National monuments have grown and shrunk under US presidents for over a century thanks to one law: The Antiquities Act

America’s public lands, from its majestic nationwide parks to its huge nationwide forests, are on the coronary heart of the nation’s id.

They cowl more than a quarter of the nation and huge elements of the West. Some are crisscrossed by mountain climbing trails and utilized by hunters and fishermen. Ranchers graze cattle on others. In lots of areas, the federal government earns cash by means of oil, gas, timber and mining leases.

These federally managed public lands have lengthy loved broad bipartisan help, as have strikes to show them into protected nationwide parks and monuments. Analysis constantly reveals {that a} majority of Individuals need their congressional representatives to protect public access to these lands for recreation. One avenue for cover is the creation of nationwide monuments.

However the status of national monuments can change.

Presidents have expanded and contracted nationwide monuments, because the U.S. noticed with Bears Ears National Monument in Utah over the course of the previous three presidencies. The foundations for the use and upkeep of assorted public lands may also change, and that may have an effect on surrounding communities and their economies.

The U.S. is likely to see changes to public lands once more beneath the second Trump administration. One of many new administration’s early orders was for the Division of Inside to assessment all nationwide monuments for potential oil and gas drilling and mining. At the very least two national monuments that President Joe Biden created in California are among the many new administration’s targets.

The avenue for a lot of of those adjustments is rooted in a single century-old legislation.

The ability and vagary of the Antiquities Act

The Antiquities Act of 1906, signed into legislation by President Theodore Roosevelt, gave Congress or the president the authority to ascertain nationwide monuments on federal land as a way of defending areas for ecological, cultural, historic or scientific functions.

From Theodore Roosevelt on, 18 of the 21 presidents have used the Antiquities Act to create, expand or contract nationwide monuments by means of a presidential proclamation.

By utilizing the Antiquities Act to create, broaden or cut back nationwide monuments, presidents can keep away from an environmental affect assertion, usually required beneath the Nationwide Environmental Coverage Act, which additionally permits for public enter. Supporters argue that forgoing the environmental affect assertion helps expedite monument creation and enlargement. Critics say bypassing the assessment means potential impacts of the monument designations will be neglected.

The Antiquities Act additionally offers no clarity on whether or not a president can cut back the quantity of space protected by prior presidents. The act merely states {that a} president designates “the smallest space suitable with the correct care and administration of the objects to be protected.” This has led to the shifting of nationwide monument boundaries primarily based on the priorities of every administration.

An instance is Bears Ears, an space of Utah that’s thought of important to a number of tribes but in addition has uranium, gas and oil resources. In 2016, President Barack Obama designated Bears Ears a nationwide monument. In 2017, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation reducing Bears Ears by 80% of its complete designated dimension. The monument’s dimension and scope shifted a 3rd time when President Joe Biden reestablished Bears Ears to the boundaries designated by Obama.

Within the span of simply over 5 years, the monument was created, diminished, then restored to the unique monument designation.

The uncertainty in regards to the long-term reliability of a designation makes it difficult for federal businesses to handle the land or guarantee Indigenous communities that the federal government will shield cultural, historic and ecological heritage.

Public lands will be financial engines

Nationwide parks and monuments may also help gasoline native economies.

A 2017 study by Headwaters Economics, a nonprofit analysis group, discovered that Western rural counties with extra public land have had better financial development, together with in jobs and private earnings, than these with little public land. Nationwide monuments may also benefit neighboring counties by rising inhabitants, earnings and employment alternatives.

Whereas many counties adjoining to public lands could also be depending on pure useful resource extraction, the institution of a nationwide monument can open up new alternatives by increasing tourism and recreation. For instance, 4 nationwide parks and monuments in southeastern Utah, together with Pure Bridges, drew about 2.4 million guests who spent nearly US$400 million in surrounding communities.

Nonetheless, when there may be uncertainty over whether or not public lands will stay protected, communities could also be hesitant to put money into that future, not realizing whether or not it is going to quickly change.

What Congress and the courts may do

There are just a few methods to extend the understanding round the way forward for nationwide monuments.

First, lawsuits may push the courts to find out whether or not the president has the authority to scale back nationwide monuments. For the reason that Antiquities Act doesn’t immediately tackle presidential authority to scale back monument dimension, that’s an open query.

Advocacy teams sued the government over Trump’s authority to shrink Bears Ears Nationwide Monument, however their instances had been placed on maintain after Biden expanded the monument once more. The U.S. Supreme Court docket declined to hear other cases in 2024 that argued {that a} president’s authority to declare and broaden nationwide monuments needs to be much more restricted beneath the legislation.

Second, Congress may completely shield designated nationwide monuments by means of laws. That might require presidential approval, and the method would doubtless be sluggish and cumbersome. Creating White Clouds Wilderness in Idaho, for instance, took decades and a public marketing campaign to have it designated a national monument earlier than Congress accepted its wilderness designation.

Third, Congress may take new steps to guard public lands. For instance, a bipartisan invoice titled Public Lands in Public Hands Act may block privatization of public lands and enhance and preserve entry for recreation. One of many invoice’s lead sponsors is U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, a Republican from Montana who served as Inside secretary in the course of the first Trump administration. Whether or not the invoice will cross and achieve the president’s approval stays to be seen.

Public lands have widespread help

The Antiquities Act has led to the creation of 163 terrestrial and marine monuments and subsequently the safety of land and waters that maintain cultural, scientific or historic significance.

These monuments are likely to have broad help. In the course of the first Trump administration, there have been over 650,000 public feedback on Trump’s assessment of nationwide monument creation. An evaluation discovered that 98% of the comments expressed broad support for each the creation and enlargement of nationwide monuments.

Public lands are extra than simply bodily locations. They’re areas the place our beliefs and values round public land unify us as Individuals. They’re quintessentially American – and in some ways outline and form the American id.