Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument protects a striking section of Southern California along the Coachella Valley, where extreme elevation changes create an unusual range of habitats from desert scrub and palm oases to pinyon woodland and high conifer forest. Established by Congress in 2000, it preserves important wildlife, including the endemic Peninsular bighorn sheep and nineteen species found only in the monument area. The mountains also hold deep human history: Cahuilla peoples own land within the monument, help manage it, and maintain cultural ties and historic sites there. Its protection grew over more than a century through forests, parks, reserves, wilderness areas, and tribal and private conservation efforts.