Zinke backs shrinking more national monuments and shifting management of 10
Ryan Zinke
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Tuesday called on President Trump to shrink a total of four national monuments and change the way six other land and marine sites are managed  a sweeping overhaul of how protected areas are maintained in the United States.
 Zinke âs final report comes a day after Trump signed proclamations in Utah that downsized two massive national monuments there â Bears Ears by 85 percent and Grand Staircase-Escalante by 46 percent. The president had directed  Zinke  in April to review 27 national monuments established since 1996 under the Antiquities Act  which gives the president broad authority to safeguard federal lands and waters under threat.
In addition to the Utah sites   Zinke  supports cutting Nevadaâs Gold Butte and Oregonâs Cascade-Siskiyou  though the exact reductions are still being determined.  He  also would revise the proclamations for those and the others to clarify that activities such as grazing  motorized vehicle use and commercial fishing should be allowed.
âThe Antiquities Act over time has done great things for our country  and it has protected some of our greatest treasures â  he  said in a call with reporters. But its power had been âabused â  he  said  with monument designations extending far beyond the objects they were designed to protect.
 Zinke  criticized the federal governmentâs past action halting motorized vehicle traffic in Cascade-Siskiyou until a transportation plan could be finalized  arguing that  it  interfered with local cross-country ski operatorsâ ability to maintain trails.
âIt should have been the other way around â  he  said.
For several sites   Zinke  recommended amending monumentsâ proclamation language to ensure that activities such as grazing  hunting and fishing can continue. While these practices often go on even after a presidential designation   Zinke  said  he  wants to make that legality clear because ranchers have felt marginalized and fear they will face future restrictions.
In the case of New Mexicoâs national monuments   Zinke  said   he  listened to the stateâs two Democratic senators and others in deciding not to modify their boundaries. Still   he  wanted âto make sure that the proclamation protects the long-standing grazing [in parts] of those monumentsâ and that management of Organ Mountain-Desert Peaks does not interfere with U.S. Customs and Border Control operations in the area.
Sen. Martin Heinrich wasnât buying the explanation. He blasted  Zinke  in a statement  saying the âreport is based on hearsay and erroneous dataâ and that the secretary and Trump âhave turned a deaf ear to the overwhelming consensus to protect New Mexicoâs conservation legacy.â
More litigation could be coming. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum warned  Zinke  in a letter in July the state was âready to take appropriate legal actionâ if Trump rescinds or reduces the size of Cascade-Siskiyou.
Interior received more than 2.5 million comments on the review  and they âoverwhelminglyâ said all of the monuments should remain unchanged   Zinke  wrote in  his  report. But  he  attributed the extreme tilt to âa well-orchestrated national campaign organized by multiple groups.â
âI donât yield to public pressure â  Zinke  said Tuesday. âSound public policy is not based on threats of lawsuit  itâs doing whatâs right.â
The final document is almost identical to the draft  Zinke  submitted to the White House this summer  and much of the language is vague. For example  it appears open the door to commercial fishing in three marine monuments where this practice is either being phased out or is already banned. Yet the report calls for amending the sitesâ proclamations to allow regional councils âto make fishery-management decisions as authorized by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.â
 Zinke  also finalized  his  recommendations to create three new national monuments: at Kentuckyâs Camp Nelson  a Civil War training site for African American soldiers; at Medgar Eversâ home in Jackson  Miss.; and at the Badger-Two Medicine area in  his  home state of Montana.
The secretary said he was âfairly confidentâ Trump would accept all of his recommendations  and he intends to brief him âmultiple timesâ in coming weeks to get his sign-off.  Zinke  also rejected the idea that any of these alterations of existing monuments would amount to relinquishing control of federal land  describing such criticism as ânefarious  false and a lie.â
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) commended  Zinke  on Tuesday for âactually listening to the people on the local levelâ and Trump for showing â some real courage against well-funded litigation machines.â
[TGT]  on Tuesday called on President Trump to shrink a total of four national monuments and change the way six other land and marine sites are managed  a sweeping overhaul of how protected areas are maintained in the United States.
  [TGT]  âs final report comes a day after Trump signed proclamations in Utah that downsized two massive national monuments there â Bears Ears by 85 percent and Grand Staircase-Escalante by 46 percent. The president had directed  Zinke  in April to review 27 national monuments established since 1996 under the Antiquities Act  which gives the president broad authority to safeguard federal lands and waters under threat.
In addition to the Utah sites   Zinke  supports cutting Nevadaâs Gold Butte and Oregonâs Cascade-Siskiyou  though the exact reductions are still being determined.  He  also would revise the proclamations for those and the others to clarify that activities such as grazing  motorized vehicle use and commercial fishing should be allowed.
âThe Antiquities Act over time has done great things for our country  and it has protected some of our greatest treasures â  he  said in a call with reporters. But its power had been âabused â  he  said  with monument designations extending far beyond the objects they were designed to protect.
 Zinke  criticized the federal governmentâs past action halting motorized vehicle traffic in Cascade-Siskiyou until a transportation plan could be finalized  arguing that  it  interfered with local cross-country ski operatorsâ ability to maintain trails.
âIt should have been the other way around â  he  said.
For several sites   Zinke  recommended amending monumentsâ proclamation language to ensure that activities such as grazing  hunting and fishing can continue. While these practices often go on even after a presidential designation   Zinke  said  he  wants to make that legality clear because ranchers have felt marginalized and fear they will face future restrictions.
In the case of New Mexicoâs national monuments   Zinke  said   he  listened to the stateâs two Democratic senators and others in deciding not to modify their boundaries. Still   he  wanted âto make sure that the proclamation protects the long-standing grazing [in parts] of those monumentsâ and that management of Organ Mountain-Desert Peaks does not interfere with U.S. Customs and Border Control operations in the area.
Sen. Martin Heinrich wasnât buying the explanation. He blasted  Zinke  in a statement  saying the âreport is based on hearsay and erroneous dataâ and that the secretary and Trump âhave turned a deaf ear to the overwhelming consensus to protect New Mexicoâs conservation legacy.â
More litigation could be coming. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum warned  Zinke  in a letter in July the state was âready to take appropriate legal actionâ if Trump rescinds or reduces the size of Cascade-Siskiyou.
Interior received more than 2.5 million comments on the review  and they âoverwhelminglyâ said all of the monuments should remain unchanged   Zinke  wrote in  his  report. But  he  attributed the extreme tilt to âa well-orchestrated national campaign organized by multiple groups.â
âI donât yield to public pressure â  Zinke  said Tuesday. âSound public policy is not based on threats of lawsuit  itâs doing whatâs right.â
The final document is almost identical to the draft  Zinke  submitted to the White House this summer  and much of the language is vague. For example  it appears open the door to commercial fishing in three marine monuments where this practice is either being phased out or is already banned. Yet the report calls for amending the sitesâ proclamations to allow regional councils âto make fishery-management decisions as authorized by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.â
 Zinke  also finalized  his  recommendations to create three new national monuments: at Kentuckyâs Camp Nelson  a Civil War training site for African American soldiers; at Medgar Eversâ home in Jackson  Miss.; and at the Badger-Two Medicine area in  his  home state of Montana.
The secretary said he was âfairly confidentâ Trump would accept all of his recommendations  and he intends to brief him âmultiple timesâ in coming weeks to get his sign-off.  Zinke  also rejected the idea that any of these alterations of existing monuments would amount to relinquishing control of federal land  describing such criticism as ânefarious  false and a lie.â
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) commended  Zinke  on Tuesday for âactually listening to the people on the local levelâ and Trump for showing â some real courage against well-funded litigation machines.â