Monument review includes oceans, tribal lands and Sequoias

President Donald Trump’s call to review 27 national monuments established by three former presidents put in limbo protections on large swaths of land home to ancient cliff dwellings, towering sequoia trees, deep canyons and ocean habitats where seals, whales and sea turtles roam.

Trump and other critics say presidents have lost sight of the original purpose of the law created by President Theodore Roosevelt that was designed to protect particular historical or archaeological sites rather than wide expanses.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke made his first recommendation Monday: Proposing a reduced size for the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. He is set to issue a final report in late August for all the monuments.

A closer look at five of the monuments that are being re-examined:

BEARS EARS NATIONAL MONUMENT-UTAH

The creation of the 1.3 million-acre monument in December marked a victory for Native American tribes and conservationists and a blow to Utah Republican leaders who campaigned hard to prevent a designation they contend is a layer of unnecessary federal control that hurts local economies by closing the area to new energy development.

Tucked between existing national parks and the Navajo Nation, the monument is on land considered sacred to a coalition of tribes and is home to an estimated 100,000 archaeological sites, including ancient cliff dwellings. Tribal members visit the area to perform ceremonies, collect herbs and wood for medicinal and spiritual purposes and do healing rituals. The monument features a mix of cliffs, plateaus, towering rock formations, rivers and canyons.

Led by U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, Utah’s congressional delegation and top state leaders immediately vowed to work to get the monument repealed. Trump applauded Hatch for his dogged insistence while signing the executive order.

Zinke’s recommendation to downsize the monument to a yet-tobe determined new acreage came after he toured Bears Ears last month on foot, horseback and helicopter and met with Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and other state leaders who oppose Obama’s December designation of the Bears Ears monument.

NORTHEAST CANYONS AND SEAMOUNTS MARINE NATIONAL MONUMENT- MAINE

Designated by President Barack Obama in September 2016, the Atlantic Ocean’s first marine national monument consists of nearly 5,000 square miles of underwater canyons and mountains off the New England coast. The designation was widely praised by environmentalists as a way to protect important species and habitat for whales and sea turtles while reducing the toll of climate change.

The designation closed the area to commercial fishermen, who go there primarily for lobster, red crab, squid, whiting, butterfish, swordfish and tuna. A coalition of commercial fishing groups filed a lawsuit in March to overturn the designation. They argued the creation of the monument would bring economic distress to fishermen and their families.

GIANT SEQUOIA NATIONAL MONUMENT CALIFORNIA

In a decision praised by environmentalists but scorned by loggers, President Bill Clinton created this monument in 2000 covering about 328,000 acres of land in central California where the giant sequoia grows naturally. It expanded the number of groves protected, adding to Sequoias already safeguarded in Kings Canyon and Yosemite National Park.

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.”

A coalition of timber interest groups, recreation groups and a California county sued to reverse the designation or reduce the size. They argued that the trees were already protected and that the county’s school districts depended on money that came from fees collected for logging. A federal judge dismissed that lawsuit.

In 2006, a federal judge rejected a plan by the Bush administration plan to allow commercial logging inside the monument.

FRANCISCO KJOLSETH — THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE VIA AP, FILE) — THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE VIA AP The two buttes that make up the namesake for Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah are shown. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is recommending that the new Bears Ears National Monument in Utah be reduced in size and says Congress should...

CAROLYN KASTER — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE A portion of Midway Atoll in Hawaii’s Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument is seen from Air Force One, with President Barack Obama aboard, as it comes in for a landing at Henderson Field.

DOUGLAS C. PIZAC — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE The Upper Gulch section of the Escalante Canyons within Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument features sheer sandstone walls, broken occasionally by tributary canyons in.

RICK BOWMER — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell tours the “Moonhouse” in McLoyd Canyon in Bears Ears National Monument near Blanding, Utah.