Lawmakers Propose Renaming Joshua Tree Visitor Center in Honor of Senator Feinstein

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senators Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler (both D-Calif.), along with Representative Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.-25), May 14 announced legislation to rename the Cottonwood Visitor Center at Joshua Tree National Park as the Senator Dianne Feinstein Visitor Center. The bill received a hearing today in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee (ENR) with the National Park Service.

The Cottonwood Visitor Center is located in the southern part of Joshua Tree National Park, just seven miles north of Interstate 10, and serves as the first contact station for the millions of visitors entering the park from the Interstate each year. The visitor center is the gateway to many hiking trails, including the Cottonwood Springs area.

The late Senator Feinstein was a champion for protecting California’s public lands, from the redwoods of the Headwaters and the San Francisco Bay, to Lake Tahoe and, most notably, the California desert. She authored the California Desert Protection Act of 1994 that created the Mojave National Preserve, expanded and redesignated Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Monuments as national parks, and designated over seven million acres of California desert as Wilderness. She also sponsored subsequent legislation to protect natural areas and wildlife corridors in the desert, leading to the creation of the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument, the Mojave Trails National Monument, the Sand to Snow National Monument, and the Castle Mountains National Monument.

“Senator Feinstein was widely regarded as a great protector of the California desert, having grown up with fond childhood memories of the desert and subsequently working to protect the landscape throughout her Senate career,” said Senator Padilla. “Thirty years after the enactment of Senator Feinstein’s landmark California Desert Protection Act, which created Joshua Tree National Park, I can think of no better way to honor her legacy than by ensuring that the Park’s visitors are reminded of Senator Feinstein’s enduring public lands legacy.”  

Senator Padilla also introduced legislation to expand the Mojave National Preserve, established by Feinstein’s 1994 California Desert Protection Act, by approximately 20,000 acres to encompass the existing Castle Mountains National Monument. Doing so would allow the National Park Service to more effectively safeguard land within the Mojave Desert and better conserve and protect the Castle Mountains. Additionally, Padilla introduced legislation to expand Joshua Tree National Park by about 17,000 acres. Both of these bills were also included in the ENR Committee hearing today and received positive testimony from the National Park Service.

WATCH: Padilla highlights his three public lands bills to uphold Senator Feinstein’s legacy of protecting the California desert.