Trump review puts 5 California monuments at risk

This review puts all our monuments at risk.





Trump review puts 5 California monuments at risk


http://www.sfchronicle.com/science/article/Trump-review-puts-5-California-monuments-at-risk-11944862.php

By Carolyn Lochhead
August 20, 2017 Updated: August 20, 2017 10:08am





A group kayaks down Cache Creek as it winds through Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument in Yolo County. Photo: Leah Millis, The Chronicle

Photo: Leah Millis, The Chronicle



A group kayaks down Cache Creek as it winds through Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument in Yolo County.

WASHINGTON — From the revered giant sequoias of the southern Sierra to the unbroken vistas of the Mojave Desert’s historic Route 66, five national monuments in California await a verdict by Thursday from President Trump’s interior secretary on whether they should be left alone, shrunk or eliminated altogether.

The California monuments have been swept up in an unprecedented review — ordered by Trump in April — to determine whether their protected status inhibits potential commercial use. They are among more than two dozen monuments nationally being scrutinized by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.
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The current review involves monuments created by presidents going back to Bill Clinton. So far, Zinke has revealed that he is likely to propose slashing the size of the 1.35 million-acre Bears Ears monument in Utah and will leave unchanged six others, including the new Sand to Snow monument northeast of Palm Springs created by President Barack Obama.

The administration’s review has provoked outrage among Democratic lawmakers and environmental groups.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who had a strong hand in the designation of three desert monuments, is battling the administration over the issue.

“This is war,” Feinstein said in an interview. “This is our history.”

While Congress has the power to revoke or change monuments, there’s not much a Democrat in the minority party can do to prevent Trump from altering them. So the fight will have to play out in the courts, where Trump’s legal authority to act will be challenged.............................