In an announcement postponed by the Los Angeles wildfires, President Joe Biden on Tuesday designated two sites in California as national monuments that will honor Native American tribes while shielding picturesque mountains and deserts from mining and energy development.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday will establish two new national monuments in fire-plagued California, days before he's set to exit the White House, according to U.S. officials.

Biden has federally protected 1,053,125 square miles of land and ocean in his term — an area nearly four times the size of Texas.