It was the latest in a series of conservation moves taken unilaterally by the president, angering some Western lawmakers but drawing praise from environmentalists. He signed proclamations creating the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument in northern Arizona and expanding the Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho. The Vermilion Cliffs monument will cover 293,000 acres of federal land on the Colorado Plateau, where California condors, desert bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, mountain lions and other wildlife roam.
Scientists believe humans have lived on the plateau for thousands of years.
The protected canyons and desert grasslands contain remnants of villages, some with intact standing walls, field houses, trails, burials sites and camps. Clinton's expansion of the Craters of the Moon monument, originally created by President Calvin Coolidge in 1924, means an additional 661,000 acres of volcanic craters, cones, lava flows, caves and fissures will be protected. The administration acted under authority of the 1906 Antiquities Act, which has been invoked more than 100 times, allowing presidents to protect through executive order objects of historic and scientific interest. By using the act to set aside millions of acres already, Clinton has angered some Western lawmakers and local officials who say he is overstepping his authority. Clinton said in a statement.