Zinke: Claim that Trump “stole” public land a shameful lie

WASHINGTON» Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Tuesday accused outdoor retailer Patagonia of lying when it said President Donald Trump “stole your land” by shrinking two national monuments in Utah by some 2 million acres.

An angry Zinke called the claim — made in large type on the company’s homepage — “nefarious, false and a lie.”

Zinke told reporters the land targeted by Trump remains protected because it is still under federal control.

“I understand fundraising for these special interest groups,” Zinke said. “I think it’s shameful and appalling that they would blatantly lie in order to gain money in their coffers.”

Patagonia replaced its usual home page Monday night with a stark message declaring, “The President Stole Your Land.” The message called Trump’s actions to shrink Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments “illegal” and the largest elimination of protected land in American history.

Outdoor retailer REI also criticized Trump but in less harsh language.

Zinke took a defiant tone in a conference call with reporters, saying, “I don’t yield to pressure, only higher principle. And sound public policy is not based on threats of lawsuits. It’s doing what’s right.”

Zinke argued that Bears Ears is still larger than Zion and Bryce Canyon national parks combined even after being downsized to about 202,000 acres (315 square miles) while Grand Staircase-Escalante retains about 1 million acres (about 1,500 square miles.)

Environmental and conservation groups and a coalition of tribes filed lawsuits Monday that ensure Trump’s announcement is far from the final word in the yearslong battle over public lands in Utah and other Western states. The court cases are likely to drag on for years.

A coalition of the Hopi, Ute, Ute Mountain Ute and Zuni tribes and the Navajo Nation sued late Monday to challenge the Bears Ears reduction, which cuts monument status for the rugged land in southeastern Utah by about 85 percent. Bears Ears features thousands of American Indian artifacts, including ancient cliff dwellings and petroglyphs.

The tribes argue that federal law gives presidents only the ability to create a national monument, not the ability to downsize one.

Two lawsuits have been filed to try to block the Grand Staircase decision, which cuts the monument nearly in half. Grand Staircase contains scenic cliffs, canyons, waterfalls and arches — and one of the nation’s largest known coal reserves.

The two monuments were created by Democrats Barack Obama and Bill Clinton under a century-old law that allows presidents to protect sites considered historically, geographically or culturally important.

Trump acted on a recommendation by Zinke, who also has urged that two other large national monuments in the West be reduced in size, potentially opening up thousands of acres of land revered for natural beauty and historical significance to mining, logging and other development.

The interior secretary’s plan would scale back Nevada’s Gold Butte and Oregon’s Cascade-Siskiyou, in addition to the two Utah sites.

Zinke said Tuesday he would focus changes in Gold Butte on the site’s water districts. Gold Butte protects nearly 300,000 acres of desert landscapes featuring rock art, sandstone towers and wildlife habitat for the threatened Mojave Desert tortoise and other species.