A paleontologist and volunteer walk a ridgeline in the fossil-rich badlands of southern Utah, now ground zero for a fight over the future of U.S. national monuments.
What You Need to Know About Trump’s National Monument Rethink
Trump questions presidential authority to “lock up land”—but can he really rescind federal monuments?
Utah has 13 national parks and monuments, most set in spectacular red-rock formations that make it the envy of tourist bureaus everywhere. But the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration, Utah’s four congressmen and two U.S. senators asked the president to abolish the newest of these chiseled landscapes to be preserved—the Bears Ears National Monument created by Barack Obama in the final days of his administration.
Wednesday, Trump took the first step toward that end—and then some.
In a sweeping executive order with few precedents, Trump instructed Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review as many as 40 national monuments created over the past 21 years to determine if any of his three predecessors exceeded their authority in setting aside large tracts beyond
