Ruins and Rocks, Bears Ears National Monument, Utah                                                    (Mike Painter)

 
May 15, 2017

Dear CalUWild friends —

This month’s Update is coming out much earlier than usual—and it’s one of the most important that we’ve sent out in a long time—because the administration is mounting an extremely serious attack on our public lands here in the U.S. We need to move very quickly in support of the Bears Ears National Monument designation in Utah and other national monuments around the country (Item 1).

Though I try to keep things as general as possible for people who aren’t working with these issues every day, I know that there has been a lot of detail in the last few Updates about various topics. And this month is no exception. So, if you have any questions or would like to have something clarified, please, do not hesitate to contact me.

 
Last week was an “interesting” one in Washington, to say the least, but amid the crisis, there was some good news: The Senate refused to overturn the Obama administration’s regulations on methane leaks from drilling on federal public and tribal lands. The vote was close: 49 in favor of overturning, 51 opposed. Three Republican senators—Susan Collins (ME), Lindsey Graham (SC), and John McCain (AZ)—joined all the Democrats in opposing the repeal.

 
Look for the next Update to come out in June, but in the interim, please check CalUWild’s Facebook page for occasional relevant articles or other information. Facebook has become an almost-necessary tool to reach people these days, so please “Like” and “Follow” CalUWild there, as it helps us expand our outreach into other communities.

Thanks for keeping up with things and for your support of our wilderness and public lands!

 
Best wishes,
Mike

 
IN UTAH
1.   Bears Ears and Other National Monuments
          Review Period Open
          Comments Needed
          DEADLINES: May 26 & July 10
          (ACTION ITEM)
2.   Red Rock Bill Cosponsor Update
          (ACTION ITEM)

IN CALIFORNIA
3.   Rep. Judy Chu Introduces Bill
          To Expand San Gabriel Mountains National Monument
          (ACTION ITEM)

IN GENERAL
4.   Interior Secretary Zinke Suspends
          BLM Citizens Resource Advisory Committees
          (ACTION ITEM)
5.   Job Announcement:
          Our Children’s Trust

IN THE PRESS & ELSEWHERE
6.   Links to Articles and Other Items of Interest

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

IN UTAH
1.   Bears Ears and Other National Monuments
          Review Period Open
          Comments Needed
          DEADLINES: May 26 & July 10
          (ACTION ITEM)

In last month’s Update we mentioned that the White House had issued an executive order mandating a review of many of the national monuments designated since the Grand Staircase-Escalante in 1996. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced some days later that the Department would hold a formal public comment period on the review, and the clock started ticking last Thursday with the publication of a notice in the Federal Register.

Because of the short timeline for the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah stated in the executive order (report due within 45 days), the comment period for that monument is open for a very brief total of 15 days. The deadline to submit comments is May 26.

Last week Interior Secretary Zinke visited the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, as he had promised to do when he was confirmed. On the day before he arrived, more than 1,000 people rallied on the Utah state capitol steps in Salt Lake City in support of the Bears Ears.

Although it had been billed as a listening tour, Mr. Zinke mostly met with monument opponents, and he held no public meetings, in contrast to then-Secty. Sally Jewell’s visit last summer. He did meet for about an hour with the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and also with Friends of Cedar Mesa, but he refused to meet with both Utah Diné-Bikéyah, the Navajo organization that initiated the monument campaign, and the Escalante-Boulder Chamber of Commerce, representing businesses that have seen good economic returns from the monument there. When asked about not meeting with the groups, Mr. Zinke replied: “That’s the breaks.”

Most of the time, it was Utah’s governor, Gary Herbert, and members of Utah’s congressional delegation and local officials who shepherded him around. Press reports of the visit were not at all encouraging, but Mr. Zinke insisted that he wanted to hear what everyone had to say and also that local opinions did not carry more weight than national ones, but that they should be heard.

 
Our friends at the Center for Western Priorities posted a brief video, checking some of Mr. Zinke’s filmed comments. It seems he doesn’t have a firm grasp of the facts surrounding the Bears Ears. And maybe he’s already made up his mind as to the review’s outcome—he talks about it being public land before the monument and after the monument. Was that a Freudian slip? We need to insist that the monument stays as is.

The Salt Lake Tribune published an editorial, with a description of the visit in the headline : Zinke’s visit didn’t include a balanced view.

The Washington Post ran a story yesterday: As Zinke listens in on the monumental divide at Utah’s Bears Ears, natives feel unheard.

 
Mr. Zinke’s Bears Ears decision will be the first test of his often-professed admiration for Teddy Roosevelt, who was the champion of the Antiquities Act when it was passed in 1906, and who used it regularly. Almost all presidents of both parties have used it since.

The Federal Register notice listed seven considerations for reviewing the monuments. They are listed below, with some talking points for the Bears Ears interspersed. Please take these into account when writing your comments. There’s no need to address each one if you don’t wish. Most important is to say you think the designation should stand as is. As always, if you have personal experiences that are relevant, make sure to include them in your comments.

In making the requisite determinations, the Secretary is directed to consider:

(i) The requirements and original objectives of the Act, including the Act’s requirement that reservations of land not exceed ”the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected”;

(ii) whether designated lands are appropriately classified under the Act as ”historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, [or] other objects of historic or scientific interest”;

(iii) the effects of a designation on the available uses of designated Federal lands, including consideration of the multiple-use policy of section 102(a)(7) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (43 U.S.C. 1701(a)(7)), as well as the effects on the available uses of Federal lands beyond the monument boundaries;

(iv) the effects of a designation on the use and enjoyment of non-Federal lands within or beyond monument boundaries;

(v) concerns of State, tribal, and local governments affected by a designation, including the economic development and fiscal condition of affected States, tribes, and localities;

(vi) the availability of Federal resources to properly manage designated areas; and

(vii) such other factors as the Secretary deems appropriate. 82 FR 20429-20430 (May 1, 2017).

 
There are several ways to submit comments—either directly to the Department of the Interior (DoI) or via websites set up by interested organizations that will forward them to DoI.

Normally we would recommend going directly to DoI, but there is no requirement that DoI tally comments or release any other information to the public regarding its ultimate decision. There is concern that if Mr. Zinke has already decided to modify the Bears Ears designation in some way, DoI may simply collect comments and do what it likes, without releasing any tallies or other information. Therefore, it may be better to submit them via the organizational sites.

The organizations will deliver your comments and also keep copies of for their own records and tabulations. They can use these later as needed for public relations or other political or litigation purposes. (Of course, they may also keep your email address for their own future use, too, but you can always unsubscribe. And if you’re already a member of one of them, it can’t hurt.)

These have prepared text that can be personalized and added to. We recommend deleting their text or rephrasing it in your own words and then adding your own thoughts. The agencies are very good at figuring out comments coming from mass emails, and they  discount them. (That is why CalUWild almost always includes talking points only and never sample letters.)

You may submit comments directly to DoI online here. If for some reason that link doesn’t work, you can go to http://www.regulations.gov and enter ”DOI-2017-0002” in the Search bar and click ”Search”

Comments may also be submitted by U.S. Mail to:

You can attach files to your comments submitted via the website, or include them with your mailed comments, so include pictures of places you’ve visited. Especially effective are pictures with people in them, and if with children, so much the better, as these places need to be protected for future generations.

Here are just three articles of the many that have appeared regarding the Bears Ears and Secty. Zinke’s visit.

 
Regarding the other monuments under review, the deadline is July 10 for comments on the following monuments (with acreage), using the same criteria and addresses as above.

There are too many to give detailed talking points for each. Many of them have “Friends of the Monument” groups, and as time goes on, those organizations will probably have more detailed suggestion s for comments. We’ll try to have links to some of them in the June Update.

One thing to keep in mind is that many of these monuments had some sort of protective legislation introduced in Congress that went nowhere. This is why the Obama Administration designated them. Also, the Obama Administration took great pains to involve local communities in the pre-designation process. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell held public meetings before many of them were designated. Finally, the Antiquities Act was passed by Congress in 1906, giving the President the authority to designate monuments on his own. It has been in place for 111 years and it has not been amended. There is no good reason to do so now.

Numerous items concerning national monuments have appeared in newspapers nationawide. It is good to see that the significance of this review is not being missed.

Make sure to write a letter to the editor of your local paper, too.

 
2.   Red Rock Bill Cosponsor Update
          (ACTION ITEM)

Since our last UPDATE, the following House representatives have signed on as cosponsors to America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, H.R. 2044:

Earlier cosponsors from California in this Congress, in addition to Rep. Lowenthal, are:

If you live in one of their districts, please contact their offices to say Thank You. (Too many people only ask their representatives to do things, but forget to thank them afterward!)

The following have not yet signed on. Constituent support is important to representatives when deciding to take action. Please contact them and ask them to cosponsor America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act.

* cosponsor in a previous Congress

A simple phone call will do, or send a note via an online comment form on the representative’s website. Complete contact information for representatives may be found by following the links here .

In the Senate, Kamala Harris (D) has not cosponsored S. 948.

          Phone:   202-224-3553 or online here

A full list of cosponsors nationwide may be found here.

 
IN CALIFORNIA
3.   Rep. Judy Chu Introduces Bill
          To Expand San Gabriel Mountains National Monument
          (ACTION ITEM)

CalUWild Advisory Board member Rep. Judy Chu (D-27) has been a longtime champion of public lands protection. She was instrumental in getting the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument (under review, above) designated. Now she’s introduced legislation to expand it and create an adjoining national conservation area, as well.

Please thank Rep. Chu:   DC Phone:   202-225-5464 or online (for constituents only) here

Our friends at the California Wilderness Coalition just sent out the following information about the bill, along with a request to Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris to introduce companion legislation in the Senate:

 
Growing, not revoking

Rep. Judy Chu has introduced legislation to expand the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, a week after President Donald Trump ordered the review of the Monument and six others in California. Cosponsored by Representatives Grace Napolitano, Adam Schiff, Linda Sanchez, and Tony Cardenas. Chu’s H.R. 2323 proposes to add more than 109,000 acres to Monument, which was established in 2014 by President Barack Obama. The bill also proposes to establish a 51,000-acre San Gabriel National Recreation Area in the publicly-owned foothills adjacent to the Monument and along the lower San Gabriel River and Rio Hondo.

Upon introducing the San Gabriel Mountains, Foothills, and Rivers Protection Act last week, Rep. Chu released the following statement:

Email or phone Senator Dianne Feinstein and Senator Kamala Harris urging them to introduce a Senate companion bill to Rep. Chu’s bold legislation to expand the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and establish the downstream National Recreation Area.

For more background on the bill, click here

 
Contact information:

          Sen. Dianne Feinstein:   DC Phone:   202-224-3841 or online here
          Sen. Kamala Harris:   DC Phone:   202-224-3553 or online here

 
IN GENERAL
4.   Interior Secretary Zinke Suspends
          BLM Citizens Resource Advisory Committees
          (ACTION ITEM)

We mentioned in our March Update, Item 3.d, that Congress had revoked BLM’s new planning rules (via the same process discussed in the introduction, above). They had been developed to streamline the planning process and increase public involvement, while Secretary Zinke at the same time issued an order to BLM to develop new rules to streamline the planning process and increase public involvement.

This month, at the very time as the national monuments review is going on, Secretary Zinke suspended all meetings of BLM’s Resource Advisory Committees (RACs). These are made up of 10-15 citizens from various interest groups (ranching, environmental, resource extraction, etc.) that advise local BLM offices on management issues. So rather than use them as resources to assist with input on the reviews, the Secretary has decided to suspend their functions and review them at the same time. The RACS have been in existence since 1995.

Nearly 70 RAC members from across the West wrote a letter to Secty. Zinke requesting that the RACs be reinstated.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein and seven other Democratic senators (Wyden and Merkley of Oregon, Murray and Cantwell of Washington, Udall and Heinrich of New Mexico, and Bennet of Colorado) also wrote a letter to Secty. Zinke, objecting to the RACs’suspension. Sen. Wyden’s office issued an accompanying press release.

It’s too bad they are repeating this pattern.

Please thank Sen. Feinstein for signing onto the letter.

          DC Phone:   202-224-3841 or online here

The Denver Post printed an article regarding the RACs.

 
Since Secty. Zinke the focus of this item, we’ll share this from the Center for Western Priorities, which came in just as this Update was being finished:

Here are six reasons Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is under pressure this week:

Again, it’s nice to see the media paying attention.

 
5.   Job Announcement:
          Our Children’s Trust

You may have read reports in the press over the last year or so about an unprecedented lawsuit involving young people suing the federal government for failure to act to combat climate change. They keep winning their appeals against government attempts to dismiss the case. Our Children’s Trust, the organization coordinating the lawsuit has two job openings. Here is the announcement:

 
As we prepare for the “trial of the century” later this year, we’re building out the #youthvgov campaign to engage more and more people in supporting the youth plaintiffs and their historic effort. To that end, we’re hiring for two exciting full-time roles on the Our Children’s Trust team: Digital Storyteller and Field Organizer.

Learn more and apply now at ourchildrenstrust.org/jobs-internships/.

 
IN THE PRESS & ELSEWHERE
6.   Links to Articles and Other Items of Interest

There’s enough to read elsewhere this month, so we’ll keep it very brief.

If a link is broken or otherwise inaccessible, please send me an email, and I’ll fix it or send you a PDF copy. As always, inclusion of an item in this section does not imply agreement with the viewpoint expressed.

 
 
 
 
 
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