U.S. interior chief says he won’t eliminate protected lands
Giant Sequoia National Monument was reviewed
BILLINGS, Mont. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced Thursday he won’t seek to rescind any national monuments carved from the wilderness and oceans by past presidents. But he said he will press for some boundary changes and left open the possibility of allowing drilling, mining or other industries on the sites.
Twenty-seven monuments, including the Giant Sequoia National Monument, were put under review in April by President Donald Trump, who has charged that the millions of acres designated for protection by President Barack Obama were part of a “massive federal land grab.”
President Bill Clinton created this Giant Sequoia National Monument in 2000, setting aside 328,000 acres of land in Tulare County where the giant sequoia grows naturally. The move added to the areas already safeguarded in Sequoia, Kings Canyon and Yosemite national parks. The decision was praised by environmentalists but scorned by loggers. In announcing his decision, Clinton marveled at the resilience of a partially charred tree that had been struck by lightning decades ago. “Look how deep the burn goes,” he said. “These giant sequoias clearly are the work of the ages. They grow taller than the Statue of Liberty, broader than a bus.”
The Porterville City Council voted to send a letter asking for better management of the monument area.
The Tulare County Board of Supervisors voted to recommend the monument be shrunk in size to 90,000 acres, and also for better management.
Several people spoke in favor of the monument at both the city council and board of supervisor meetings.
If Trump adopts Zinke’s recommendations,
it could ease some of the worst fears of his opponents, who warned that vast public lands and marine areas could be stripped of federal protection.
But significant reductions in the size of the monuments or changes to what activities are allowed on them could trigger fierce resistance, too, including lawsuits.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Zinke said he is recommending changes to a
“handful” of sites, including unspecified boundary adjustments, and suggested some monuments are too large.
The White House said only that it received Zinke’s recommendations and is reviewing them.
Conservationists and tribal leaders responded with alarm and distrust, demanding the full release of Zinke’s recommendations and vowing to challenge attempts to shrink any monuments.
Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters, called Zinke’s review a pretext for “selling out our public lands and waters” to the oil industry and others.
Jacqueline Savitz, senior vice president of Oceana, which has been pushing for preservation of five marine monuments included in the review, said that simply saying “changes” are coming doesn’t reveal any real information.