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Trump calls for review of national monuments

He calls protection efforts a ‘massive federal land grab’

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and JILL COLVIN, Associated Press
Published: April 26, 2017, 8:10pm
2 Photos
A cactus is seen against a backdrop of colorful clouds in Ironwood Forest National Monument in December 2009 in Marana, Ariz. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday directing his interior secretary to review the designation of dozens of national monuments on federal lands, as he singled out &quot;a massive federal land grab&quot; by the Obama administration.
A cactus is seen against a backdrop of colorful clouds in Ironwood Forest National Monument in December 2009 in Marana, Ariz. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday directing his interior secretary to review the designation of dozens of national monuments on federal lands, as he singled out "a massive federal land grab" by the Obama administration. (Greg Bryan/Arizona Daily Star) Photo Gallery

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday directing his interior secretary to review the designation of dozens of national monuments on federal lands, calling the protection efforts “a massive federal land grab” by previous administrations.

Hanford Reach National Monument near Richland is included in the order.

It was yet another executive action from a president trying to rack up accomplishments before his first 100 days in office, with Saturday marking that milestone. And it could upend protections put in place in Utah and other states under a 1906 law that authorizes the president to declare federal lands as monuments and restrict their use.

During a signing ceremony at the Interior Department, Trump said the order would end “another egregious abuse of federal power” and “give that power back to the states and to the people where it belongs.”

Trump accused the Obama administration of using the Antiquities Act to “unilaterally put millions of acres of land and water under strict federal control” — a practice Trump derided as “a massive federal land grab.”

List of monuments includes undersea mountains

President Donald Trump’s order to review national monuments covers 24 monuments established by three former presidents. Here is a list of the monuments, their location and the year of their creation:

• Hanford Reach National Monument, Washington, 2000.

• Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, Pacific Ocean, 2006 and expanded in 2016.

• Marianas Trench Marine National Monument, Pacific Ocean, 2009.

• Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, Pacific Ocean, 2009.

• Rose Atoll Marine National Monument, Pacific Ocean, 2009.

• World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, multiple sites in Hawaii, Alaska and California, 2008.

• Northeast Canyons & Seamounts Marine National Monument, off the coast of New England, 2016.

• Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah, 1996.

• Mojave Trails National Monument, California, 2016.

• Bears Ears National Monument, Utah, 2016.

• Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, Arizona, 2000.

• Basin and Range National Monument, Nevada, 2015.

• Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, New Mexico, 2014.

• Sonoran Desert National Monument, Arizona, 2001.

• Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, Montana, 2001.

• Berryessa Snow Mountain, California, 2015.

• Giant Sequoia National Monument, California, 2000.

• Gold Butte National Monument, Nevada, 2016.

• Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona, 2000.

• Rio Grande del Norte National Monument, New Mexico, 2013.

• Carrizo Plain National Monument, California, 2001.

• Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, Colorado, 2000.

• Sand to Snow National Monument, California, 2016.

• Ironwood Forest National Monument, Arizona, 2000.

— The Associated Press

“Somewhere along the way the Act has become a tool of political advocacy rather than public interest,” Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said. “And it’s easy to see why designations in some cases are viewed negatively by those local communities that are impacted the most.”

In December, shortly before leaving office, President Barack Obama infuriated Utah Republicans by creating the Bears Ears National Monument on more than 1 million acres of land that’s sacred to Native Americans and home to tens of thousands of archaeological sites, including ancient cliff dwellings.

Republicans in the state asked Trump to take the unusual step of reversing Obama’s decision. They said the designation will stymie growth by closing the area to new commercial and energy development. The Antiquities Act does not give the president explicit power to undo a designation and no president has ever taken such a step.

Wednesday’s order will cover several dozen monuments across the country designated since 1996. They total 100,000 acres or more and include the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Bear Ears, both in Utah.

Zinke was directed to produce an interim report in 45 days and make a recommendation on Bears Ears, and then issue a final report within 120 days.

Zinke said that over the past 20 years, the designation of tens of millions of acres as national monuments have limited the lands’ use for farming, timber harvesting, mining and oil and gas exploration, and other commercial purposes.

While designations have done “a great service to the public,” Zinke said the “local community affected should have a voice.”

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