{"id":44359,"date":"2021-10-07T18:14:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-08T00:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/biden-to-restore-3-national-monuments-cut-by-trump\/"},"modified":"2021-10-08T00:14:00","modified_gmt":"2021-10-08T00:14:00","slug":"biden-to-restore-3-national-monuments-cut-by-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/biden-to-restore-3-national-monuments-cut-by-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden to restore 3 national monuments cut by Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The \"House on Fire\" ruins are shown in Mule Canyon, near Blanding, Utah, June 22, 2016. President Joe Biden will expand two sprawling national monuments in Utah, the governor said Thursday. President Donald Trump's administration in 2017 significantly downsized Bears Ears National Monuments and Grand Staircase-Escalante in southern Utah. (AP Photo\/Rick Bowmer, File)<\/span>Rick Bowmer<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

SALT LAKE CITY \u2014 President Joe Biden will restore two sprawling national monuments in Utah that have been at the center of a long-running public lands dispute, and a separate marine conservation area in New England that recently has been used for commercial fishing, according to people who have been briefed on the plan.<\/p>\n

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, released a statement Thursday expressing disappointment in Biden\u2019s decision to restore Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments, which were downsized significantly under President Donald Trump. Cox\u2019s office said U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland informed the governor of Biden\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

The monuments cover vast expanses of southern Utah where red rocks reveal petroglyphs and cliff dwellings and distinctive twin buttes bulge from a grassy valley. The Trump administration had cut Bears Ears, on lands considered sacred to Native American tribes, by 85% and slashed Grand Staircase-Escalante by nearly half.<\/p>\n

Both monuments were created by Democratic presidents and totaled more than 3 million acres (1.2 million hectares). Trump\u2019s actions cut Bears Ears to just over 200,000 acres (80,900 hectares) and left Grand Staircase-Escalante at about 1 million acres (405,000 hectares).<\/p>\n

The White House and the Interior Department declined to comment Thursday, but two Democratic aides and others who were briefed on the plan said Biden\u2019s order will actually enlarge Bears Ears, since it includes a small parcel added by Trump when he downsized the overall monument.<\/p>\n

\"Arch
Arch Canyon within Bears Ears National Monument on May 8, 2017, in Utah. President Joe Biden will expand two sprawling national monuments in Utah that have been at the center of a public lands tug-of-war that has played out over three presidential administrations, the state's governor said Thursday. (Francisco Kjolseth\/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, File)<\/span>AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The plan also restores protections in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monument in the Atlantic Ocean, southeast of Cape Cod. The people who were briefed on the plan spoke on the condition of anonymity, since the proposal has not been made public.<\/p>\n

Trump had also made a rule change to allow commercial fishing at the marine monument, an action that was heralded by fishing groups but derided by environmentalists who pushed Biden and Haaland to restore protections against fishing.<\/p>\n

Protecting the marine monument would \u201csafeguard this invaluable area for the fragile species that call it home\u201d and demonstrate the administration\u2019s commitment to science, said Jen Felt, ocean campaign director for the Conservation Law Foundation.<\/p>\n

The \"House on Fire\" ruins are shown in Mule Canyon, near Blanding, Utah, in 2016. (AP Photo\/Rick Bowmer, File)
The \"House on Fire\" ruins are shown in Mule Canyon, near Blanding, Utah, in 2016. (AP Photo\/Rick Bowmer, File)<\/span>Rick Bowmer<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"President
President Donald Trump holds up a signed proclamation to shrink the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante national monuments at the Utah State Capitol ion Dec. 4, 2017. (AP Photo\/Rick Bowmer, File)<\/span>Rick Bowmer<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"In
In this April 8, 2021, file photo, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland tours near ancient dwellings along the Butler Wash trail during a visit to Bears Ears National Monument near Blanding, Utah. (AP Photo\/Rick Bowmer, Pool, File)<\/span>Rick Bowmer<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, a Democrat and chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, praised the Biden administration in a statement, saying restoring the monuments shows its dedication to \u201cconserving our public lands and respecting the voices of Indigenous Peoples.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time to put Trump\u2019s cynical actions in the rear-view mirror,\u201d Grijalva said.<\/p>\n

But Utah\u2019s governor called Biden\u2019s decision a \u201ctragic missed opportunity.\u201d The president\u2019s action \u201cfails to provide certainty as well as the funding for law enforcement, research and other protections which the monuments need and which only Congressional action can offer,\u201d Cox said in a statement released with other state leaders.<\/p>\n

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney also criticized Biden, saying in a tweet the president had \u201csquandered the opportunity to build consensus\u201d and find a permanent solution for the monuments.<\/p>\n

\u201cYet again, Utah\u2019s national monuments are being used as a political football between administrations,\u201d Romney said Thursday. \u201cThe decision to re-expand the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante is a devastating blow to our state, local and tribal leaders and our delegation \u2026 today\u2019s \u2018winner take all\u2019 mentality moved us further away from that goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities, a conservation group, also applauded Biden\u2019s decision and said she hopes it marks an initial step toward his goal of conserving at least 30% of U.S. lands and ocean by 2030.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you, President Biden,\u201d Rokala said in a statement. \u201cYou have listened to Indigenous tribes and the American people and ensured these landscapes will be protected for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s cuts ironically increased the national attention to Bears Ears, Rokala said. She called on the federal government to increase funding to manage the landscape and handle growing crowds.<\/p>\n

Haaland, the first Indigenous Cabinet secretary, traveled to Utah in April to visit the monuments, becoming the latest federal official to step into what has been a yearslong public lands battle. Haaland submitted her recommendations on the monuments in June.<\/p>\n

Former President Barack Obama proclaimed Bears Ears a national monument in 2016, 20 years after former President Bill Clinton moved to protect Grand Staircase-Escalante. Bears Ears was the first site to receive the designation at the specific request of tribes.<\/p>\n

The Bears Ears buttes, which overlook a grassy valley, are considered a place of worship for many tribes, according to Pat Gonzales-Rogers, executive director of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition. The group incudes the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Pueblo of Zuni and Ute Indian Tribe.<\/p>\n

Hopi Chairman Timothy L. Nuvangyaoma called Biden\u2019s action a \u201csignificant step forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do need to protect these sacred sites that not only the Hopi tribe but other tribes find significant within their history,\u201d he told Indigenous news outlet Indian Country Today.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration\u2019s reductions to Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante paved the way for potential coal mining and oil and gas drilling on lands that were previously off-limits. However, activity was limited because of market forces.<\/p>\n

Conservative state leaders considered the size of both monuments U.S. government overreach and applauded the reductions.<\/p>\n

Environmental, tribal, paleontological and outdoor recreation organizations, however, sued to restore their original boundaries, arguing presidents lack legal authority to change monuments their predecessors created. Meanwhile, Republicans argued Democratic presidents have misused the Antiquities Act signed by President Theodore Roosevelt to designate monuments beyond what\u2019s necessary to protect archaeological and cultural resources.<\/p>\n

The Biden administration has said the decision to review the monuments was part of an expansive plan to tackle climate change and reverse the Trump administration\u2019s \u201charmful\u201d policies.<\/p>\n

Fishing groups opposed both the creation of the ocean monument and the process used to create it. Obama used the Antiquities Act to establish it, undermining years of work by fishing groups, said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen\u2019s Association.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese fishing areas have a way to be managed that is a little bit cumbersome, a little bit time-consuming, but it brings all the stakeholders together,\u201d McCarron said.<\/p>\n

Daly reported from Washington, D.C. Associated Press writer Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine, contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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