*Update: On March 25, President Obama created five new monuments including two in Washington and New Mexico. For more, see the LA Times article here.
Earlier this month, the New York Times Green Blog reported on President Obama’s lack of protection of public lands (see the full article here). Thus far, Obama has designated fewer acres of public lands than George W. Bush did during two terms and only a fraction of predecessors Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan. Bruce Babbitt, former Secretary of the Interior in the Clinton administration, sharply criticized Obama at a recent speech at the National Press Club for favoring development over the environment.
For environmentalists and outdoor enthusiasts, new wilderness brims with excitement and opportunities. In 1996, Bill Clinton legendarily designated nearly 2 million acres in creating the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. The legal basis for these actions is the Antiquities Act, a law signed by Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 giving the President unilateral authority to issue executive orders restricting the use of certain public lands. Though not without controversy—no congressional approval, or even notice, is required—the Antiquities Act has been one of the single most impactful conservation tools ever since TR’s day.
It wasn’t shocking when Bruce Babbitt, an elder statesman for conservation in the United States, stoked the flames. It’s also true that during Obama’s first term, he faced economic and political circumstances more dire than the past Presidents mentioned above, limiting his ability to act. But conservationists and the outdoor industry will be watching closely as Obama’s second term unfolds.
In November 2012, more than 100 outdoor recreation companies including the heavy hitters—Mountain Hardware, The North Face and Patagonia—formally petitioned the Obama administration to designate 1.4 million acres of federal lands surrounding Canyonlands National Park in southern Utah as a national monument. Utah Governor Gary Herbert, who is pressing hard for extractive land development in his state, blasted the idea.
A new Greater Canyonlands National Monument would be prime. In addition, President Obama should consider extending Yellowstone National Park’s western borders over to Route 20 to include the Caribou-Targhee National Forest (the park’s original boundaries were poorly conceived in a rectangular shape with little regard to natural topography). And there are numerous potential Marine National Monuments—from the Gulf Coast to Maine to Hawaii—that would usher in a new era of coastal conservation.