Which US Monuments Are on the Chopping Block?

For the Trump Administration, eliminating millions of acres from Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments is just the beginning.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recently released the full list of monuments that the administration is seeking to scale back according to the Associated Press.

If the administration follows Zinke’s recommendations, there will be reductions at two other monuments in the U.S. West and modifications to rules at six others, mostly to allow commercial fishing in protected marine reserves.

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The additional sites targeted for downsizing by the Trump administration include Gold Butte in Nevada and Cascade Siskiyou in Oregon.

Earlier this year, Trump tasked Zinke with conducting an unprecedented review of 27 monuments established by former presidents over more than two decades—places revered for their natural beauty and historical significance. Zinke’s newly released recommendations are the result of that process.

The cuts at Gold Butte would be centered around a water district Zinke claims should not have been included in the boundaries. In addition, the secretary is recommending that hunting and fishing be allowed on the lands. He is also asking Congress to approve a co-management plan under which Native American tribes would help run the monument.

Located in Clark County, Nevada, northeast of Las Vegas, Gold Butte protects nearly 300,000 acres of desert landscapes, including rock art, sandstone towers and wildlife habitat for the threatened Mojave Desert tortoise and more.

The monument fills a gap between Lake Mead National Recreation Area and Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, creating a continuous swath of conserved land and establishing a wildlife corridor.

While Zinke would not reveal how many acres he is seeking to remove from monument status, he indicated that the administration is working with Nevada’s governor and congressional delegation to find a solution.

Cascade-Siskiyou, the second targeted monument, protects about 113,000 acres amid three mountain ranges. Zinke’s report said the revisions here focus on correcting a recent expansion of the site. Again, he declined to specify how many acres will be eliminated.

Though Zinke and Trump maintain the changes are designed to give lands back to the state and to the people, that's a slightly misleading characterization. The proclamations signed earlier this week by the president with regard to Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante allow the lands to be opened up in 60 days to mining.

As the Los Angeles Times pointed out in an editorial this week, Trump’s evisceration of the two monuments—the largest elimination of protected area in American history—is, in reality, an act of political backscratching.

“This is nothing more than a giveaway to mining and other extractive industries, and a favor to conservative anti-public lands Republicans in Utah, lead by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch and Rep. Rob Bishop, who believe that land owned by the federal government should be turned over to states for management and development decisions,” stated the Los Angeles Times.

Three lawsuits have been filed in response to Trump’s unprecedented announcement that he intends to reduce Bears Ears by 85 percent.

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In addition to suits filed by Native American tribes and environmental organizations, California-based outdoor gear company Patagonia is spearheading its own legal challenge. The company said Trump has exceeded his authority and replaced its usual website homepage this week with the message “The President Stole Your Land.”

Zinke’s report also includes proposed rule changes that would allow more access for industry at a long list of monuments. The biggest beneficiaries of the changes would be commercial fishing and hunters. Locations, where rules would be revised, include:

—Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks and Rio Grande Del Norte, in New Mexico – Modifications would involve protecting the culture of grazing and ensuring hunters and fishers don’t lose access.

—Katahdin Woods and Waters, Maine – Zinke’s recommendation for Katahdin Woods is to allow more trees to be cut in some areas in order to make the forest healthy by thinning and landscape improvement.

—Northeast Canyons Seamounts, Maine – Changes here would allow commercial fishing in what is the first marine monument in the Atlantic Ocean.

—Pacific Remote Islands, Pacific Ocean – Once again, Zinke is seeking to allow commercial fishing in a place that’s designated a marine monument and covers nearly 87,000 square miles near Hawaii.

—Rose Atoll, Pacific Ocean. Zinke is recommending commercial fishing be allowed in the 13,5000-square-mile marine monument.

Zinke did not suggest changes to 17 other monuments in seven states and the Pacific Ocean.

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