The current environmental debate comes from Donald Trump’s shrinking of two national monuments in Utah, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante.  Grand Staircase-Escalante was established by President Clinton in 1996.  The Bureau of Land Management recognizes the monument as having “spectacular Grand Staircase of cliffs and terraces, across the rugged Kaiparowits Plateau, to the wonders of the Escalante River Canyons, the Monument is a diverse geologic treasure speckled with monoliths, slot canyons, natural bridges, and arches.” (BLM 2018) Bears Ear national monument was established by President Obama in 2016.  Obama designated this monument for its “abundant rock art, ancient cliff dwellings, ceremonial sites, and countless other artifacts provide an extraordinary archaeological and cultural record that is important to us all, but most notably the land is profoundly sacred to many Native American tribes.” (Obama 2016)

Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National monuments are home to sacred Native American archeological sites.  The Bears Ears coalition claims that Bears Ears National Monument is home to more than 10,000 sacred Native American archaeological and cultural sites (Bears Ears Coalition). These sites at both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante serve important religious purposes and provide many Native American people with connection to their ancestors, as well as providing them a sense of belonging.  The protections provided under the Antiquities Act not only protect an important piece of history but preserve the freedom of Native Americans to access important religious sites.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mypubliclands/31136256553/

Donald Trump cites the Antiquities Act of 1908 as giving him the authority to reduce these monuments, which is constitutionally false as well as an overreach of the power given to the President under the Antiquities Act.  Trump claims that the designation of national monuments is an “abuse of the Antiquities Act that gives enormous power to faraway bureaucrats at the expense of the people who actually live here, work here and make this place their home.” (Gonzales 2017) These reductions of America’s national monuments are harmful to the natural resources due to the mining and agricultural interests that will invade this land once this land is made available for sale.  Native Americans have important religious and heritage sites within the confines of these monuments that will ultimately be taken away from them by these industrial interests.  Not only is this an overreach of executive power, but it is an abuse of American’s public land.