by Erik Molvar, Western Watersheds Project
On Monday, President Trump took his first trip to Utah to sign a proclamation gutting the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments to make way for drilling, mining, and other commercial exploitation fundamentally incompatible with protecting fragile and priceless treasures.
In his speech before an invitation-only crowd […]
Continue Reading →Huge Nevada monument riles Republican extremists-
President Obama has added over a million acres to the national parks system by designating three new national monuments on U.S. public lands. They are in Texas, California, and Nevada.
They are Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, 331,000 acres in Northern California, Continue Reading →
President Obama could do a lot here- Here are my suggestions for new national monuments which Obama could designate. I have visited every site I recommend here, so I’m personally familiar with the areas. I have tried to put together a list that I think deserve protection, but also have some substantial political momentum in […]
Continue Reading →It is almost 500,000 acres near Las Cruces, NM-
President Obama began to make good on a State of the Union address promise today announcing that he will use his authority under the Antiquities Act to declare the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument. This is the largest national monument he has declared. All Presidents since Theodore […]
Continue Reading →One of the five is a large parcel of natural land in New Mexico-
Almost every President since Theodore Roosevelt has declared national monuments. The three greatest have been T.R. himself, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. George W. Bush finally declared a very large national monument in the ocean — the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, […]
Continue Reading →Bill seems to lack the harsh attacks on national parks, wilderness, and national monuments that are in the House bill-
Senator Tester’s (D-MT) opponents figured they had him where it hurts with the misleading Sportsman’s Heritage Act in the House. We covered some of the House version’s […]
Continue Reading →It failed, as it should-
Story in the Salt Lake Tribune. Senate rejects move to bar new monuments. By Thomas Burr. The Salt Lake Tribune.
Continue Reading →Mojave Trails National Monument would protect 941,000 acres of public land. 314,000 acres of existing ORV areas would also be protected-
The article says environmentalists, hunters, and off-roaders support the legislation. Part of these areas had been targeted for big solar power developments.
The total list is: Mojave Trails NM, 941,000 acres; Sand to Snow […]
Continue Reading →ORVs were kicked out of monument; the real damage is grazing-
This is apparently, though a good place to find the bleached bones of cattle, a common visual theme of cartoons of people lost in the desert.
Inane official, public actions scar Sonoran monument. By Linda Valdez. The Arizona Republic
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Continue Reading →“The Conservation President?” That’s a joke, but he did do one good last-minute thing-
A Monumental Decision. George W. Bush becomes the conservation president, at least at sea. Washington Post editorial.
Bush has declared about 333,000 square miles of ocean, including scattered rocks and islets to be national monuments. This is an important innovation, […]
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