Zinke Recommends No Eliminations, But Changes To Some Monuments
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke says none of the 27 monuments under review should be eliminated but a “handful” should be changed.
Zinke has recommended to the president that the 1.35 million acre Bear’s Ears National Monument in southern Utah be reduced in size. Native American Rights Fund attorney Matt Campbell says Bear’s Ears is inextricably tied to Native history, culture and people.
“Bear’s Ears is one of the most important places for all of Indian Country,” Campbell said. “Five tribal nations came together to push for the Bear’s Ears National Monument. So any attack on Bear’s Ears to revoke or diminish it would be an attack on all of Indian Country and all of America.”
And Campbell said they plan to fight the decision in court.
In April, President Trump ordered a review of the monuments responding to complaints that a century’s old law had been misused to create oversized monuments that stood in the way of energy development, logging and other uses. The Interior Department received 2.4 million public comments -- the majority in favor of protecting the monuments.
