Tag: Grand Staircase-Escalante

Zinke said he would never sell public land.

The following article by Darryl Fears and Dino Grandoni was posted on the Washington Post website August 16, 2018:

Giant land sale? 1,600 acres once part of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument may be sold under new plan

The Upper Gulch section of the Escalante Canyons within Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument features sheer sandstone walls. Credit: Douglas C. Pizac, AP

The Trump administration is proposing to dispose of federal land in Utah that was protected within the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument until its boundary was redrawn by the Interior Department earlier this year — despite Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s assurance last year that he would not sell public lands.

The proposal to possibly sell 1,600 acres came to light Wednesday when the Bureau of Land Management released a plan to manage two national monuments that were dramatically reduced by the administration, Grand Staircase and Bears Ears, which is also in Utah. That would appear to directly contradict what Zinke said at his Senate confirmation hearing: “I am absolutely against transfer or sale of public land.”

In a statement to The Washington Post on Thursday, Interior spokeswoman Heather Swift said “the secretary still opposes the sale or transfer of federal land.” Swift said the bureau is legally required to identify federal property suitable for disposal in its land-use planning.

View the complete post here.

Trump Reduction of National Monuments a Rare Move

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website December 4, 2017:

Antiquities Act has primarily been used to increase, not reduce protected areas

Part of the Bears Ears monument in Utah. (Wikimedia Commons)

President Donald Trump on Monday signed two executive actions that drastically slash the boundaries of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, and criticized former presidents for their use of the Antiquities Act to designate such monuments.

Trump called former President Barack Obama’s designation of Bears Ears an overreach of executive power, even as he unilaterally undid much of the designation himself. President Bill Clinton first designated the Grand Staircase-Escalante national monument in 1996 .

At a speech at the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City, Trump vowed to oversee a process that would tamp down on what he sees as abuses of the 1906 Antiquities Act, which presidents since Teddy Roosevelt have used to protect environmentally and culturally significant areas. Continue reading “Trump Reduction of National Monuments a Rare Move”