Interior chief is keeping under wraps planned changes to national monuments

BEARS EARS NATIONAL MONUMENT, Utah — The future of this sprawling region of red-rock canyons was left in question Thursday when Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke sent recommendations for 27 national monuments under federal review to President Donald Trump, but did not make the recommendations public.

Environmentalists, ranchers, tribal governments and Western lawmakers had been watching closely to see if Zinke would propose changing the borders of Bears Ears National Monument to reopen some of its 1.35 million acres to new mining and drilling.

Shrinking the monument would be widely seen as a direct blow to former President Barack Obama’s environmental legacy, and would probably prompt the first major legal test of a century-old conservation law.

Zinke was believed to be leaning toward such a step. But he declined Thursday to announce specifically what he had proposed for Bears Ears or the other monuments under review.

In announcing that he had sent his report to Trump, Zinke referred to his recommendations only in general terms, saying they would “provide a much needed change for the local communities who border and rely on these lands.”

In Billings, Mont., on Thursday for a briefing on wildfires, Zinke told the Associated Press that he would recommend changes to a “handful” of monuments, and would not suggest that any be eliminated.

A White House spokesman said in a statement that Trump was reviewing the report.

In April, Trump ordered a sweeping review of 27 national monuments that were designated or expanded in recent years under the Antiquities Act. National monuments are strictly protected from new development in much the same way national parks are.

Native American tribes in the Southwest, who lobbied for years to get the Bears Ears region designated a national monument, are expected to fight any move to reduce its size. Charles Wilkinson, a professor of public land law and adviser to the tribes, said such a decision would be “an attack on a significant part of the foundation of American conservation law.”

Outdoor recreation and environmental groups are also expected to fight to preserve the monuments at their present size.

Alex Goodlett / New York Times The Valley of the Gods in Bears Ears National Monument is near Blanding, Utah. Parts of the region of redrock canyons and ancient Native American sites in Utah could lose their strict federal protection.