On This Day In 2018
Trump tramples on federally-protected national lands
Shortly after taking office, Trump dramatically reduced the size of two national monuments in Utah. He ordered that the protected portion of Bears Ears National Monument be shrunk by nearly 1.1 million acres, and that Grand Staircase-Escalante be slashed by about 900,000 acres. Together, they were the largest land grabs from national monuments in U.S. history.
Zebra Slot Canyon in GS-E Citadel cliff dwelling ruins in BE
OTDI 2018, the Trump Administration announced what they planned to do with the beautiful and historically-important lands they had removed from federal protection: They would open them up to uranium miners, ranchers, and other developers.
Biden gives them back: On October 7, 2021, Joe Biden returned those 2 million acres to the National Monuments for federal protection. “By restoring these national monuments…President Biden is …upholding the longstanding principle that America’s national parks, monuments, and other protected areas are to be protected for all time and for all people,” the Administration explained.
Btw, why had Trump specifically targeted these two national monuments? Well, many times in his four years he seemed to go out of his way to undo something which Barack Obama had done... just because Obama had done it. Would it surprise you to know that it was Obama who had designated these areas as national monuments?
Sources/Links for further reading
Photo credits: Albert Herbigneaux (GS-E) and Bob Wick / BLM (BE)
Trump takes land from national monuments