CABINET/INTERIOR/TRUMP PEOPLE/RYAN ZINKE: “Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Monday proposed significantly scaling back the borders of a national monument in southeastern Utah, in a legally unprecedented move that opponents say violates a century-old law signed by President Theodore Roosevelt.
Bears Ears National Monument is a 1.3-million-acre conservation area that was designated by President Barack Obama in his final days in office. President Trump had called for a review of that decision, and Mr. Zinke’s recommendation is being watched closely as an indicator of how the Trump administration will treat public lands.
Mr. Zinke made his recommendation in a report that also requests Congress give local tribes the authority to co-manage ‘designated cultural resources’ within the monument’s new boundaries. But he suggests that the president hold off on a final decision on the region until a review of 26 other monuments is complete in late August.
The Bears Ears designation was supported by environmentalists and the leaders of many native tribes in the region, including the Navajo Nation, but was opposed by Utah’s governor, the state’s congressional delegation, and some local residents who said they did not want tighter federal restrictions on land near their homes.”
-Julie Turkewitz and Coarl Davenport, “Interior Secretary Recommends Shrinking Borders of Bears Ears Monument,” Then New York Times online, June 12, 2017