By Robyn Gillum, American Forests
By now we are all used to the shocking executive orders that have been signed by the president. But one of his newest orders is not just shocking, it’s downright appalling.
This new executive order will give the Department of the Interior 120 days to review all national monuments over 100,000 acres that have been created since January 1, 1996 in a push “to give control back to the states and the people.” The order threatens 24 national monuments in total, including seven containing pristine forests that might suffer from extraction practices if their protection is removed.
The administration asserts that the land these national monuments sit on was wrongfully claimed by the federal government through the Antiquities Act of 1906, and that the order will return control of water and natural resources to the people. However, the first claim is inaccurate because the Antiquities Act only allows national monuments to be designated on land that already belongs to the federal government, meaning it already belongs to “the people” (all Americans). In addition, it seems “the people” in reference must not represent the true American population, because a study done last year by Harvard found that 93 percent of Americans think public lands and national parks should be protected for future generations to use.
I’ll give you a brief overview of the history of the Antiquities Act, to clarify its intent: The act was fashioned to protect public lands and the artifacts on those lands that represent the history of the United States, which without protection, might be harmed by development or mining operations. Theodore Roosevelt, who signed the act into law as president, was a well-respected naturalist who combated childhood respiratory problems by exploring the outdoors and appreciating the wild. In fact, he loved the outdoors so much that he spent most of his two terms conserving natural resources by designating national parks and monuments. One of the most famous and controversial national monuments he designated was the Grand Canyon National Monument, now known as Grand Canyon National Park. Right after he created the national monument, a mining group sued him for restricting them from using the land for mining, but the Supreme Court unanimously agreed that the national monument was considered of “historical or scientific interest” as stipulated in the act, and overruled the miners. Unfortunately, it seems that little has changed over the past century, and once again national monuments are being attacked in hopes of opening them to resource extraction.
This new executive order targets 27 national monuments that range from sprawling desert wildlands, like the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, to marine habitats containing diverse ecosystems, like the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument in the Pacific Ocean. And of course, our focus is on the forests that are also included on the list of threatened national monuments.
One of the most notable national monuments included on the list is California’s Giant Sequoia National Monument, which encompasses over 300,000 acres of the largest trees in the world, including one of American Forests’ oldest Champion Trees. Because of the protections provided by of the Antiquities Act, these majestic trees have been able to flourish without falling victim to development or harvesting. In fact, trees in 33 out of the 39 groves have benefitted by a national monument management plan designed to create a healthy ecosystem.
Other forests, like the Manti-La Sal National Forest in the recently created Bears Ears National Monument in Utah or the San Bernardino Forest in the Sand to Snow National Monument, rebuilt in part by our American ReLeaf program after a devastating fire, also face an uncertain future. If any of these designations are removed, there is no telling what damage the land might face. National monuments are necessary to ensure that forestland across the nation is protected to be enjoyed by future generations, just as Theodore Roosevelt had intended.