WASHINGTON (AP), President Joe Biden will restore the two large-scale national monuments in Utah, which have been at center of a long-running dispute over public lands. He also plans to restore a separate marine conservation area located in New England that was recently used for commercial fishing. Former President Donald Trump had stripped environmental protections from all three monuments.
The White House made the announcement Thursday night, ahead of Friday's ceremony.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican expressed disappointment at Biden's decision not to restore Bears Ears monuments Grand Staircase–Escalante and Grand Staircase–Escalante, which were significantly reduced by the Trump administration in 2017.
These monuments are spread across vast areas of southern Utah, where red rocks show petroglyphs, cliff dwellings, and distinctive buttes that rise from a grassy valley. Trump used the century-old Antiquities Act (800,000 ha) to remove 2 million acres from the monuments. He called restrictions on energy production, including mining, a huge land grab that should never happen.
His actions reduced Bears Ears by 85% to just over 250,000 acres (80.900 hectares), on land considered sacred to Native American tribes. Grand Staircase-Escalante was reduced by almost half, leaving it with approximately 1 million acres (405 000 hectares). Both monuments were built by Democratic presidents.
In a statement, the White House stated that Biden had fulfilled a key promise to restore monuments to full size. It also upheld the long-standing principle that America's national parks, monuments, and other protected areas should be preserved for all time and all people.
The White House stated that his actions are part of a series of steps taken by the administration to protect public lands, waters and cites moves to halt oil leasing at Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and to prevent road construction in Alaska's Tongass National Forest, which is the largest federal forest in the country.
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Biden's plan also protects the Northeast Canyons National Monument and Seamounts National Monument, both in the Atlantic Ocean, southeast Cape Cod. Trump had changed the rule to allow commercial fishing in the marine monument. This action was praised by fishing groups, but denigrated by environmentalists. Biden and Interior Secretary Debhaaland were forced to restore fishing protections.
Jen Felt, Ocean campaign director at the Conservation Law Foundation, stated that protecting the marine monument protects "this valuable area for fragile species that call its home and demonstrates administrations commitment to scientific research."
Arizona Rep. Raul Guilva, a Democrat, is the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. He also praised Biden's administration, saying that restoring the monuments demonstrates its commitment to conserving public lands and listening to Indigenous Peoples.
Grijalva stated that Trump's cynical actions should be put behind him.
Utah's governor, however, called Biden's decision a "tragic miss opportunity." Cox, along with other state leaders, stated that the president's actions "fails" to provide certainty and funding for law enforcement and research.
Utah Senator Mitt Romney also criticised Biden in a tweet, stating that the president had wasted the chance to build consensus and find permanent solutions for the monuments.
Romney stated Thursday that Utah's national monuments were being used again as political football by different administrations. Our state, tribal leaders and delegation are devastated by the decision to reexpand Bears Ears' and Grand Staircase Escalante's boundaries. Today's winner-take-all mentality has pushed us further away from this goal.
Jennifer Rokala (executive director of the Center for Western Priorities), a conservation group, applauded Biden's decision. She said that she hopes it will mark a first step towards his goal to conserve at least 30% of U.S. land and sea by 2030.
Rokala thanked President Biden in a statement. You listened to the American people as well as Indigenous tribes, and made sure these landscapes would be preserved for future generations.
Rokala stated that Trump's cuts had ironically increased national attention for Bears Ears. Rokala urged the federal government for more funding to manage the landscape, and to handle the growing number of people.
Haaland, the Indigenous Cabinet's first secretary, visited Utah in April to see the monuments. She is the latest federal official to enter what has been a long-running public lands battle. In June, she submitted her recommendations regarding the monuments.
Haaland stated that she was honored to have spoken with so many people who are deeply concerned about the land on her Utah trip.
Historical connections between Indigenous peoples, Bears Ears, and Indigenous peoples are undeniable. Our Native American ancestors have lived on the landscape since the beginning of time, and evidence of their rich life is everywhere you look, stated Haaland, a member the Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico.
In 2016, former President Barack Obama declared Bears Ears to be a national monument, 20 years after President Bill Clinton had moved to preserve Grand Staircase-Escalante. Tribes requested the designation for the first time at Bears Ears.
Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, who pushed for its restoration has stated that the monument's twin buttes were a place for worship for many tribes. This group includes the Hopi Tribe and Navajo Nation as well as Ute Mountain Ute Tribes, Pueblo of Zuni, Ute Indian Tribe, and Pueblo of Zuni.
"President Biden did the right things restoring Bears Ears National Monument," Shaun Chapoose (coalition member and chairman of Ute Indian Tribe Business Committee) said in a statement. The Monument was not lost to us. These lands will be our home for the management and care of sacred sites, waterways and medicines.
Trump's Trump administration reductions to Bears Ears, Grand Staircase–Escalante opened the door for possible coal mining and oil-and-gas drilling on previously unrestricted lands. Market forces meant that activity was restricted.
Conservative leaders praised the reductions and acknowledged that the monuments were too large for the U.S. government.
Tribal, environmental, and outdoor recreation groups sued to restore their original boundaries. They argued that presidents don't have the legal authority to alter monuments their predecessors had created. Republicans claimed that Democratic presidents had misused the Antiquities Act, which was signed by President Theodore Roosevelt, to designate monuments other than those necessary to protect cultural and archaeological resources.
According to the Biden administration, the review of the monuments was part a comprehensive plan to combat climate change and reverse Trump's damaging policies.
Both Obama's creation and the way he created it were opposed by fishing groups.
These areas can be managed in a way that is cumbersome and time-consuming but brings together all stakeholders, according to Patrice McCarron (executive director of the Maine Lobstermens Association).
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Whitehurst reported from Salt Lake City. This report was contributed by Patrick Whittle, an Associated Press reporter from Portland, Maine.
