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The missing detail is which monuments they will try to shrink, and by how much. In the summary of the report (all that has been publicly released at this point), Zinke even acknowledges that the public overwhelmingly supported maintaining the monuments as they are (while at the same time trying to dismiss this support as being motivated by 'well executed national campaign by certain organizations'), but yet it appears that he will not be heading that desire. So incredibly sad.
 
So disappointing! I used to do volunteer trail maintenance on the Soda Mountain PCT segment in the Cascade-Siskiyou NM. So short sighted on the part of the administration.
 
This is still in the rumor stage, but it appears that Zinke may be recommending shrinking Bears Ears by 80%:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/24/us/bears-ears-utah-monument.html?smid=tw-share

This would be an absolute tragedy. Throughout the history of US public lands there has been some opposition to new Parks and Monuments. Miners were against the formation of Grand Canyon National Monument in 1908, but thankfully Theodore Roosevelt had more foresight and declared it a monument anyway. I am sure history is not going to look kindly on anyone who shrinks a monument. Never has anyone looked back on the Grand Canyon, Zion, Yosemite or any other treasure and said 'I wish they had made that much smaller and opened a coal mine right next to it'.
 
Well, in some ways this is better than I thought he would do! It could have been allot worse, so the Utah pols won the first round, now it's time for the courts and lot's of letters from us to make things better. Really guys this first step could have been allot worse. He is a retired Seal, and believes that the Public land should remain public-but some resources can be used, so I guess I'm wanting to believe we still have a chance. Write those letters NOW, give him the support he needs to fight our battle. The old term I learned as a young BLMer was multi-use, so maybe that's what we should fight for now-use those terms, It could have been allot worse!

Smoke
 
I think if we take the "it could have been worse" attitude we are falling for the political slight of hand by Zinke and Co. The reason this 'review' was set up the way it was, was to target Bears Ears and Grand Stair Case Escalante. The criteria were specifically set to include Grand Stair Case, and the whole thing was at the behest of some anti-public lands politicians in Utah. I would bet that Zinke never had any intention to change the vast majority of these monuments. But this allows him to state that this was a 'reasonable' review as he is only 'resizing' a few of the monuments, which just happen to be the ones that were targeted all along. It would further not surprise me if that current 4 monuments that are targeted (what is the 4th?), get further reduced just to the two in UT. It was pretty clear that legally only congress can outright eliminate a monument, so removing 80% of a monument (if this is true) is about as close as you can come to destroying a monument without eliminating it.

I am not falling for it. And while I fully support writing letters to express your opposition to these changes, given the fact that Zinke ignored the 2.7 million comments in support of keeping our National Monuments as they are, I am not sure it will do much good.

Unfortunately, at this point I think the best hope is a legal approach. Or at least that this can be tied up in court long enough that cooler heads with more foresight will come back into power.
 
Rando... exactly my sentiments. At this point ...if he thumbed his nose at 2.7 million letters.... letters are useless. It is time to support financially the legal means to stop/block for as long as possible. There is so much bizarre goings on now that if this was happening when air time was given it's due there would be a louder cry to stop it. At this juncture the swamp is a lot deeper than it has ever been.
 
I agree with you guys and it is especially hard to "hope" he will do the right thing especially when you read that 23 of 27 of the political appointments he has made thus far at Interior are from the "exploiter" groups like timber and mining. In addition, his elimination of the resource advisory councils is also not a good sign. Now that the next decisions will be made in court and not by political appointees still gives me some hope and as you say "time and wiser heads will hopefully prevail in the end". (I still have a 30 plus year old poster of Jim Watt on my living room wall to remind me that this fight never ends).

Smoke
 
Like Wandering Sagebrush I do trail work on the PCT every year and wrote my letter voicing my concerns about shrinking Cascade Siskiyou and a few other NMs that the trail passes through. It's a constant battle to keep privately held lands away from developers, timber,mining,and energy companies who couldn't care less if our National Scenic Trails are cutup into pieces. In response to the Utah legislators assault on our NMs, the Outdoor Retailers are moving their summer and winter trade shows to Denver next year. That's 1100 exhibitors and over 20,000 attendees per show who won't be spending their money in Utah. That's taking a stand for what they believe in!

For the first time, in 2016 the outdoor recreation economy was included in the country's GDP, accounting for over $600 billion in consumer spending and over 6 million jobs. You'd think that the Utah legislators would understand those economics. Who are they really beholden to?

Maybe I'm a dreamer, but I'll keep writing my letters hoping that it'll make a difference!
 
Me too---but the sec disappointed us again, those leaked recommendations to the White House: like allowing fishing again in those places that were closed because of over fishing! Drill mine, build roads, race ATV's- yep, to hell with the environment. Lot's to dislike here, but I think they will help them to achieve their aim-confussion!. While all this goes to court ,management will become a problem, and the status quo will lead to the probable negative impacts to those resources that were supposed to be protected by NM status. Money and people will go to defending the proposed changes and not management. New plans aside, just think about the impact this will do to those older NM's that have been following a set of regulations or guidelines for years--and now they don't have a clue what to do next. While the cat is away, the mice will play!

I remember when the Raygun came in in 1980 and he and Watt also tried to graze, cut down every tree or drill or sell off all the best public lands. Almost all our resources were diverted to those programs and not to properly managing those resources while the battles went on in court. One of their best gigs was to reduce the amount of gas for field rigs so that we could not even go out and do our jobs. Little things like that and replacing civil service positions (or not as these people seem to be doing) with either political appointees or private contractors; changing a word here and there in existing regs---things like that can real mess things up! Let the fun begun!

Smoke
 
I was holding out some hope that maybe it would be some minor boundary adjustments and such. Didn't actually think it would be this bad :(
 
Craig I'm so demoralized by this and a whole lot more goings on.... things are coming apart at the seams. Can't say political stuff so know there are folks trying to "build a wall" to stop them on the legal front. It is in the courts (thank heaven for our branches of Govt. that offers some checks and balances) that this will eventually slugfest out. In the "mean-time" one must be stalwartly involved with defending our natural heritage ....once gone...exactly what are we?
 
That is interesting but sadly not surprising. Doubt if the 'alternative facts' would make a difference in a pre-ordained outcome.
 
Seems like this administration just wants to go back to the old ways to make us great again. A noble cause but his vision preserves jobs in old industries instead of creating jobs in new technologies and innovations which would maintain our status as world leaders. Sorry if I'm offending some folks sensibilities but It really just makes me sad.
 
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