May 15, 2017
Americans treasure our National Monuments, crown jewels of America’s public lands. Healthy habitats for wildlife, along with public recreation, are given stronger protections in these special places and commercial exploitation and private profits take a back seat. As our supporters know, Western Watersheds Project has long fought to make monuments’ management stronger and better.
Last month President Trump issued an Executive Order starting a “review” of twenty-seven National Monuments. It’s not even legal for a President to reduce or eliminate National Monuments designated by a predecessor, but President Trump is indicating that he intends to do just that and it’s clear that the current protections for these special places are at risk. More information is available online here.
The President and Interior Secretary Zinke are pushing a false narrative developed by anti-environmentalists that these National Monuments were designated without adequate public input. That’s why it’s so important for you to provide your input today!
The time is now to tell President Trump that you support full protections for all of our National Monuments.
TAKE ACTION: The Department of Interior is accepting public comments on its review during two short public comment periods.
Click here, then type “DOI-2017-0002” into the Search Bar, fill out the forms and submit your comments. A sample letter is provided below that you can copy and paste into the form, and adapt by adding your own personal views and insights. Comments are due by May 26th for Bears Ears NM and by July 10th for all other National Monuments.
SAMPLE LETTER:
Dear Interior Secretary Zinke,
From the Katahdin Wood and Waters in Maine to the Cascade – Siskiyou monument expansions on the Pacific Rim, from the Upper Missouri Breaks of Montana in the north to the Ironwood National Monument in the south, America’s National Monuments are national treasures, and I oppose any effort to shrink them, abolish them, or weaken their protections.
These National Monuments offer great benefits to the American public, providing recreation, historic ruins and rock art, wildlife habitats and natural landscapes that are priceless in value. In many cases, they limit commercial uses of many types that are damaging to the land. But these are public lands belonging to all Americans, and as one of the landowners I insist that the public interest must come first, and private profits should not be pursued on my lands where they conflict with the public interest.
The National Monuments that are subject to this review – Bears Ears, Basin and Range, Berryessa Snow Mountain, Canyons of the Ancients, Carrizo Plain, Cascade Siskiyou, Craters of the Moon, Giant Sequoia, Gold Butte, Grand Canyon-Parashant, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Hanford Reach, Ironwood Forest, Mojave Trails, Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks, Rio Grande del Norte, Sand to Snow, San Gabriel Mountains, Sonoran Desert, Upper Missouri River Breaks, and Vermillion Cliffs National Monuments, and the Marianas Trench, Northeast Canyons and Seamounts, Pacific Remote Islands, Papahanaumokuakea, and the Rose Atoll National Marine Monuments – all contain important cultural artifacts, important habitats, unparalleled beauty and fragile landscapes, making them a priceless heritage that we must pass down unspoiled to our grandchildren.
The Antiquities Act was signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt, who in 1910 proclaimed, “[S]pecial business interests too often control and corrupt the men and methods of government for their own profit.” Today, I see the Trump administration trying to undermine President Roosevelt’s proud legacy and steal from the American people protections for the land and its cultural sites.
Stop attacking Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation legacy. These National Monuments afford great benefits for the Americans who visit and enjoy them, and their economic value to surrounding communities is far greater protected than despoiled. I urge you to respect the public interest in protecting these special places, and leave these National Monuments in place in an undiminished state.
Sincerely yours,
[NAME]
You may also print and mail your comments to: Monument Review, MS-1530, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street NW, Washington D.C. 20240.
Thank you for standing up for America’s public lands and national monuments! Feel free to get in touch with wwp@westernwatersheds.org with any questions.
