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Bears Ears National Monument

National Parks Traveler Episode 52: Accessible Parks, Utah's Dismantled Monuments

Candy Harrington, a journalist who traveled the National Park System to see how accessible lodges and trails in the parks really are, discusses her new book on accessibility in the parks. And Cory MacNulty and Erika Pollard from the National Parks Conservation Association’s Southwest Regional Office discuss the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s plans for managing the greatly reduced in size Bears Ears and Grand Staircase monuments, and the roughly 2 million acres that were pulled out of the monuments so they could be opened to mining, grazing, and other resource-impacting activities.

Trump Administration Proposes Aggressive Management Techniques For Parts Of Bears Ears National Monument

Chaining, the practice of using heavy chains stretched between tractors or bulldozers to rip out vegetation, would be allowed in parts of Bears Ears National Monument under the Trump administration's proposed management plan. The plan, which also would allow new roads and utility lines to cross the landscape in southeastern Utah, drew immediate condemnation Friday from environmental and tribal groups, who are hoping their legal moves to reverse President Trump's redrawing of the monument's boundaries will prevent the plan from taking effect.

Study Examines Global Attacks On Protected Areas

For want of timber and other natural resources, the federal government during a three-decade period early in the 20th century steadily whittled away at Yosemite National Park, eventually carving off about a third of that icon of the National Park System. Leap forward to early in the 21st century, and for want of energy and multiple-use benefits President Trump is trying to remove 85 percent of Bears Ears National Monument from within its original borders.

Law Professor Enumerates Flaws With President's Monument Modifications

President Trump clearly exceeded his authority when he lopped 2 million acres off of two national monuments in Utah, according to a law professor who closely examined past modifications to national monuments as well as powers given presidents under The Antiquities Act along with overarching Constitutional authorities and congressional jurisdiction.

Op-Ed | Congressional Democrats Cite Trump Administration Efforts To Muzzle Congress On Monuments

Almost from the day he took office, President Donald Trump’s environmental agenda has put the profits of big corporations ahead of the public interest. While Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke pays lip service to balanced uses of public resources, Trump and his administration have overwhelmingly sided with polluting industries who prefer unchecked resource extraction with minimal public oversight.

Traveler's View | Bears Ears And Grand Staircase-Escalante Are Today's Hetch Hetchy

Early in the 20th century there was a fight over the fate of the Hetch Hetchy Valley at Yosemite National Park. Would it remain an amazing, waterfall-rimmed valley that so very well complemented the Yosemite Valley, or would it be given over to a reservoir to meet San Francisco's utilitarian needs? The battle for wildness, of course, was lost at Hetch Hetchy. Today the battle is being repeated in Utah, where wildness and sacredness at Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments are being tossed aside not so much for utilitarianism as for profiteering.

Proposed Management Plans For Utah Monuments Released, Draw Criticism

Proposed management plans for two national monuments in southern Utah that were reduced in size by President Trump and their surrounding lands would increase air quality impacts, pose a greater threat than other alternatives to cultural resources, not manage any acres to protect wilderness qualities while make more lands available to mining and livestock grazing.

National Park Service Concerned Over BLM Oil And Gas Leases Near Utah Parks

National Park Service officials had urged the Bureau of Land Management to put some miles between oil and gas leases they auctioned Tuesday and parks in southeastern Utah, voicing concerns over impacts to groundwater, air quality, night skies and soundscapes. Native American groups, meanwhile, gathered at the BLM offices in Salt Lake City to protest the auction, saying the Trump administration was determined to erase their history "for financial gain."

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