Petroglyphs at Gold Butte National Monument near Bunkerville, Nevada.
John Locher / AP
One day after President Trump ordered an unprecedented reduction to a pair of national monuments in Utah, his administration announced plans to modify a slew of other protected wildlands scattered across the country.
The Interior Department recommended on Tuesday shrinking Gold Butte National Monument, a nearly 300,000-acre site in Nevada, and Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, which spans just over 100,000 acres on the California-Oregon border. The department did not describe the new boundaries in it's report, but repeatedly mentions confining monuments to the "smallest area compatible" — a phrase that comes from the law allowing presidents to set aside land without congressional approval.
The announcement comes just a day after Trump ordered a dramatic reduction to two national monuments, Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears, in southern Utah. The order was met with protests and lawsuits from conservation groups.
Western conservatives, meanwhile, praised the reductions, saying they would be a boon to the local economy.
Protesters opposed to Trump's order shrinking two Utah national monuments in Salt Lake City on Dec. 4.
Michael Nigro / BuzzFeed News
Tuesday's report also recommends changes to:
- Katahdin Woods and Waters in Maine.
- Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off the coast of New England.
- Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks and Rio Grande Del Norte national monuments in New Mexico.
- Pacific Remote Islands and Rose Atoll marine national monuments in the Pacific Ocean.
Of those monuments, only the recommendations for Rose Atoll and Pacific Remote Islands mention the possibility of boundary revisions. The exact changes in store for the others go largely unspecified, but it may include "prioritizing public access," infrastructure upgrades, timber management, and fishery management.
The Interior Department also is proposing three new monuments, including a 130,000-acre section of the Lewis and Clark National Forest in Montana — the home state of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.
The potential for reductions to Gold Butte is especially significant because it includes an area of southern Nevada that the Bundy family previously used to graze cattle. in 2014, family patriarch Cliven Bundy led an armed standoff against federal agents, turning the region into a flashpoint in a long-running controversy over how to use vast swaths of public land.
Cattle belonging to Cliven Bundy are released near Bunkerville, Nevada, on April 12, 2014.
Jim Urquhart / Reuters
Many western conservatives, including the Bundys, have argued for decades that the federal government is ill-suited to manage the land and say national monuments bring economy-busting regulations. But conservationists have argued that fragile ecosystems and historical sites need the protection afforded by national monument designations, which they also say allow recreation-based industries to thrive.
The proposed modifications mostly target monuments designated during Democratic presidencies.
President Obama created Bears Ears, Gold Butte, Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks, Katahdin Woods and Waters, Northeast Canyons and Seamounts, and Rio Grande Del Norte. President Clinton created Grand Staircase-Escalante and Cascade-Siskiyou, which was also expanded by Obama.
President George W. Bush created Pacific Remote Islands and Rose Atoll national marine monuments.
The entrance to the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in Maine.
Robert F. Bukaty / AP
Though the exact changes to the monuments remains unknown, a host of conservation groups were quick to condemn potential alterations Tuesday.
Jamie Rappaport Clark, president of Defenders of Wildlife, said the Trump administration "continues to prioritize private interests and industry profits over our public lands and natural heritage."
"We will fight any attempt to strip away protections for these vital places," Clark added.
The National Parks Conservation Associated said in a statement that the revisions to the monuments would allow activities like timber harvesting and commercial fishing, and argued that the changes are illegal.
Randi Spivak, public lands director for the Center for Biological Diversity, called shrinking national monuments "disgraceful."
“Zinke is deluding himself if he thinks the public wants him to plunder national monuments,” Spivak said.
LINK: Trump Slashes National Monuments In Largest Reduction Of Public Land Protections In US History
LINK: The Oregon Standoff Is The Latest In A Long Line Of Revolts Over Western Land
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/2jTouuX
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