It’s official. Trump’s list of national monuments to review was released today, and we are elated to see our top two made the list: Grand-Staircase Escalante in Utah and Colorado’s own Canyons of the Ancients.
It’s been 17 years since Clinton declared the canyons a national monument, against the wishes of pretty much everyone in the state. Except environmentalists.
The list of opponents included the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, the Southern Ute Nation, the Aneth Chapter of the Navajo Nation, the Southwestern Colorado Livestock Association, the Southwestern Colorado Landowners Association, Inc., the San Juan Basin Farm Bureau, the Dolores Water Conservancy District, Governors from 10 western states, Colorado Governor Bill Owens, and the Coalition of Arizona/New Mexico For Stable Economic Growth.
The review doesn’t mean that monuments will just be dismantled willy nilly, it means that the Interior will hold the first ever public comment period so this time, the public actually gets a say in the matter.
There may be many who have changed their minds since the designation, but we will learn that during the review, won’t we?