That law passed by Congress gives U.S. presidents the authority to designate or set aside land as monuments to protect objects of historic, cultural or scientific interest in the smallest area "compatible" with their care and management. The abrupt 1996…
“What is needed is wholesale reform of the Antiquities Act, to return its monumental power back to where it belongs: To the people who reside closest to the proposed monuments.” Tim Pearce Daily Caller GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah…
The original presidential proclamation creating the Bears Ears National Monument did not establish a formal tribal co-management requirement. There are several ways Congress and the Interior Department could now implement formal co-management. Published by the Property and Environment Research Center…
When the Monument was established in 2000, Byers said it was committed that a visitors center would be established to encourage tourism to the Monument. To date, Byers said no visitors center has been established nor is one planned even…
"In 1996, President Bill Clinton used the Antiquities Act to lock up nearly 2 million acres of Garfield and Kane Counties. And it’s worth remembering that Clinton didn’t even have the courage to announce the monument in Utah — he…
“The ranching community has been buried in regulation and limitations over the past 25 years,” the NMCGA’s Boone said. “More often than not, we can see what the outcomes down the road will be but we have no standing to…
McIntosh believes the review needs to be taken a step further to include all prior landowner rights. "Most of these national monument designations have included up to almost 2 million acres of land without any consideration that there is private…
Named after a pair of mesas which dominate the high desert landscape, Bears Ears is arid, and rich in minerals and fossil fuels, but most importantly, it is the land in which local Native American tribes have hunted, gathered wood,…
That law was intended to prevent the looting of archaeological and Native American structures and objects, and it gave the federal government an expeditious path to do so. Unsurprisingly, its use has evolved into a federal power tool for making…