Trump’s action on monuments draws ire of outdoors groups
Unwelcome guests
President Donald Trump’s pronouncement last week that dramatically shrinks two presidentially protected — and heretofore all but untouchable — areas in Utah caused more than a mild stir among some conservation and outdoors groups.
The American Alpine Club, the nation’s oldest climbing organization, is among those unhappy about the scaling back of acreage designated as the Bears Ears and Grand StaircaseEscalante national monuments by previous presidents under the U. S. Antiquities Act of 1906.
Saying both sites “include precious climbing destinations,” club CEO Phil Powers declared in a statement that Trump’s decision “ignores the voices of millions who spoke up in favor of keeping these national treasures intact.”
Ryan Zinke, U. S. secretary of the Interior, countered critics by stating his recommendations to reduce the scope of the monuments don’t mean “a single acre of federal land ( is likely to) be removed from the federal estate. If land no longer falls within a monument boundary it will continue to be federal land and will be managed by whichever agency managed the land before designation.”
The Grand StaircaseEscalante area contains considerable coal, which opponents say motivated Trump to remove protections.
A coalition of hardcore environmental groups responded to the president’s announcement with a lawsuit naming Trump, Zinke and Brian Steed, director of the Bureau of Land Management.
Meanwhile, Land Tawney, CEO of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, had campaigned hard to keep the monuments’ designation, Grand Staircase- Escalante in particular being a haven for desert bighorn sheep. Trump’s move, a defeat to his group’s conservation efforts, made Tawney question what might follow.
“What’s next on the chopping block for America’s public lands? The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge? Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness? The vast sage steppe ecosystem across the West?” Tawney asked. “It is time for America’s hunters and anglers to stand up and resist these ill- fated ideas that benefit just a few. We are compelled to speak for the landscapes and the fish and wildlife who cannot speak for themselves.”
Some self- designated “free- market environmentalists” want repeal of the centuryold Antiquities Act, saying it has been abused by presidents who wanted to protect large swaths of land and water that authors of the act, passed during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency, did not intend.
At any rate, the Trump administration was declaring its move a victory for democracy.
“America has spoken, and public land belongs to the people,” Zinke proclaimed last week.
The question yet unanswered to the satisfaction of many is, which people?
Deer results
Whitetail hunters took advantage of mostly good weather to check 72,814 deer during the weeklong gun week that ended last Sunday. A year ago during gun week, hunters checked 66,758 whitetails.
Coshocton led Ohio counties with 2,576 deer checked between Nov. 27 and Dec. 3, followed by Tuscarawas with 2,335, Muskingum ( 2,328), Ashtabula ( 2,094) and Guernsey ( 2,014).
Licking led central Ohio counties in deer checked with 1,789, followed by Fairfield with 776, Delaware ( 503), Union ( 350), Pickaway ( 342), Madison ( 186) and Franklin ( 156).
Ohio’s total deer harvest stood at 145,358 through Tuesday, slightly ahead of last year’s count of 143,602 after deer gun week.
Two more days of gun hunting are scheduled for Saturday and next Sunday.