Proposition by lawmakers fails geography test
Three Arizona congressman have urged Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke to eliminate four national monuments in Arizona, including one the lawmakers seem to believe is 100 miles from where it actually is located. Republican Reps. Trent Franks, Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar are among 14 members of the Congressional Western Caucus to send Zinke a letter asking the secretary to consider a “total rescission” of the Grand Canyon-Parashant, Ironwood Forest, Sonoran Desert and Vermilion Cliffs monuments.
According to the lawmakers, the designation of the monuments represented “the blind support of out-ofstate extremist groups” by previous administrations. Then-President Bill Clinton designated all four areas as national monuments under the 1906 Antiquities Act, which the lawmakers say became a “tyrannical tool that presidents have manipulated to exercise unfettered land grabs to the detriment of state and local interests.”
Among the Arizonans interested in the monuments, however, are the residents of Pima County.
Sharon Bronson, the chairwoman of the Pima County Board of Supervisors, wrote a long letter to the Interior secretary in response the lawmakers’ request, saying in part that she was “astounded” at their suggestion, which she called “disingenuous and lacking in any local constituent input.”
For example, the lawmakers said of the Sonoran Desert National Monument: “Due to the proximity to our nation’s southern border, unique and significant issues exist regarding effective management of the land.” The congressman said the “designation jeopardizes national security for the sake of legacy building.”
That sounds a little scary, doesn’t it? Except, as was first pointed out in an article published in TucsonSentinal.com, Sonoran Desert National Monument, southwest of Phoenix, is about 100 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Randi Spivak, director of public lands for the Center for Biological Diversity, told me: “We are blessed to have a system of public lands that offer us so much. It’s our responsibility to protect that and pass it on. Already we are losing so much open space to development. Studies show, however, that the proximity to public lands generates tremendous economic activity and diverse development to communities. You hear sometimes that these lands are being used. They are. These lands are highly functioning and critically important. In the West, for example, the national forest system provides 50 percent of the water. These lands are performing services and being used.”
Bronson said none of the congressmen bothered to contact her before making their recommendations. That’s unfortunate. She might not have changed their minds, but at the very least she could have told them where the monuments they want to eliminate are located.