Ears Bears National Monument 1,351,849 acres (was)
Rhode Island 776,957 acres (is)
Excerpts of a Jason Chaffetz article:
We should all thank the president for his efforts to look at the facts, listen to the people, and act to roll back restrictive and unnecessary national monument designations that provide few advantages to the American people. In the case of Bears Ears National Monument, all of that land was already federal land mostly managed for conservation use. The Trump administration has been on the ground listening to those who bear the burden of these decisions – unlike the Clinton and Obama administrations, which showed little interest in talking to local people before locking up millions of acres of land around them.
The notion that our only option for managing public land is a restrictive monument designation is false; we can accommodate hunting, fishing, grazing, and permit accessibility without destroying the land. In places where restrictive conservation rules are less justified, we can even authorize responsible resource extraction. Access to these places will be expanded, not restricted, as required in large-scale national monuments.
For Utah Native Americans, this improved access is important. For centuries, they have used the land around the Bears Ears National Monument to hunt, gather, and worship. Many would come on foot while others would utilize off-highway vehicles to collect firewood, gather medicinal herbs or meet in specific locations for religious ceremonies.
Protecting our most beautiful places is important. But we don’t have to lock people out to do it. We don’t have to put further strain on federal land management budgets. We certainly don’t need to decimate rural economies. President Trump has done the right thing. All of us will be the beneficiaries of this decision.
