Jewell is an avid hiker, mountaineer and former CEO of Seattle-based Recreation Equipment Inc., or REI.

Among those attending the event were San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors Chairman James Ramos, who serenaded the crowd with a Serrano Indian song about the bighorn sheep found in the area. Also, representatives from Washington, D.C.-based Hispanic Access Foundation, which strives to connect their community with outdoor recreation and education, and Por la Creacion, a nationwide faith-based organization, working for positive links between Hispanics and their environment.

Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Palm Desert, said he has “never felt more connected to the universe” than when he is in the California desert. He told of his childhood in Whitewater, where his father took him fishing, and in Joshua Tree National Park, where he proposed to his wife.

Ruiz praised the diverse group who worked to create these monuments and noted that their work will be forever memorialized.

Various federal agencies must now plan how they will manage the new monument lands, a process that could take up to three years, said Jerry Perez, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s California director

“We want to be very transparent and inclusive” during this process, Perez said following the event, adding that many public meetings will be held.

Original article is available at http://www.pe.com/articles/national-802103-jewell-monument.html.