The monument, encompassing 4,913 square miles off the coast of New England, protects ecological resources and species including deep-sea corals; sperm, fin, and sei whales; Kemp’s ridley sea turtles; and deep-sea fish.
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Doing so would have an immediate and devastating effect on local business owners, who tried repeatedly to meet with Secretary Zinke during his trip to Utah. Zinke’s recommendations to President Trump to illegally shrink and allow extractive industry in several national monuments, including OR and California’s Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.
Established Jan. 6, 2009, and enlarged September 25, 2014: The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument includes Wake, Baker, Howland and Jarvis islands; Johnston and Palmyra atolls; and Kingman Reef, which lie to the south and west of Hawaii.
“It is a relief to see that Secretary Zinke did not recommend changing the boundaries of either Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks or Rio Grande del Norte national monuments here in New Mexico”.
According to the memo, the Cascade-Siskiyou monument includes 16,591 acres of federal land that otherwise would be harvested for timber. The review was completed in August but kept under wraps by the administration.
It is not clear when the president will announce his decision.
A spokeswoman for Zinke referred questions Sunday night to the White House, which did not offer immediate comment. There has not been any official statement released by the White House or Zinke’s office about the contents of the report.
Conservationist groups slammed the recommendation, while fishing groups said they’ve been making the same proposal all along.
“Congress already set aside these lands eighty years ago for the specific objective of sustainable timber production in the O&C Act, and the president – regardless of party – doesn’t have the authority to rewrite the law”, said American Forest Resource Council President Travis Joseph.
According to a leaked copy of Zinke’s report to President Trump, none of the six California national monuments on the original review list are up for revision. Those two large monuments in southern Utah’s Red Rock country are so controversial they triggered Trump’s call for the review of monuments at least 100,000 acres in size created since 1996.
Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., said the Obama administration’s declaration was “an example of extreme overreach and the failed Washington-knows-best mentality”.
Zinke’s report states “certain monuments were designated to prevent economic activity”.
‘The Antiquities Act does not give the federal government unlimited power to lock up millions of acres of land and waters and it’s time we ended this abusive practice, ‘ Trump said at the time, calling the practice a ‘massive federal land grab’.
Moapa Band of Paiutes Tribal Chairman Darren Daboda didn’t immediately respond to messages about Zinke’s recommendation that President Donald Trump ask Congress to let tribes “comanage” Gold Butte cultural areas.
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Reps.
But the head of the nonprofit Friends of Gold Butte vowed a legal challenge of any boundary change by presidential edict.
National monument designations add protections for lands known for their natural beauty with the goal of preserving them for future generations. The monument contains Native American artifacts and historical sites from early pioneers and Spanish explorers. He visited the OR monument in July as part of his review. “This should never have happened”, Trump said in ordering the review in April.
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“It’s a good recommendation”.
