“The Wave” in Vermillion Cliffs National Monument | Photo by Mike Buchheit
It’s time to weigh in again in defense of public lands that most Americans hold dear. President Trump has recently ordered Ryan Zinke, Secretary of the Interior, to “review” all national monuments larger than 100,000 acres that were created using the Antiquities Act after 1996. Though this doesn’t directly affect Grand Canyon National Park, it does put adjacent and nearby Grand Canyon-Parashant, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Vermilion Cliffs National Monuments in the crosshairs of developers and the extraction industries.
This is not business-as-usual in land management circles. No sitting President has ever dissolved a national monument, nor decreased the size of any monument in over fifty years. These landscapes are no less unique and worthy of protection than the Grand Canyon, and the artificial boundaries separating them mean little to the botanical wonders and teeming wildlife that call the entire region home.
The Bureau of Land Management has posted a list of the monuments being revisited, with an invitation for public comment, at: https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-department-releases-list-monuments-under-review-announces-first-ever-formal
Please respond to the BLM’s request and let your elected officials know where you stand on the issue.
