NATION NOW

27 national monuments under Interior Dept. review

David DeMille
The (St. George, Utah) Spectrum
This May 23, 2016, file photo, shows Lockhart Basin, south of the Colorado River, within the boundary of the Bears Ears region in southeastern Utah. President Barack Obama designated two national monuments Wednesday, Dec. 28, at sites in Utah and Nevada that have become key flashpoints over use of public land in the U.S. West. (Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, File)

ST. GEORGE, Utah — Nearly two dozen national monuments will face a federal review period following an executive order by President Trump.

The Department of the Interior, under new Trump appointee Secretary Ryan Zinke, released the names of 27 monuments Friday that it will put under a review, including a public comment period that will run for 60 days.

“Today’s action, initiating a formal public comment process finally gives a voice to local communities and states when it comes to Antiquities Act monument designations,” Zinke said in a written release. “There is no pre-determined outcome on any monument. I look forward to hearing from and engaging with local communities and stakeholders as this process continues.”

Trump ordered the reviews last week, covering a 21-year period bookended by two of the more controversial monument designations in recent memory, both in Utah: the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument designated by President Clinton in 1996 and the Bears Ears National Monument designated by President Obama late last year.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke speaks at the Interior Department in Washington, Wednesday, March 29, 2017, after signing an order lifting a moratorium on new coal leases on federal lands and a related order on coal royalties.

Zinke is scheduled to visit both monuments next week, meeting with local officials.

Either Congress or the president can protect federal land by designating a national monuments, with the 1906 Antiquities Act giving the president authority to quickly preserve land without waiting for legislation from Congress. There were 129 monuments nationwide at the start of the year, with recent presidents tending to designate more land than most of their predecessors. George W. Bush and Obama each designated more than 200 million acres as monument lands.

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The Bears Ears designation was especially contentious in recent years, with many Utah officials comparing it to the Grand Staircase-Escalante designation two decades earlier.

A coalition of tribal leaders, conservation groups, archaeologists and others pushed for the Bears Ears designation, but most local elected officials opposed it.

No president has ever moved to rescind a designation made by a previous president.

Follow David DeMille on Twitter: @SpectrumDeMille

At a glance

The monuments under review are:

• Basin and Range, Nevada

• Bears Ears, Utah

• Berryessa Snow Mountain, California

• Canyons of the Ancients, Colorado

• Carrizo Plain, California

• Cascade Siskiyou, Oregon

• Craters of the Moon, Idaho

• Giant Sequoia, California

• Gold Butte, Nevada

• Grand Canyon-Parashant, Arizona

• Grand Staircase-Escalante, Utah

• Hanford Reach, Washington

• Ironwood Forest, Arizona

• Mojave Trails, California

• Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks, New Mexico

• Rio Grande del Norte, New Mexico

• Sand to Snow, California

• San Gabriel Mountains, California

• Sonoran Desert, Arizona

• Upper Missouri River Breaks, Montana

• Vermillion Cliffs, Arizona

• Katahadin Woods and Waters, Maine

Several other marine monuments will also be reviewed under an order to prioritize an "America first" offshore energy strategy:

• Marianas Trench, Pacific Ocean

• Northeast Canyons and Seamounts, Atlantic Ocean

• Pacific Remote Islands, Pacific Ocean

• Papahanaumokuakea, Hawaii/Pacific Ocean

• Rose Atoll, American Samoa/Pacific Ocean