Trump to shrink Bears Ears National Monument
Southeast Utah area may be reduced by hundreds of thousands of acres
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump informed Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, on Friday that he will shrink Bears Ears National Monument, a 1.35-million-acre protected area in southeast Utah that is prized by many tribal leaders but opposed by several state and federal Republican officials.
“I’m approving the Bears Ears recommendation for you, Orrin,” Trump told the senator in a phone call Friday morning, according to Hatch’s office, just before Hatch stepped onstage for an event in Utah on women in technology.
In late August, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recommended paring back the boundaries of Bears Ears and asking Congress to make less-restrictive designations within it, “such as national recreation areas or national conservation areas.” The monument, which contains tens of thousands of cultural artifacts, has become the most prominent symbol of controversy surrounding the Antiquities Act of 1906.
In the report, Zinke proposed cutting the size of between four and six national monuments established by Trump’s predecessors and changing the way another six would be managed.
Former president Barack Obama designated the monument in December 2016, invoking his authority under the Act on the grounds that looting and recreational activities posed a threat to the ancient rock art and artifacts there.
The Salt Lake Tribune first reported the news of Trump’s call to Hatch. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders later said the president would visit Utah in early December, “and we’ll release more details at that point, if not some before.”
Trump did not specify exactly how he would change the boundaries, according to Hatch spokesman Matt Whitlock, though Interior Department officials have privately indicated that the administration plans to shrink it by hundreds of thousands of acres. Hatch also urged Trump to allow for mining in Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, a possibility Zinke raised in his report to the president.
“I was incredibly grateful the President called this morning to let us know that he is approving Secretary Zinke’s recommendation on Bears Ears,” Hatch said. “We believe in the importance of protecting these sacred antiquities, but Secretary Zinke and the Trump administration rolled up their sleeves to dig in, talk to locals, talk to local tribes, and find a better way to do it. We’ll continue to work closely with them moving forward to ensure Utahns have a voice.”