The Trump administration’s plan to drastically shrink Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments is an unprecedented attack on American public lands, in spite of overwhelming public support for conservation of these remarkable landscapes and indigenous cultural values.
Over 99 percent of public comments were opposed to Interior Secretary Zinke’s monuments review. Over 90 percent of Utahns themselves who commented were opposed to monument status changes. Democracy has failed to protect our American heritage.
The path forward clearly leaves only legal challenges to this Trump atrocity. That challenge has already begun, and it seems we are on solid ground. The law firm of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholar determined that in keeping with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, “The revocation of the designation of a national monument or the material reduction in its size, and particularly a monument that is part of the National Park System, is therefore beyond the power of a President acting without Congress.”
Though I’m frustrated at Trump and Zinke’s refusal to acknowledge the “public” nature of public lands, I believe there is still a way to have influence. Organizations such as the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Utah Diné Bikéyah, The Wilderness Society and the Native American Rights Fund are seeking financial support to wage this legal battle. I respectfully urge all those who cherish Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante – and other monuments and parks inevitably next on the chopping block – to donate today to organizations such as these who will meet the Trump administration resolutely on the courthouse steps.
Clint McKnight
Durango
