Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Tuesday that the more than 1 million comments received on the fate of 27 national monuments will play a role in his recommendations to President Trump on whether the monuments should be revised in size, abolished, or left as is.

Over the years, in visits to national monuments, this question seldom occurred to me. Walking the lava at Craters of the Moon NM, canoeing the Missouri River in the Upper Missouri River Breaks, kayaking and hiking Glacier Bay while it was still a monument and before it gained national park status, I gave little thought to where the monument boundaries were and why they were there.

Those who read tea leaves likely are staring at hot swirling water as they try to predict how the Trump administration will come down on the fate of Bears Ears, Katahdin Woods and Waters, and 25 other national monuments. Conservationists maintain the president lacks authority to abolish monuments, while conservatives hope for drastic action by President Trump.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is wasting his time, and the country’s money, reviewing the value of 27 national monuments established since 1996 by presidents using their authority under the Antiquities Act, according to Democrats in the House of Representatives.