A Utah congressman wants to create a national park out of one section of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument that President Trump broke up/BLM, Bob Wick
A congressman from Utah has introduced legislation to create a sixth national park in the state out of remnants of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument that President Trump, in a move being contested in court, broke into pieces and reduced in size.
Coming this late in the congressional session, with the General Election just three weeks away followed by a lame duck session, the measure being pushed by U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart has little chance of gaining traction and passage.
Stewart's proposal, to create an Escalante Canyons National Park and Preserve, calls for hunting, fishing, trapping, and livestock grazing within the park.
"Whether you want guaranteed access or long-term conservation, the Escalante Canyons National Park meets your goals," the Republican said in a press release. "By providing for a strong local voice in park management, the Escalante Canyons Park and Preserve is pioneering management that works collaboratively with those who live and work in this area."
The legislation (attached below) calls for the park's boundaries to "fall within the Escalante Canyons Unit of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument," though they were not specifically outlined in the measure. The bill also "codifies three separate and distinct national designations, Grand Staircase National Monument, Escalante Canyons National Park, and Kaiparowits National Monument" from the remaining lands inside the Grand Staircase monument.
The measure also calls for a "management council" of mostly state and local officials to draft management plans for the proposed park and the other monuments affected by the legislation. "Grazing within the Escalante Canyons National Park and Preserve shall be administered by the National Park Service. Federal land managers shall adhere to the management plans created by the Management Council," the measure reads.
Stewart proposed similar, unsuccessful, legislation in 2017 after President Trump broke the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument into three monuments to be known as Grand Staircase, Escalante Canyons, and Kaiparowits. Bears Ears National Monument shrank to a bit more than 201,000 acres in the Indian Creek and Shash Jáa units from its original size of 1.3 million acres.
The reduction in size of the two national monuments represents the largest reduction of any protected area in the United States, according to a study. Conservation and environmental groups immediately went to court to challenge the legality of the president's actions, litigation that continues today in the federal court system.
Early this year the administration announced plans to open lands once inside the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah to mining and other resource-impacting uses.
There currently are five "national parks" in Utah: Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Zion.
Comments
That's the crux of the matter. The sole motivation for this legislation is to give a congressional stamp of approval to the reduction of the original national monument. He's not really interested in a new national park.
I'm sorry to again have to be the party pooper; but, there really is a lot deserving to be pooped upon here.
Chris Stewart, Rob Bishop, Mike Lee, and formerly Orrin Hatch, essentially the Utah delegation, were the instigators demanding the removal of protections for and, as time has proven out, the resulting outright vandalization of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in the first place. For years, this shabby band of rightwing henchmen have grabbed every sleazy opportunity possible to undercut, thwart, badmouth, obstruct, and destroy public lands and the mechanisms that protect them, not just in the aptly named "Dixie" region of Utah, which is just where they have been trying to start, but in every corner of America. This is the bunch that has provided and continues to provide inspiration, moral support, and political cover for the Bundy family; the gang that violently seized, occupied, and vandalized Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon were their twisted and lawless disciples; and this is just another, the latest, of their consistently and despicably dishonest stunts. In every case, including the areas removed from Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, they have proclaimed that areas returned to the control of state and local authorities in Utah would be better protected; but, in every case, chaos, vandalism, and destructive exploitation are the consistent results. So, why, you ask, would gang member Chris Stewart now be advocating creation of a national park?
Well, to start, the treacherous gang has nothing to lose from this phony proposal. It will please the usually poorly educated, often armed, and almost always cultish locals down there in "Dixie" and, given the swing away from Trump and the GOP and the possibility that litigation to reverse the destruction of the original national monuments is what actually gains traction, it just might also be a chance to fool, and I do mean fool, a few people into thinking these diehard, lunatic fringe, rightwingers could be moderating their long history of dishonorable contempt for protected public lands. It's just bait for the gullible. And, as the article points out, Stewart and the gang can also rely on the fact that "this late in the congressional session," this phony proposal "has little chance of gaining traction," especially with the Senate safely in GOP hands for the rest of the lame duck session.
Even if this toxic gambit did gain traction, it's a carefully crafted Trojan Horse anyway, deliberately designed to carve what's left of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument into smaller and more easily undermined pieces and then give control of those remnants to "a 'management council' of mostly state and local officials to draft management plans for the proposed park and the other monuments affected by the legislation." For those of you who may not have experience with the locals in this aptly named "Dixie" region of Utah, I can assure you that "conservation" would not be their top priority, even if they could spell it. The vandalism on the lands previously ripped away from these national monuments proves that point. The proposal also dictates that federal land managers "shall adhere to the management plans" created by the locals on this management council.
And then, there are the code words inserted for those cultish locals. Stewart's smarmy press release claims, "By providing for a strong local voice in park management, the Escalante Canyons Park and Preserve is pioneering management that works collaboratively with those who live and work in this area." Those of us familiar with the cult know what that language is baiting.
This disgustingly toxic phony proposal needs to be used for what it's actually worth ...poop paper.
Two excellent comments already by Mike and Humphrey pretty well say all that needs to be said.
Your arguement is completely based on your hatred of certain politicians. You lose in any civil discussion
Bravo, Anonymou! Extremely well-stated! Fmr. detestable Senator Hatch should never be forgiven for his duplicitous action of presenting the monume-downsizing proposal to the 'Prevaricator-in-Chief' that initiated this. As you so aptly stated, these despicable politicians who supported this were all RepubliCons, and purportedly - it must be stated - all God-fearing Mormons. (Also, included in this Anti-Earth list should be Utah Governor Gary Herbert and his misguided brethren in the state's legislatI've bod - again all Republicans - and all Mormons!)
To be sure, we need to vote all these cretins out of office and put them 'out to pasture.'
Again, great thanks, Anoymous, for your terrific article!
Bravo. I am so sick of the hatred, name calling, and belittling or others. And this organization, too, is being very insincere calling this political rag "journalism." Writing op eds doesn't equal journalism.
Nothing more than political grand standing by the congressman. Him and his ilk know a conservative court is likely to rule Trumps destruction of our National Monuments as unconstitutional. When that happens it will reestablish the Monuments and pave the way for more unless Congress revises the Antiquities Act. These are Americans public lands, end of story.
well said ... and as always I repeat the refrain ... follow the dollar