Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Secretary pitches a smaller monument
Zinke recommends reducing size of Utah’s Bears Ears
WASHINGTON — Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Monday recommended that the new Bears Ears National Monument in Utah be reduced in size and said Congress should step in to designate how selected areas of the 1.3 million-acre site are managed.
Zinke made the recommendation as part of an interim report to President Donald Trump on the scenic swath of southern Utah with red rock plateaus, cliffs and canyons on land considered sacred to Native American tribes.
Trump signed an executive order in April directing Zinke to review the designation of dozens of national monuments on federal lands, calling the protection efforts “a massive federal land grab” by previous administrations.
Trump and other Republicans have singled out former President Barack Obama’s designation of Bears Ears, calling it an unnecessary layer of federal control that hurts local economies by closing the area to new energy development. They also say it isn’t the best way to protect the land.
Zinke toured Bears Ears last month on foot, horseback and helicopter and met with Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and other state leaders. Herbert and other Utah Republicans oppose Obama’s designation of the Bears Ears monument.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, called Zinke’s announcement “an unquestionable victory for Utah.” He and other Republicans said the recommendation to reduce the size of the monument was in line with the original intent of the 1906 Antiquities Act, which states that monument designations should be the “smallest area compatible” with proper care and management of the site.
“This recommendation reflects a balance of our shared priorities of protecting this land and the antiquities that are found on it while still preserving local involvement and taking into consideration the needs of the local communities,” Hatch said.
Zinke, a former Republican congressman from Montana, said he wants to make sure Native American culture is preserved and said Congress should approve legislation granting tribes legal authority to “co-manage” some of the Bears Ears site.
“I have enormous respect for tribes,” Zinke said.
Environmental groups blasted the recommendation, which they said threatened the future of Bears Ears and boded poorly for a broader review of national monuments due in August.
“The Trump administration’s announcement today on Bears Ears is nothing less than an attack on the future of all American monuments, parks and public lands,” said Jamie Williams, president of The Wilderness Society. The recommendation ignores thousands of public comments in favor of the monument and makes “a mockery of the claimed public process,” Williams said.