John Fowler
Golden Cathedral, Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument, Utah, one of 24 national monuments threatened by Trump's executive order, which targets monuments 100,000 acres or more, and were created by presidential proclamation since 1996.
Last week Trump declared hunting season on some of our most iconic public lands.
Flanked by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Vice President Mike Pence, Trump signed an executive order directing the Interior Department to review all national monuments established since 1996, placing at least 100,000 acres of protected lands at risk. Claiming the review will end “abuses” and “return control to the people, the people of all of the states, the people of the United States,” Trump took aim at the century-old Antiquities Act, declaring that it “does not give the federal government unlimited power to lock up millions of acres of land and water.”
But if his goal was truly to “return control to the people, the people of all the states,” Trump would have kept our national monuments off the table entirely.
National monuments, like all federally managed public lands, are already held in trust for the American people. The government’s mandate is to manage these lands sustainably. We’re talking over 600 million acres of land and 600 million square miles of marine and Great Lakes waters, a Herculean management effort especially as Congress routinely cuts funding for the already cash-strapped agencies charged with the task.
The United States has the most extensive public land holdings in the world. Grand Canyon National Park, one of this country’s most-visited landmarks, was first a national monument. Teddy Roosevelt, eager to preserve the sprawling expanse of canyons and waterways for public use and frustrated by stalled efforts in Congress, used the Antiquities Act to protect the Grand Canyon thirteen years before Congress followed suit. Like all other national monuments, it remains open to the public to this day.
So when Trump and other public land opponents’ claim that national monuments are “locked up,” they aren’t claiming that the lands are closed to the public; they mean that the lands are closed to commercial developers, mining, and drilling operations.
On Tuesday, Democratic members of the House Natural Resources Committee joined a rally on Capitol Hill, questioning whether Trump even possesses the authority to follow through on his threats. The Antiquities Act grants the President authority to designate national monuments, but beyond that point all federal public lands fall under Congressional jurisdiction.
Patagonia, the outdoor clothing and gear designer and retailer, is threatening to sue the Trump Administration if further steps are taken to revoke national monument protections. More than 450 organizations including the Sierra Club, Earthjustice, and the NAACP signed a letter to Trump, Zinke, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross opposing any moves to “remove or decrease protections for any national monuments.”
Trump and House Republicans have thrown down the gauntlet. But public land advocates in Congress, in the outdoor industry, and in communities across the country are ready to fight.