A monumental reduction
Trump moves to downsize protected lands
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday cutting millions of acres out of Utah’s two largest national monuments and attempting to settle scores on more than 20 years’ worth of battles over how to protect the state’s vast public lands.
The order, signed after a brief speech from Salt Lake City, cuts 2 million acres from the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments, splitting them into five smaller pieces and fulfilling a promise made to the state’s all-Republican congressional delegation to overturn monument designations made by Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
“Past administrations have severely abused the purpose, spirit and intent of a century-old act known as the Antiquities Act,” Trump said, echoing the long-made sentiments of Utahns like U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, who took credit for urging Trump to take another look at monuments in the state.
The new order invited a flurry of criticism and legal threats, with a diverse set of opponents that included conservationists, tribal leaders, outdoor enthusiasts and others saying they planned to sue over the decision.
Outside the Capitol, crowds of protesters had gathered ahead of the announcement,
with people holding signs and jeering as Trump made the trip into downtown from Salt Lake International Airport.
“President Trump’s arbitrary proposal to eliminate protections for sacred lands leaves tens of thousands of historical and cultural sites vulnerable,” said Aldred Lomahquahu of the Hopi Tribe, one of several that pushed for creation of the monument at Bears Ears. “The monument was already greatly reduced from what the tribes originally requested. Now, without consultation and without notification, President Trump is breaking the government’s promise to work with tribes to protect the homeland of our ancestors.”
Local and state leaders applauded deal, as did some ranchers, conservative advocacy groups and residents.
The order cuts the Bears Ears National Monument, which was created by President Obama late last year at 1.35 million acres, into two smaller units named Shash J Jáa, Navajo for Bears Ears, and Indian Creek, encompassing a total of 228,784 acres of land.
The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, which was 1.9 million acres, becomes three smaller monuments. The Grand Staircase monument is now 209,993 acres, with the Kaiparowits monument at 551,034 acres and the Escalante Canyon monument at 242,836.
Trump echoed Utah leaders’ claims that both monuments had been largely politically motivated and made much larger than necessary.
A monument designation prevents new mining and drilling operations, and can curtail logging, grazing, road building, recreation and other uses, depending on management rules set up upon designation.
But some recent designations, including several large monuments created in the waning months of the Obama administration, were controversial with state and local governments where Republican leadership argued monuments could stymie local economies.
In Utah, the Bears Ears controversy rekindled some of the resentment felt by state and local leaders when President Clinton created Grand StaircaseEscalante in 1996.
Under Trump’s order, the Bears Ears area is made open to grazing and motorized recreation, with specific language allowing for Native American groups to gather wood and herbs. It also directs Congress to pass legislation that would mandate the tribes receive co-managethe ment control of the land.
“Public lands will once again be for public use,” Trump said. “Together we will usher in a bright new future of wonder and wealth.”
Hatch, who was in office for both designations, announced Trump on Monday by saying he had been working with Trump to address the “federal overreach” that happened with the monuments, saying that “when you talk to this president, he listens.”
Utah’s other senator, Mike Lee, thanked Trump and argued that the order would roll back “harmful land use restrictions” across southern Utah.
“The president has done his part and now it is time for Congress to act to protect the people of Utah from federal overreach in the future,” indicating he would be introducing legislation that could exempt Utah from future unwanted designations.