EDITOR’S NOTE

This week, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke is scheduled to visit Nevada as part of the Trump administration’s review of 27 national monuments. Based on the review, Trump will decide whether to curtail or eliminate protections for those areas, which include the Gold Butte and Basin and Range National Monuments in Nevada.

In announcing the review, Trump said the designations were “a massive federal land grab” that “should never have happened.” For advocates who have sought protection for the monuments, Trump’s comments raised concerns that he would revoke the designations or reduce the size of the protected areas and open them to oil and gas exploration, or other commercial development.

In anticipation of Zinke’s visit, the Sun reached out to several advocates for Basin and Range and Gold Butte. Today, we present guest columns here from three of them.