Protected federal lands could be reduced in size
WASHINGTON — Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke delivered his long-awaited review of more than two dozen national monuments to the White House on Thursday without revealing which monuments he recommended for downsizing — and the Trump administration wouldn’t say when the information would be made public.
Late Thursday, the Washington Post reported that Zinke had recommended reductions in three monuments — two in Utah and one in Oregon that touches into California, attributing individuals briefed on his decision.
The secretary recommended reducing the size of Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, as well as Oregon’s Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, the Post report said.
It was unclear from Zinke’s brief summary whether any of the five monuments in Califor-
nia that were reviewed would be affected. At an event in Montana, he said only that he did not call for eliminating any monuments but recommended changes to a “handful.”
Environmental groups said they are bracing for millions of acres of potential reductions from a half dozen monuments in the West, including California.
“We very much doubt it will be a few little boundary changes here and there,” said Matt Lee-Ashley, a senior fellow at the liberal advocacy group Center for American Progress. “Why on earth go to all this trouble or keep your recommendations secret if you’re just going to tinker around the edges?”
Lee-Ashley predicted “a shutdown of half or more of the monuments” in the study.
Sen. Diane Feinstein, DCalif., released a statement demanding that Zinke’s report be released to the public.
“The American people have the right to see his entire report,” she said. “A proposal to strip protections from public lands should be made public immediately.”
The unprecedented review, initiated by President Trump in April, was intended to determine whether any parts of more than two dozen U.S. monuments created by recent presidents under the 1906 Antiquities Act were suitable for commercial use.
Zinke indicated in his summary that he believes monument designations under the act should be limited to areas of historic or scientific interest and not include “landscape areas, biodiversity and view sheds.”
There are 129 national monuments created under the act altogether, but the review covered mostly those in the West, designated by presidents going back to Bill Clinton. In California, they included Berryessa Snow Mountain, Carrizo Plain, Giant Sequoia, San Gabriel Mountains and Mojave Trails national monuments. Sand to Snow National Monument in the Mojave Desert was listed for review, but Zinke announced earlier that he would leave it untouched.
A legal analysis by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the 1976 Federal Land Policy Management Act explicitly prohibits the interior secretary from revoking or modifying a monument, and he is vowing to sue if Trump tries to change the boundaries of any monuments in the state based on Zinke’s recommendations.
Zinke said boundary adjustments are included in his recommendations for some monuments but did not specify what those adjustments would be. Public access for uses such as hunting, fishing or grazing would be maintained or restored, he said.
The Interior Department did not respond to a question about what will happen next, but environmental groups said Trump could sign an executive order carrying out Zinke’s recommendations or the administration could ask Congress to carry out the recommendations.
Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, told reporters Thursday that he would initiate legislation to overhaul the Antiquities Act to prevent further “abuses” by presidents who use the law to increase protection on large swathes of land.
Feinstein and Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, asked President Barack Obama to declare monuments in the state partly because Republicans in Congress, including Bishop, had for nearly a decade blocked their legislation to protect the land.
“If Bishop cared about abuses of the Antiquities Act, he’d allow protective legislation to move through his committee,” said Ryan Henson, senior policy director of the California Wilderness Coalition.
The Mojave Trails and Castle Mountains monuments are among three designations made by Obama last year. The 1.6 million-acre Mojave Trails includes the last undeveloped segment of historic Route 66 and provides a biological link between Joshua Tree National Park and the Mojave National Preserve. The 21,000acre Castle Mountains monument protects a rare high desert grassland.
In his summary, Zinke appears to make an oblique reference to Mojave Trails, citing protection of “World War II bombing craters” as an example of an overly expansive use of presidential power. Mojave Trails contains the remnants of Gen. George Patton’s World War II tank training grounds.
Mojave Trails came under review at the request of Rep. Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley (San Bernardino County), who asked Zinke to remove half a million acres from the monument in the Cadiz Valley. The area surrounds a private company, Cadiz Inc., which wants to pump billions of gallons of water from the desert aquifer underlying the monument to sell to Southern California cities.
Cook also asked Zinke to add Castle Mountains to the review to aid a Canadian company that owns a gold mine in the area. Zinke acknowledged that many monuments, though large, “reflect a long public debate process and are largely settled and strongly supported by the local community.”
Trump has ordered a similar review of national marine sanctuaries, due from Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross by Oct. 25. The marine sanctuaries are under the jurisdiction of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a branch of the Commerce Department. The marine review is part of the administration’s effort to expand the potential for coastal oil and gas drilling.