Trump shrinks monument land in Utah
SALT LAKE CITY • President Donald Trump signed a proclamation Monday to scale back two national monuments in Utah, pledging to “reverse federal overreach and restore the rights of this land to your citizens.”
Trump made his plans official during a speech at the state capitol, where he was cheered by the state’s Republican leaders who lobbied him to undo protections they contend are overly broad and close off the area to energy development and other access.
Environmental and tribal groups plan to sue to preserve monuments they say are vital to protect important archeological and cultural resources, especially the Bears Ears National Monument, a more than 1.3 million-acre site in southeastern Utah that features thousands of Native American artifacts, including ancient cliff dwellings and petroglyphs.
About 3,000 demonstrators lined up near the state capitol protesting Trump’s announcement. The protesters held signs that said, “Keep your tiny hands off our public lands,” and they chanted, “Lock him up!” A smaller group gathered in support of Trump’s decision, including some who said they favour potential drilling or mining there that could create jobs.
The Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments were among a group of 27 monuments Trump ordered Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review this year.
Bears Ears, created last year by President Barack Obama, will be reduced to 201,876 acres.
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, designated in 1996, will be reduced from nearly 1.9 million acres to 1,003,863 acres.
Zinke accompanied Trump aboard Air Force One, as did Utah’s Republican senators, Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee. Hatch and other Utah Republican leaders pushed Trump to launch the review, saying the monuments declared by Obama and former president Bill Clinton locked up too much federal land.
Trump said Monday while leaving the White House that the monument announcement is “something that the state of Utah and others have wanted to be done for many, many years.”
The move marks the first time in a half century a president has undone these types of land protections. And it could be the first of many changes to come.
Zinke has also recommended Nevada’s Gold Butte and Oregon’s CascadeSiskiyou monuments be reduced in size, though details remain unclear. The former Montana congressman’s plan would allow logging at a newly designated monument in Maine and more grazing, hunting and fishing at two sites in New Mexico.