Yesterday, President Barack Obama created two new national monuments under the executive powers granted to presidents with the 1906 Antiquities Act. Bears Ears National Monument in Utah consitutes the largest part, at 1.65 million acres. The land is sacred to Native American tribes including the Navajo Nation, whose president, Russell Begaye, praised the move, saying, "this land will be finally given the legal reverence and protection it deserves." The lands are archaelogically significant in addition to being wildlife refuges. In a statement, President Obama said, “Today’s actions will help protect this cultural legacy and will ensure that future generations are able to enjoy and appreciate these scenic and historic landscapes.”
Unsurprisingly, conservatives are complaining about this decision, especially in Utah where more than half of land is controlled by the federal government. Several Republican representatives in Utah gave statements critical of the late-presidency designations. Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah told The New York Times that Obama's "unilateral" move "politicizes a long-simmering conflict,” while Representative Bob Bishop, also of Utah, promised to work on repealing it.
The land that will be encompassed by Bears Ears National Monument had been debated for protection going back to 1935, when Interior Secretary Harold Ickes prepared a national monument proposal for President Franklin Roosevelt. The current conversation, which culminated in the creation of the monument, dates to 2010 when the Utah Diné Bikeyah, a Navajo organization, formed to protect ancestral Native lands including Bears Ears. A rival group headed up by Chaffetz, the Public Lands Initiative, was formed in 2013. Both groups fought for protection of millions of acres of land in the area, but the Public Lands Initiative did not call for co-management of the lands by Native American tribe leaders as Diné Bikeyah did.
In 2015, a historic coalition of soverign Native American tribes created the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Commission, calling for federal protection of the region with Native American advisors. Obama's creation of Bears Ears National Monument yesterday was in fact unprecedented because it will create, for the first time, a tribal coalition of leaders from the five tribes that live in the area to advise federal managers of the land.
As Obama prepares to move into civilian life, he will leave office having set a record for the most national monuments designated by a president — 26 including yesterday's. Since 1906, only three presidents didn't designate any national monuments during their terms: Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush. Obama's previous monument designations include Chimney Rock in Colorado, the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad in Maryland, and the Stonewall Inn in New York.
Many monuments have been redesignated (often as national parks) and transferred to state control. Several have been disbanded by acts of Congress for various reasons. However, no president has ever reversed the designation of a previous president.
