument (January 3, 2025)

Medicine Lake Volcano and Lava Beds National Monument (Julie M. Donnelly-Nolan, extract from California Geology, Vol. 45 No. 5, September-October 1992, ©California Department of Conservation)

Monitoring Volcanoes: Techniques and Strategies Used by the Staff of the Cascades Volcano Observatory, 1980-90 U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1966 (John W. Ewert and Donald A. Swanson, 1992)

Preliminary chemical and isotopic data for waters from springs and wells on and near Medicine Lake Volcano, Cascade Range, northern California U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 98-2 (R.H. Mariner, W.C. Evans and M. Huebner, 1998)

Proclamation 10882—Establishment of the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument (Joseph R. Biden, Jr., January 14, 2025)

Protect Sáttítla: Fact Sheet (Protect Sáttítla, 2024)

Selected Caves and Lava Tube Systems in and near Lava Beds National Monument, California (HTML edition) USGS Bulletin 1673 (Aaron C. Waters, Julie M. Donnelly-Nolan and Bruce W. Rogers, 1990)

Steady subsidence of Medicine Lake volcano, northern California, revealed by repeated leveling surveys (Daniel Dzurisin, Michael P. Poland and Roland Bürgmann, extract from Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 107, No. B12 2002)

The California Volcano Observatory — Monitoring the State's Restless Volcanoes USGS Fact Sheet 2014-3120 (Wendy K. Stovall, Mae Marcaida and Margaret T. Mangan, December 2014)

Volcano hazards assessment for Medicine Lake Volcano, Northern California U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2007-5174-A (Julie M. Donnally-Nolan, Manuel Nathenson, Duane E. Champion, David W. Ramsey, Jacob B. Lowenstern and John W. Ewert, 2007)