No Social Distancing or Mask Requirement at Trump's Mt. Rushmore Fireworks Event
01 July
Health + Wellness
A crowd awaits the evening lighting ceremony at Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota on June 23, 2012. Mindy / Flickr
Fire experts have already criticized President Trump's planned fireworks event for this Friday at Mt. Rushmore National Memorial as a dangerous idea. Now, it turns out the event may be socially irresponsible too as distancing guidelines and mask wearing will not be enforced at the event, according to CNN.
<p>The fireworks event at the iconic monument in South Dakota will be the first in more than a decade, and it will bring together thousands of supporters who will be crammed together in a fenced-in area for a view of the display. The event is happening as coronavirus cases are surging across the country, amidst a <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drought" target="_self">drought</a> in South Dakota that makes the surrounding trees flammable, and during a national conversation about rethinking monuments with racist histories.</p><p>South Dakota's Republican Governor Kristi Noem said the people who attend the celebration will be asked to choose their own comfort level with social distancing and mask wearing. While masks will be handed out to anyone who wants them, they will not be required, according to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/s-dakota-gov-noem-says-we-will-not-be-social-n1232507" target="_blank">NBC News</a>.</p>
<p>"We will have a large event at July 3rd. We told those folks that have concerns that they can stay home, but those who want to come and join us, we'll be giving out free face masks, if they choose to wear one. But we will not be social distancing," Noem said on Fox News on Monday night, as NBC News reported. "We're asking them to come, be ready to celebrate, to enjoy the freedoms and the liberties that we have in this country."</p><p>She added that state officials have asked the people of South Dakota to practice personal responsibility. "Every one of them has the opportunity to make a decision that they're comfortable with," she said, as NBC News reported.</p>
<p>The unwillingness to mandate that people follow <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/visitors.html" target="_blank">CDC guidelines</a> and practice social distancing has drawn criticism from the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous-peoples" target="_self">Native American</a> community, which has suffered disproportionately from the coronavirus. Several groups led by Native American activists are planning protests for Trump's visit on Friday.</p><p>"Trump coming here is a safety concern not just for my people inside and outside the reservation, but for people in the Great Plains. We have such limited resources in Black Hills, and we're already seeing infections rising," said Oglala Sioux President Julian Bear Runner in an interview with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/01/mount-rushmore-donald-trump-sioux" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>"It's going to cause an uproar if he comes here. People are going to want to exercise their First Amendment rights to protest and we do not want to see anyone get hurt or the lands be destroyed," added Bear Runner.</p>
<p>Mt. Rushmore, which is carved into the Black Hills Forest, is still considered sacred land by the Sioux. Its construction and the visit from the U.S. president stand in clear violation of treaties that the Sioux people signed with the U.S. government, according to Bear Runner.</p><p>The land was granted to the Sioux in perpetuity, but the U.S. reneged on the deal when gold was discovered in the Black Hills in the late 1800s.</p><p>"The lands on which that mountain is carved and the lands he's about to visit belong to the Great Sioux nation under a treaty signed in 1851 and the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 and I have to tell him he doesn't have permission from its original sovereign owners to enter the territory at this time," Bear Runner told The Guardian.</p>
<p>Trump, who has repeatedly refused to wear a face mask and encouraged states to reopen early before the virus was under control, tends to provoke the same behavior in his fans. The refusal to mandate social distancing guidelines stands in stark contrast to South Dakota's Department of Health <a href="https://doh.sd.gov/news/coronavirus.aspx#Avoid" target="_blank">website</a>, which says that in order to avoid the illness, people should "avoid close contact with people ... stay at home as much as possible," and "put distance between yourself and other people." It also says, "everyone should wear a cloth face cover when they have to go out in public," as <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/s-dakota-gov-noem-says-we-will-not-be-social-n1232507" target="_blank">NBC News</a> reported.</p>
<p>Asked to reconcile the difference between the governor of South Dakota and the guidelines from the CDC and the states' health department, Noem spokesman Ian Fury told CNN, "We're not anticipating that folks will be maintaining six feet of social distancing. We are encouraging attendees to follow CDC guidelines, extensive safety signage will be posted at the event, and masks will be available, but attendees will be exercising their personal responsibility in choosing to attend."</p>
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The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is the only marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
President Donald Trump sparked the ire of conservationists earlier this month when he opened the country's only marine national monument in the Atlantic to commercial fishing.
<p>Now, some of them are suing to stop him and preserve the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, which protects 5,000 square miles of unique <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans" target="_self">ocean</a> habitat off Cape Cod.</p><p>"Trump has once again eliminated critical natural resource protections on a whim, and with no legal authority," Brad Campbell, president of the Boston-based <a href="https://www.clf.org/" target="_blank">Conservation Law Foundation</a> (CLF), said in a <a href="https://www.clf.org/newsroom/clf-taking-trump-administration-to-court-for-decimating-monument-protections/" target="_blank">press release</a> announcing his organization's decision to sue. "This lawless act upends over a century of practice by presidents of both parties, and puts all national monuments on the block for the highest political bidder."</p>
<div id="00ad0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1f599999b403493ff99aeef310278552"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1273713391367073795" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">President Trump illegally gutted protections for New England’s marine monument. We’ll see him in court.… https://t.co/UWgRF6P7q8</div> — Conservation Law Foundation (@Conservation Law Foundation)<a href="https://twitter.com/CLF/statuses/1273713391367073795">1592511911.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The monument was created by President Barack Obama in 2016 using the Antiquities Act, <a href="https://www.clf.org/blog/snowball/trump-atlantic-marine-monument/" target="_blank">CLF said</a>. It protects an estimated 54 species of deep sea coral and hundreds of other marine animals, including <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a> like North Atlantic right <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/whales" target="_self">whales</a> and Kemp's ridley <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sea-turtles" target="_self">sea turtles</a>, <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/17/metro/environmental-group-sues-trump-administration-allowing-commercial-fishing-protected-waters/" target="_blank">The Boston Globe reported</a>. It is also home to four underwater mountains and three underwater canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon.</p><p>The commercial fishing industry had argued that the creation of the monument was an overreach of federal authority that hurt livelihoods. Before its formation, fisherman said as many as 80 boats fished the area.</p>
<p>"President Obama swept aside our public, science-based fishery management process with the stroke of a pen," Bob Vanasse, executive director of fishermen lobby group Saving Seafood, told The Boston Globe. "That was a mistake, and whatever anyone thinks about President Trump is irrelevant."</p><p>But, in a <a href="https://www.clf.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2020.06.16-NE-Canyons-complaint-final.pdf" target="_blank">lawsuit</a> filed in Washington, DC Wednesday, CLF, the <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="_blank">Center for Biological Diversity</a> (CBD), and the <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/" target="_blank">Natural Resources Defense Council</a> argued that Trump's reversal was the overreach: A president may use the Antiquities Act to designate a monument, but only Congress can undo protections.</p><p>"Trump's order was illegal because he can't just declare commercial fishing is allowed in a protected marine monument," CBD attorney Kristen Monsell said in a <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/lawsuit-challenges-trump-ok-commercial-fishing-atlantic-marine-monument-2020-06-17/" target="_blank">press release</a>. "The Seamounts monument was created to permanently safeguard this amazing ecosystem and vulnerable species like the endangered sperm whale. Presidents can't be allowed to gut protections by decree as a favor to commercial fishermen."</p>
<div id="f9e3c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f5c6d6868df7e73680e28f750fa9ffa9"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1273342928304422920" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The Center and allies just filed a lawsuit challenging President Trump's executive order allowing commercial fishin… https://t.co/6vr6gIG7v4</div> — Center for Bio Div (@Center for Bio Div)<a href="https://twitter.com/CenterForBioDiv/statuses/1273342928304422920">1592423586.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>CBD pointed out that, before Trump reversed the commercial fishing ban, courts had twice rejected the industry's attempt to challenge it.</p><p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">Conservation</a> groups also argue that the monument ultimately protects commercial fisheries by preserving the species that support them, according to The Boston Globe.</p><p>Further, not all business interests oppose the monument. <a href="http://blueplanetstrategy.com/" target="_blank">Zack Klyver</a>, a Maine marine scientist who has led more than 600,000 people on whale watching tours with the Bar Harbor Whale Watch Company, has also joined the suit.</p><p>"I spend lots of time on the water so I know how important it is to protect this marine monument. My business depends on a healthy ocean," Klyver, who has also co-founded ocean conservation company Blue Planet Strategies, said in the CBD release. "Trump's attack on New England's prized marine monument is one I take personally. We need to protect our oceans and their abundance of marine life for future generations to experience."</p>
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Shrinking Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante: Trump’s Monumental Mistake
17 February
Insights + Opinion
Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. Bob Wick / BLM / onEarth
Well, he told us he would do it. And now he's actually doing it — or at least trying to. Late last week, President Trump, via the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management, announced that he was formalizing his plan to develop lands that once belonged within the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in southern Utah. The former is a stunningly beautiful, ecologically fragile landscape that has played a crucial role in Native American culture in the Southwest for thousands of years; the latter, just as beautiful, is one of the richest and most important paleontological sites in North America.
<p>The Trump administration would allow drilling, mining, and other highly disruptive forms of development to take place on millions of acres that are of immense and unquestionable scientific, cultural, and religious significance. This significance is what compelled President Bill Clinton to designate Grand Staircase-Escalante a national monument back in 1996, and what led President Barack Obama to bestow the same designation on Bears Ears two decades later.</p>
<p>On the one hand, the new plan comes as no surprise: In December 2017, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/us/trump-bears-ears.html" target="_blank">Trump reduced the size</a> of <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-proclamation-modifying-bears-ears-national-monument/" target="_blank">Bears Ears</a> by roughly 85 percent, and <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-proclamation-modifying-grand-staircase-escalante-national-monument/" target="_blank">Grand Staircase-Escalante</a> by half. On the other hand, it came as a huge surprise, in that a great many legal experts contend that Trump's resizing of the monuments is illegal, and, furthermore, believe that the courts — which are <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/news/2019/10/01/federal-judge-declines/" target="_blank">still in the midst of determining</a> the move's legality — are likely to agree.</p><p>Normally, when your big plans are tied up in litigation and could come crashing down at any moment with the sweep of a judge's gavel, you err on the side of prudence and resist the urge to forge ahead. Not this president. In a phone call with reporters last week, Casey Hammond, the Interior Department's acting assistant secretary for land and minerals management, revealed the thinking behind his boss's decision. "If we stopped and waited for every piece of litigation to be resolved," he said, "we would never be able to do much of anything around here."</p>
<p>Talk about <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-impolitic-outbursts-20180907-story.html" target="_blank">saying the quiet part out loud</a>. The administration can't possibly know how the courts will rule, which leaves just one explanation: It doesn't care how they will rule. Procedural due process may be fine for others, Trump and his Interior Department have concluded, but it's just not their thing. They're not going to wait around for some judge to tell them what they can or can't do. </p><p>But let's set the legal question aside for a moment, and instead explore the moral question that applies. For the tribes and pueblos of the region, Bears Ears is hallowed ground, and has been for many centuries. In the words of <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/10/bears-ears-monument-native-americans-photography/" target="_blank">Jim Enote</a>, CEO of the <a href="https://coloradoplateaufoundation.org/" target="_blank">Colorado Plateau Foundation</a>, the land "is a touchstone for the Zuni people. The Zuni people go to the Bears Ears area to pay respect to our ancestors in a way that is not very different from people going to a cemetery and paying respect to their family members." In <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/12/28/proclamation-establishment-bears-ears-national-monument" target="_blank">Obama's proclamation</a> designating Bears Ears a national monument, he spent more than 4,000 words vividly detailing the history and grandeur of the land, linking its sacredness to its pristine natural beauty. Federal protection, he wrote, would "preserve its cultural, prehistoric, and historic legacy and maintain its diverse array of natural and scientific resources, ensuring that the prehistoric, historic, and scientific values of this area remain for the benefit of all Americans."</p><p>Can you imagine the Trump administration — or any administration, for that matter — redrawing, by executive fiat, the boundaries of Arlington National Cemetery or the Lincoln Memorial to accommodate the desires of drilling, mining, and other extractive industries? It's unthinkable. And yet this administration exhibits no compunction about grievously assaulting the lands, culture, and religious practices of Native Americans. "When the monument was reduced, it made us think, again, we have given so much to this nation and we are receiving so little in return," Enote told National Geographic magazine.</p>
<p>The decision goes well beyond disrespect. It's desecration. It's an act openly contemptuous of both the five tribes' heritage and that of all Americans. These lands, and the stories that they tell and the ways of life they sustain, are part of our country's collective story and they deserve protection.</p><p>Trump's plan's also, like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/20/donald-trump-epa-environmental-rollbacks-court-challenges" target="_blank">so many of his other gambits</a>, legally unsound. If President Trump believes that recklessly moving forward on this act of administrative vandalism is going to somehow intimidate the courts or the coalition that has risen up in defense of Bears Ears and Grand-Staircase Escalante, he's in for a surprise.</p>
<p><em>Jeff Turrentine is the Culture & Politics columnist at NRDC's onEarth. A former reporter for The Washington Post, he has also written for Slate, The New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times.</em></p><p><em><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/shrinking-bears-ears-and-grand-staircase-escalante-trumps-monumental-mistake" target="_blank">onEarth</a>.</em></em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Trump Admin Finalizes 'Atrocious' Plans to Allow Drilling and Mining on Gutted National Monuments
07 February
Politics
The goosenecks of the San Juan River photographed from Mulley Point. Monument Valley of Bears Ears National Monument seen in Sunrise light. Bob Thomason / The Image Bank / Getty Images
The Trump administration finalized plans Thursday to open public lands in Utah to the fossil fuel industry.
<p>The move completes a process begun in 2017 when the administration announced the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/amp/trump-utah-national-monuments-2514084239" target="_self">largest rollback of land protection in U,S. history</a>: It shrank Utah's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/bears-ears" target="_self">Bears Ears National Monument</a> by 85 percent and its <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/grand-staircase-escalante" target="_self">Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument</a> by nearly half. Now, the Interior Department is releasing a land-use blueprint that would allow <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil" target="_self">oil</a>, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/natural-gas" target="_self">gas</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal" target="_self">coal</a> companies to lease land for drilling and mining on around 861,974 acres that were once part of Grand Staircase-Escalante, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/06/climate/trump-grand-staircase-monument.html?auth=link-dismiss-google1tap" target="_blank">The New York Times reported</a>.</p><p>"These plans are atrocious, and entirely predictable," <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/" target="_blank">Natural Resources Defense Council</a> (NRDC) Senior Director for Lands Sharon Buccino said in a statement emailed to EcoWatch. "They are the latest in a series of insults to these magnificent lands by the Trump administration that began when Trump illegally dismantled Bears Ears and Grand Staircase at the behest of corporate interests two years ago."</p>
<div id="633f6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="R8GYXI1581094823"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1225524026602328064" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">@BLMNational https://t.co/6danmQpYnD</div> — NRDC 🌎 (@NRDC 🌎)<a href="https://twitter.com/NRDC/statuses/1225524026602328064">1581022671.0</a></blockquote></div><p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">Conservation</a> and Native American groups are especially outraged by the administration's action because they are in the midst of suing to block the the shrinking of the monuments in the first place, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/06/trump-utah-national-parks-energy-development-drilling?CMP=twt_a-environment_b-gdneco&fbclid=IwAR1bX51Q7QPf3oAPbKy2yZJWs3PsDUHJPC-4HPU9OhgitYuFCqS_L_mbIJU" target="_blank">The Guardian explained</a>. The shrunken monuments include land sacred to Native American tribes and important sites for paleontological research, as well as unique, relatively undisturbed ecosystems. The groups think the courts will rule the administration's actions illegal under the Antiquities Act.<br></p><p>"It's the height of arrogance for Trump to rush through final decisions on what's left of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante while we're fighting his illegal evisceration of these national monuments in court," <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="_blank">Center for Biological Diversity</a> Public Lands Director Randi Spivak in a statement reported by The Guardian. "Trump is eroding vital protections for these spectacular landscapes. We won't rest until all of these public lands are safeguarded for future generations."</p><p>The administration, meanwhile, presented its actions as a boon to the Utah economy against the overreach of past administrations. Former President Bill Clinton designated Grand Staircase-Escalante as a national monument in 1996, while Barack Obama created the Bears Ears National Monument in 2016.</p>
<p>"The approved plans keep the commitment of this Administration to the families and communities of Utah that know and love this land the best and will care for these resources for many generations to come," Interior's Acting Assistant Secretary of Land and Minerals Management Casey Hammond said in the government announcement. "These cooperatively developed and locally driven plans restore a prosperous future to communities too often dismissed and punished by unilateral decisions of those that would not listen to the voices of Utahns."</p><p>However, so far the decision has not generated a lot of interest from industry.</p><p>"There has been almost no interest in mining and drilling on the lands excluded from Grand Staircase," Interior spokeswoman Kimberly Finch told The New York Times.</p><p>The decline of coal also means there has not been much interest expressed in a reserve of the fossil fuel found on the now-unprotected lands, according to The Guardian.</p>
<p>However, if this changes, the decision to shrink the monuments wouldn't just contribute to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a>. It would also make it harder to study it."As a result of its physical isolation and areas of minimal human impact, as well as its enormous ecological diversity, it provides mankind with rare opportunities for unique comparative climate change studies," <a href="https://gsenm.org/" target="_blank">Grand Staircase Escalante Partners</a> Executive Director Sarah Bauman told The Guardian of the monument. </p><p>"Without protections, these opportunities will be lost and with them our ability to build essential knowledge and resources for mitigating climate change."</p>
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White Sands National Monument in New Mexico is now White Sands National Park. Jean Beaufort / publicdomainpictures.net
The world's largest gypsum dunefield is now the United States' newest national park.
<p>The National Park Service (NPS) welcomed its 62nd member on Friday, when President Donald Trump signed the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act into law. The act contained a provision redesignating White Sands National Monument in New Mexico as White Sands National Park.</p><p>"Our staff are very excited for White Sands to be recognized as a national park and to reintroduce ourselves to the American public," White Sands National Park Superintendent Marie Sauter said in a park <a href="https://www.nps.gov/whsa/learn/news/nr12212019.htm" target="_blank">news release</a>. "We are so appreciative of our partners, local communities, and congressional leaders who made this achievement possible and look forward to continued success working together."</p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1dc03476c175cf0a4f0cdfefe1b04c2e"><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/WhiteSandsNPS/photos/a.206499709383255/2873728309327035/?type=3&theater"></div></div>
<p>Locals began working to preserve White Sands as a national park more than 100 years ago in order to prevent industry from mining the gypsum, <a href="https://apnews.com/ca10a248f26cd5ba5bd6218a72b69a6a" target="_blank">The Associated Press reported</a>. President Herbert Hoover designated it as a national monument in 1933 to preserve "the white sands and additional features of scenic, scientific, and educational interest."</p><p>In addition to its natural wonders, the park also features the world's largest collection of fossilized footprints from the Ice Age.</p><p>Since being designated as a monument, the 275-square miles of dunes have attracted more visitors than any other NPS site in New Mexico, <a href="https://www.outsideonline.com/2407211/white-sands-new-mexico-national-park#close" target="_blank">according to Outside</a>. Legislators have now been working to change it to a national park for half a decade.</p><p>White Sands attracted more than 600,000 visits in 2017 and generated $31 million in spending in the local economy, according to The Associated Press. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), who advocated for the change, said that making the area a national park would boost the economy even further.</p><p>The change in designation will transfer all funding from the former monument to the new park, but the park will only see more funding if it sees an increase in visitors, Outside explained. It is likely it will. A 2018 study found that turning monuments into parks could increase the number of visitors by 21 percent during the first five years after the change and inject $7.5 million more into the local economy. This is because making a site into a park increases awareness.</p><p>"You know, there is no stronger brand in the world than America's national parks," Heinrich told Outside.</p><p>The designation switch was included in a defense bill because the park borders the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), a weapons testing area that saw the first detonation of an atomic bomb.</p><p>The designation change comes with a land exchange between the new park and the U.S. Army that will allow the Army to better access the test site. This swap will offer two benefits to the new park: It will come out ahead with 2,030 new acres of land, and the area will no longer have to close to visitors for weapons testing drills.</p><p>While the dunes are a harsh environment, they are home to <a href="https://www.nps.gov/whsa/learn/nature/animals.htm" target="_blank">more than 800</a> animal species that have specifically adapted to desert life. Among them are several species that have evolved to be <a href="https://www.nps.gov/whsa/learn/nature/white-species.htm" target="_blank">whiter in color</a> to fit in with the gypsum sands. These include the Apache pocket mouse and the bleached earless lizard. The monument-turned-park is also home to 35 species of moths that live only on the dunes. Most of them are white in color, but some may also have evolved because of how the gypsum soils affect the plants they eat.</p>
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Kevin Dahl who works at the National Parks Conservation Association shot the video. Kevin Dahl / NPCA / Screenshot
There is an outcry in Arizona after footage captured border wall construction bulldozers plowing over iconic cacti that are protected in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument — a monument created to protect Organ Pipe and Saguaro cacti, as Newsweek reported.
<p>The video depicts the bulldozers running roughshod over the national monument and clearing saguaros in a rush to build a costly and unnecessary wall on the U.S. southern border. </p>
<div id="2d336" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="AOMOGZ1576661342"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1180206058649706497" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">VIDEO: Saguaros are being bulldozed for the #BorderWall in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Trump's reckless bo… https://t.co/n8NkLSGfUj</div> — Laiken Jordahl (@Laiken Jordahl)<a href="https://twitter.com/LaikenJordahl/statuses/1180206058649706497">1570218026.0</a></blockquote></div><p>"Saguaros are being bulldozed for the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BorderWall?src=hash" target="_blank">#BorderWall</a> in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument," wrote Laiken Jordahl, Border Lands Campaigner with the Center for Biological Diversity, on <a href="https://twitter.com/LaikenJordahl/status/1180206058649706497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1180206058649706497&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fearther.gizmodo.com%2Fajax%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-1180206058649706497%26autosize%3D1" target="_blank">Twitter</a> with a video of the destruction. "Trump's reckless border hysteria is destroying our environment and killing the very species this national monument was designated to protect."</p><p>Kevin Dahl who works at the National Parks Conservation Association shot the video. He told <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-border-wall-construction-saguaro-cacti-organ-pipe-cactus-national-monument-1463559" target="_blank">Newsweek</a> that he was heartbroken and outraged by what he witnessed. </p><p>"At that point, what they were doing was destruction, not construction," he said.</p><p>The actions Dahl witnessed stand in sharp contrast to a <a href="https://www.dvidshub.net/video/711373/usace-task-force-barrier-relocates-cacti-organ-pipe-cactus-national-monument-package" target="_blank">video posted</a> by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that shows an appropriate relocation process, where a cactus is carefully removed with designated extraction tools, as opposed to a bulldozer plowing it over, according to <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-border-wall-construction-saguaro-cacti-organ-pipe-cactus-national-monument-1463559" target="_blank">Newsweek</a>.</p><p>"We're watching the destruction of Arizona's most iconic species to make way for a useless border wall that most Arizonans oppose," Jordahl wrote to EcoWatch.</p><p>Dahl watched the crews level saguaros and several other desert plants and then pile them up into slash piles. The destruction he witnessed was on the west side of the park where a 78-mile strip of Trump's wall is slated to stand. </p><p>However, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, which runs up against the border with Mexico already has a significant amount of fencing. As the Earther blog at Gizmodo <a href="https://earther.gizmodo.com/outrage-new-video-shows-bulldozers-destroying-americas-1838787163" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported</a>, that includes five miles of fence to keep pedestrians out and another 25 miles of posts that act as vehicle barriers. <a href="https://earther.gizmodo.com/outrage-new-video-shows-bulldozers-destroying-americas-1838787163" target="_blank">Earther</a> classified the actions as "wanton destruction." </p><p>"The Department of Homeland Security says they're relocating cacti, but the videos we shot at the construction site tell a very different story: one of flattened earth and total devastation," Jordahl wrote to EcoWatch. "Even if they do relocate some specimens, any remediation will pale in comparison to the severe and lasting damage done by the wall, stadium lights and enforcement zone."</p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9ed9456ab7cb2773c7359affa4d73206"><div class="fb-video" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/EcoWatch/videos/1222429674631276/" data-allowfullscreen="true"></div></div><p>While the current fencing respects the wildlife and the migratory patterns of native desert animals, Trump's border wall does not.</p><p>"So the wall that's currently under construction is 30 feet tall it's made up of a 6 foot wide steel bollards and they're drilling 10 feet into the ground in order to set the foundation for this wall and…will stretch for almost 50 miles," Jordahl said, as <a href="https://kvoa.com/news/2019/10/05/border-wall-construction-crew-bulldoze-cactus-at-national-monument/" target="_blank">NBC Tucson</a> reported. "So that means any migrating wildlife will be completely unable to make it around this barrier."</p><p>The National Park Service and Customs and Border Patrol offered a statement to <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-border-wall-construction-saguaro-cacti-organ-pipe-cactus-national-monument-1463559" target="_blank">Newsweek</a> that ran counter to what Jordahl said, stating that they have ensured there will be "locations for small wildlife passages within the new border barrier that would allow for the continued passage of small mammals."</p><p>However, that seems like a dubious claim to environmentalists who have seen the Trump administration trounce over environmental regulations and manipulate environmental impact statements.</p><p>Running roughshod over the fauna in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument presents another set of problems since the site is both a U.S. National Monument and a UNESCO biosphere reserve. The park is also sacred land to Indigenous groups like the Tohono O'odham Nation, as Dahl told <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-border-wall-construction-saguaro-cacti-organ-pipe-cactus-national-monument-1463559" target="_blank">Newsweek</a>.</p><p>"The Tohomo O'odham [Nation], in their taxonomy of life saguaros are very close to humans," Dahl told <a href="https://earther.gizmodo.com/outrage-new-video-shows-bulldozers-destroying-americas-1838787163" target="_blank">Earther</a>. "And you know, they have a majestic presence, they are the iconic symbol of this part of the world. You know you're someplace different when you're in a saguaro forest."</p><p>Jordahl summed it up succinctly on <a href="https://twitter.com/LaikenJordahl/status/1177642441530167296" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.</p><p>"Trump's <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BorderWall?src=hash" target="_blank">#BorderWall</a> is under construction through the most pristine Sonoran Desert ecosystem anywhere on the planet — Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument," he wrote. "Endangered species, Indigenous sacred sites & wilderness lands are being destroyed before our eyes."</p>
<div id="09198" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="AW5R0P1576661343"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1177642441530167296" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Trump’s #BorderWall is under construction through the most pristine Sonoran Desert ecosystem anywhere on the planet… https://t.co/VS9lld2B7g</div> — Laiken Jordahl (@Laiken Jordahl)<a href="https://twitter.com/LaikenJordahl/statuses/1177642441530167296">1569606812.0</a></blockquote></div>
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Trump Administration Delays Construction of Border Wall in Arizona Wildlife Preserve
15 August 2019
Politics
Border fence looking from Nogales, Arizona into Nogales in Sonora, Mexico. Rex_Wholster / iStock / Getty Images
The Trump administration is delaying construction on its long-promised border wall that would cut through protected stretches of the Arizona desert.
<p>The Department of Homeland Security was scheduled to replace waist-high barriers with taller fencing in a wildlife refuge, national monument and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" rel="noopener noreferrer">conservation</a> area later this month. However, government attorneys filed a brief this week that construction will be delayed until October.</p>
<p>Authorities plan on using funds earmarked for the Department of Defense that have been slotted for national emergencies, as the <a href="https://apnews.com/114a6cbe438c470f8997712ba9b0aa58" target="_blank">AP</a> reported. In February, President Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border, claiming that a border wall is needed to stop a mounting security and humanitarian crisis.</p><p>Since then, conservation groups have sued the administration for waiving environmental laws and unnecessarily diverting Pentagon money to rush wall construction through protected areas, according to the <a href="https://tucson.com/news/local/trump-administration-delays-border-wall-work-in-arizona-preserves/article_4e8db4b0-bee1-534d-a4ff-343857cfce9b.html" target="_blank">Arizona Daily Star</a>.</p><p>The latest filing is a part of a response in a pending lawsuit by three conservation groups. The environmentally conscious groups claim construction and presence of a wall in those areas would harm endangered or threatened species. </p><p>Last week, the <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="_blank">Center for Biological Diversity</a>, <a href="https://defenders.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Defenders of Wildlife</a> and the <a href="https://aldf.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Animal Legal Defense Fund</a>, asked a federal judge to stop construction on 68 miles of wall in three Arizona federal preserves: Cabeza Prieta, Organ Pipe and the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area. The injunction request says the government unlawfully ignored dozens of laws and that the new barriers will damage wildlife habitat, as the <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environment/2019/08/14/federal-government-delays-trump-border-wall-organ-pipe-cabeza-prieta/2012325001/" target="_blank">Arizona Republic</a> reported. </p><p>"It's a small but important victory for public lands and wildlife," said Laiken Jordahl, borderlands campaigner for the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity, as the <a href="https://tucson.com/news/local/trump-administration-delays-border-wall-work-in-arizona-preserves/article_4e8db4b0-bee1-534d-a4ff-343857cfce9b.html" target="_blank">Arizona Daily Star</a> reported. "Every day the project is delayed is a good day."</p><p>He added that the court filing amounted to a "de facto injunction" that will "give the judge a chance to rule on the merits of the case before irreparable harm is done."</p>
<p><span>The government claims the replacement fencing is crucial to protecting national security and it will proceed with construction on a two-mile stretch near an official border crossing beginning next week, according to the </span><a href="https://apnews.com/114a6cbe438c470f8997712ba9b0aa58" target="_blank">AP</a><span>.</span></p><p>The Animal Legal Defense Fund and Defenders of Wildlife joined the Center for Biological Diversity in filing for an emergency injunction to delay the start of construction of a border wall.</p><p>"It's senseless to let bulldozers rip a permanent scar through our borderlands' wildlife refuges and national monuments before the court decides whether the waiver is legal," said Jean Su, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/injunction-sought-to-halt-trumps-wall-in-arizona-2019-08-06/" target="_blank">statement</a>. "Trump's ignoring laws and diverting funds to build this destructive border wall. His grotesque barrier would destroy some of the border's most spectacular and biologically diverse places. We'll do everything in our power to stop that."</p><p>If a federal judge sides with the government, then construction on the wall may continue. However, if the judge rules in favor of the plaintiffs, it could postpone construction for a long time, possibly permanently. The Center for Biological Diversity claims that construction in the federal preserves violates the Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act and other laws that protect air and water quality on public lands and the animals that live there, as the <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environment/2019/08/14/federal-government-delays-trump-border-wall-organ-pipe-cabeza-prieta/2012325001/" target="_blank">Arizona Republic</a> reports.</p><p>"Every American should be outraged that the border wall in Arizona will be built across some of our most iconic national wildlife refuges and national park lands," said Bryan Bird, southwest representative for Defenders of Wildlife, in a press release. "It will tear through lands so precious that Congress chose to protect them for all American's posterity and enjoyment. Defenders will continue to fight to stop this abuse."</p>
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New BLM Appointee Believes Founding Fathers Wanted All Public Lands to Be Sold off
31 July 2019
Politics
Vermilion Cliffs National Monument in Arizona is among the public lands which could be threatened by the appointment of William Perry Pendley. Bureau of Land Management
By Julia Conley
Control over nearly 250 million acres of public lands was placed Monday in the hands of a former Reagan administration official who has argued that all federal lands should be sold to fossil fuel and other corporate interests in accordance with the goals of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
<p>Interior Secretary David Bernhardt <a href="https://time.com/5638829/william-perry-pendley-bureau-land-management/" target="_blank">appointed</a> attorney William Perry Pendley as acting head of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), sending fears throughout <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> groups that many of the country's minerals and resources will soon be handed over to oil and gas companies.</p><p>Pendley <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2016/01/federal-government-should-sell-western-land-follow-constitution/" target="_blank">wrote</a> in 2016 that "the Founding Fathers intended all lands owned by the federal government to be sold," and as recently as this month he <a href="https://twitter.com/Sagebrush_Rebel/status/1148664155525664768" target="_blank">lauded</a> fossil fuel extraction as an "energy, economic, and environmental miracle."</p><p>"This appointment shows Trump and Bernhardt are only interested in selling off public lands to the highest bidder," said Chris Saeger, executive director of the Western Values Project, in a statement. "Pendley is an outspoken advocate for the transfer of public lands to the state. Anything they've ever said about not selling off public lands has just been a political smokescreen to distract from their real intentions: handing over public lands to their special interest allies."</p><p>Pendley's appointment comes on the heels of the Interior Department's <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/07/16/top-trump-officials-tell-bureau-land-management-staff-most-them-must-leave-dc-by-end-next-year/?utm_term=.c7e58fabb1ef" target="_blank">decision</a> to spread the BLM's Washington, DC-based headquarters across a number of western states, a move which critics say is aimed at giving the agency less control over federal decision-making about federal lands.</p><p>The news of Pendley "ascending to the top of BLM just as it is being reorganized strongly suggests the administration is positioning itself to liquidate our shared public lands," Phil Hanceford, conservation director for The Wilderness Society, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/opponent-of-us-public-lands-picked-to-oversee-them_n_5d403a87e4b0d24cde05e6ac?utm_hp_ref=ca-us-politics" target="_blank">told</a> the Associated Press<em>.</em></p><p>During his tenure in the Interior Department during the Reagan administration, the Western Values Project noted in a statement, Pendley frequently called for a repeal of the Antiquities Act, which preserves archeological sites, historic structures, and cultural landscapes across the country.</p>
<p>Under the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" target="_self">Trump</a> administration, Pendley has been critical of the Interior Department's <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/12/04/ignoring-local-tribes-and-public-outcry-trump-carves-national-monuments-mining-and" target="_blank">shrinking</a> of Bears Ears and Grand Escalante National Monuments — because he feels the president has not been aggressive enough in offering the public lands for what he views as their sole purposes: "ranching, mile, oil and gas, or energy activities," <a href="https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/post/conservationists-concerned-over-new-blm-leaders-support-public-lands-sales#stream/0" target="_blank">according to</a> a 2016 interview.</p><p>"We now have someone in charge of the BLM who would prefer to sell those places off rather than doing the job of caring for them on behalf of all Americans," <a href="https://twitter.com/ehananoki/status/1156215226817228801" target="_blank">said</a> Kayje Booker, policy and advocacy director for Montana Wilderness Association, in a statement.</p><p>Upon learning of Pendley's appointment, the environmental law group Earthjustice <a href="https://www.mtpr.org/post/enviro-groups-call-out-blm-appointees-conflict-interest" target="_blank">called</a> on the incoming BLM chief to recuse himself from any decision-making regarding one area in Montana, regarding which the group said he has a conflict of interest.</p><p>Pendley's former legal client, Solenex, lost its oil and gas lease for the Badger-Two Medicine area in Montana in 2016 when BLM canceled the agreement.</p><p>The lease for the area, near Glacier National Park and the Blackfeet Nation reservation, was reinstated by a district judge last year and Earthjustice is currently fighting that decision in an appeals court.</p><p>Pendley has "moved from one side of the case to the other, and he's obviously in a position to influence BLM's decision making regarding this important case and that's totally inappropriate," Preso said. "There's a huge conflict of interest there."</p><p>"It's hard to imagine anyone in this position more dangerous than William Perry Pendley," <a href="https://twitter.com/ehananoki/status/1156215226817228801" target="_blank">said</a> Booker.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Americans will die because of this. <a href="https://t.co/SrIeOy06Pu">https://t.co/SrIeOy06Pu</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ActOnClimate?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ActOnClimate</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KeepItInTheGround?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#KeepItInTheGround</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PublicLands?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PublicLands</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ClimateCrisis?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ClimateCrisis</a></p>— Enviro Voter Project (@Enviro_Voter) <a href="https://twitter.com/Enviro_Voter/status/1151908722219855872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 18, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/07/30/new-blm-appointee-brings-conflicts-interest-and-plans-sell-public-lands-agency?cd-origin=rss" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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New Trump Admin Plan for Bears Ears National Monument 'Recklessly Weakens Protections'
29 July 2019
Insights + Opinion
The Interior Department on Friday released its management plan for Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah. Bob Wick / Bureau of Land Management
By Jessica Corbett
Conservation groups and congressional Democrats slammed the Trump administration Friday over its destructive new management plan for the "illegally reduced" Bears Ears National Monument in Utah.
<p>In December of 2017, the administration provoked mass outrage with its <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/12/04/ignoring-local-tribes-and-public-outcry-trump-carves-national-monuments-mining-and" target="_blank">decision</a> to reduce Bears Ears by about 85 percent. The Bureau of Land Management — an agency of the U.S. Interior Department — published in the Federal Register on Friday <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/07/26/2019-15905/notice-of-availability-of-the-bears-ears-national-monument-indian-creek-and-shash-ja-units-proposed" target="_blank">a management plan</a> for, as one critic <a href="https://www.npca.org/articles/2235-trump-administration-issues-flawed-plan-for-bears-ears-national-monument" target="_blank">put it</a>, "the meager remnants of the original monument."</p><p>"This administration's management plan only reinforces its illegal action to steal huge swaths of land from the national monument so that oil and gas and mining companies can exploit the land," Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) <a href="https://rubengallego.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/reps-ruben-gallego-and-deb-haaland-statement-trump-administration-s" target="_blank">said</a> in a statement Friday. "It puts sacred sites at risk of being lost forever."</p><p>Haaland is an original co-sponsor of the Bears Ears Expansion and Respect for Sovereignty<a href="https://congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/871/text" target="_blank"> (BEARS) Act</a>. The bill, introduced by Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) in January, would not only protect the original land designated by former President Barack Obama, but also expand the monument to the full 1.9 million acres encompassing sacred artifacts and cultural resources that local tribes wish to protect.</p><p>The administration's new plan, Gallego warned, "recklessly weakens protections even for the land that remains in the monument, failing to protect important sites from threats like ATV use, looting, vandalism, and damage from target shooting — which would be permitted within monument boundaries."</p><p>"This proposed management plan confirms what we already knew," he declared. "The Trump administration has no interest in protecting the thousands of cultural and archeological sites in Bears Ears Monument or in seriously consulting with tribes on how best to manage their sacred ancestral lands."</p><p>Environmental groups and tribes have challenged the administration's move to reduce the monument in court. Heidi McIntosh, managing attorney of the nonprofit law firm <a href="https://earthjustice.org" target="_blank">Earthjustice</a>'s Rocky Mountains office, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2019/07/26/trump-administration-releases-new-plan-whats-left-bears-ears" target="_blank">said</a> Friday that "if we win the legal fight to restore Bears Ears National Monument, this plan will just be 800 pages of wasted effort."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Trump released his new plans for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BearsEars?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BearsEars</a> today, but they’ll be useless if we win the battle to restore the iconic monument: “If we win the legal fight to restore Bears Ears, this plan will just be 800 pages of wasted effort.” <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StandWithBearsEars?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StandWithBearsEars</a> <a href="https://t.co/wMXAP57AaB">https://t.co/wMXAP57AaB</a></p>— Earthjustice (@Earthjustice) <a href="https://twitter.com/Earthjustice/status/1154778378865696770?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 26, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Responding to the administration's plan for the monument, McIntosh added that "even in the parts of Bears Ears that President Trump left intact, he's planning on putting destructive activities before the American public's interests. Bears Ears is not the kind of place for chaining thousands of acres of forest or stringing up utility lines."</p><p>Other conservation groups quickly piled on with criticism Friday.</p><p>Katherine Malone-France, chief preservation officer at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, <a href="https://www.npca.org/articles/2235-trump-administration-issues-flawed-plan-for-bears-ears-national-monument" target="_blank">called</a> the proposal "fundamentally flawed and premature," while Tim Peterson of Grand Canyon Trust said that the way the Trump administration has "added the insult of this detestable plan to the injury of slashing Bears Ears is deeply disturbing, and it cannot stand."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BREAKING: The Trump Administration's new plan for Bears Ears will not sufficiently protect cultural resources and sacred sites, leaving them more vulnerable to destruction than ever before. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StandWithBearsEars?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StandWithBearsEars</a> <a href="https://t.co/RiyGy2PjRB">https://t.co/RiyGy2PjRB</a></p>— National Parks Conservation Association (@NPCA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NPCA/status/1154748625404211200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 26, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Chris Saeger, executive director of the Western Values Project, raised concerns about the timing.</p><p>"The release of this management plan days before Congress leaves for a month is dubious at best and reckless at worst," Saeger <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2019/07/26/trump-releases-management-plan-illegally-reduced-bears-ears-national-monument" target="_blank">said</a> in a statement. "The Trump administration continues to prove its utter disregard of our public lands and outdoor heritage through its strong-armed attempts to illegally shrink this sacred and culturally-critical place."</p><p>"There is a lack of respect for the law, the courts, and the mass public concern that illegally shrinking Bears Ears has evoked," he added. "Stealing land away from the public in order to reward their special interest allies seems to be the only priority of this administration."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Trump Administration Sells Oil and Gas Leases Near Utah National Monuments <a href="https://t.co/XptLS04waz">https://t.co/XptLS04waz</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/renewable?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#renewable</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/solar?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#solar</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wind?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#wind</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PV?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PV</a> <a href="https://t.co/zIUy1q0977">pic.twitter.com/zIUy1q0977</a></p>— Renewable Search (@RenewableSearch) <a href="https://twitter.com/RenewableSearch/status/976130946977026048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 20, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/07/26/critics-charge-new-trump-plan-recklessly-weakens-protections-what-remains-illegally?cd-origin=rss" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Biggest Public Lands Bill in 10+ Years Clears Congress, Protecting More Than 1.3 Million Acres of Wilderness
27 February 2019
Popular
Canyonlands National Park, Utah. Jerome Gorin / PhotoAlto Agency RF Collections / Getty Images
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 363-62 to pass the Natural Resources Management Act Tuesday, which means the biggest public lands bill in more than a decade has now passed both houses of Congress with bipartisan support.
<p>"This bill represents Congress at its best and truly gives the American people something to be excited about," House Natural Resources Committee Chair and Arizona Democrat Raúl M. Grijalva in a <a href="https://naturalresources.house.gov/media/press-releases/chair-grijalva-cheers-passage-of-historic-public-lands-package-that-protects-our-environment-boosts-our-economy-and-conserves-american-history" target="_blank">press release</a>. "It's a massive win for the present and future of American <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a>. Everyone from inner cities to suburbs to rural communities wins when we work together to preserve the outdoors."</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="10a11" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6YSNZV1576663746"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1100543493649416192" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Victory! The #PublicLands package has passed the House and Senate. This bill represents Congress at its best and tr… https://t.co/MktcTdXuNA</div> — Natural Resources Committee (@Natural Resources Committee)<a href="https://twitter.com/NRDems/statuses/1100543493649416192">1551224990.0</a></blockquote></div>
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<p>The bill designates more than 1.3 million acres as wilderness, permanently authorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund to pay for conservation measures using money from offshore oil and gas drilling and demonstrates a renewed commitment on the part of both parties to protect the public lands widely loved by their constituents, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/02/congress-vote-public-lands-protection/" target="_blank">National Geographic reported</a>.<br></p><p>"It's rare to see Congress act in an overwhelmingly bipartisan manner, but today reminds everyone that the protection of our public lands isn't a red or blue issue, it's an American one," <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/home" target="_blank">Sierra Club</a> Executive Director Michael Brune said in a <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2019/02/congress-passes-historic-public-lands-bill" target="_blank">press release</a>. </p><p>Here are some of the other key achievements of the bill, according to the <a href="https://www.apnews.com/27b092f5988441d1aa511cb95ede993e" target="_blank">Associated Press</a> and the House Natural Resources Committee: </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">1. Protects more than 350 miles of "wild and scenic" river.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;"><span></span>2. Creates almost 700,000 acres of new recreation and conservation areas.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;"><span></span>3. Protects 370,000 acres around <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/yellowstone-national-park" target="_self">Yellowstone National Park</a> in Montana and North Cascades National Park in Washington from mining.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;"><span></span>4. Creates five new <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/national-monuments" target="_self">national monuments</a> including the Mississippi home of civil rights activists Medgar and Myrlie Evers.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;"><span></span>5. Expands Joshua Tree and Death Valley National Parks.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;"><span></span>6. Authorizes the Every Kid Outdoors Act, which will give every fourth grader in the country free access to public lands for another seven years.</p>
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</p><div id="4c88a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0ZNIRV1576663746"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1100760682105049089" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">VICTORY! Thanks to your advocacy, the public lands bill has passed through congress, including the… https://t.co/9BfepPvgsz</div> — Sierra Club (@Sierra Club)<a href="https://twitter.com/SierraClub/statuses/1100760682105049089">1551276772.0</a></blockquote></div>
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<p>The bill is a victory after a variety of conservation projects like the protection of the Evers' home had stalled in Congress in recent years as other issues took priority, National Geographic reported.<br></p><p>The Land and Water Conservation fund ran out of its previous authorization in September of 2018 and Congress could not agree on language to extend it at that time. The full act delayed from passing late in 2018 because Republican Utah Senator Mike Lee argued his state should be exempt from a provision allowing the president to turn federal lands into national monuments to protect them from development, according to The Associated Press.</p><p>However, the final bill was championed by both Republicans and Democrats. </p><p>"I think the reality is, even when the politicians are getting in each other's way, communities across the country have never stopped caring about public lands," <a href="https://www.wilderness.org/" target="_blank">Wilderness Society</a> Director Drew McConville told National Geographic.</p><p>Utah Representative and top Republican on the Natural Resources Committee Rob Bishop praised its "wins for America's sportsmen, hunters and fishermen." </p><p>The bill opens all federal lands to hunting and fishing unless the management plan for the area prevents it. As National Geographic explained, this does not mean every public land will be opened to sportspeople, but rather that the process of gaining access will be easier.</p><p>The package now heads to the White House for a signature. <br></p>
From Your Site Articles
- Senate Passes Massive Public Lands Conservation Bill - EcoWatch ›
- 103-Year-Old Grandma Becomes Junior Ranger at Grand Canyon ›
- Great American Outdoors Act Approved by Senate in Major Conservation Win - EcoWatch ›
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103-year-old sworn in as junior ranger at Grand Canyon National Park
The Grand Canyon celebrates its 100th birthday as a national park this month, but it just earned itself a protector who is even older!
<p>On Jan. 14, 103-year-old Rose Torphy visited the Grand Canyon with her daughter. While there, she stopped in at the park store and learned about the junior ranger program, then decided to become a junior ranger herself.</p><p>"I started talking to people about the junior ranger program because it teaches kids to protect the Canyon," she told <a href="https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/travel/story/103-year-sworn-junior-ranger-grand-canyon-national-61050239" target="_blank">Good Morning America</a>. "My parents taught me to care for the land but not all kids have that."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="5709b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="N5892J1576664241"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1097277010898874368" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">This 103-year-old woman was sworn in as junior ranger at Grand Canyon National Park, even though she's older than t… https://t.co/BEhmkhYmdL</div> — Good Morning America (@Good Morning America)<a href="https://twitter.com/GMA/statuses/1097277010898874368">1550446200.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>The junior rangers complete an activity book with questions about the park and return it to one of the Grand Canyon's visitor centers, according to the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/kidsyouth/beajuniorranger.htm" target="_blank">park website</a>.<br></p><p>"Junior Rangers help to preserve and protect national parks. They learn about nature and history, have fun exploring the parks, and tell their friends, families, and schoolmates about their adventures. Junior Rangers continue to protect the environment at home and at school," the park website explains.</p><p><a href="https://www.grandcanyon.org/" target="_blank">Grand Canyon Conservancy</a> Marketing and Public Relations Manager Alysa Ojeda told Good Morning America her organization had to "get creative" with programming for the junior rangers program during the partial government shutdown, which was ongoing when Torphy visited. </p><p>Torphy's daughter Cheri Stoneburner told Good Morning America that her mother was taking her duties seriously and wearing her junior ranger pin on her coat.</p><p>"She's a spokesperson for the park now. Everywhere we go, people ask her about her junior ranger pin and she says 'you're never too old to see the Grand Canyon!" Stoneburner said. </p><p>Torphy first visited the park with Stoneburner's father in 1985, when the couple took a photo at the canyon edge. Torphy has three children, nine grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and 10 great-great-grandchildren. </p><p>"I'm happy to protect it for my great-children to visit one day," Torphy told Good Morning America. </p><p>The Grand Canyon <a href="https://www.nps.gov/grca/getinvolved/centennial.htm" target="_blank">celebrates 100</a> years as a national park on February 26, 2019. It was first set aside as a forest preserve in 1893, but the law at the time still allowed grazing, logging and mining to take place in preserves with certain justifications, according to <a href="https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/historyculture/upload/chapter1.pdf" target="_blank"><em>Polishing the Jewel: An Administrative History of Grand Canyon National Park</em></a> by Michael F. Anderson. It earned true protection from development in 1908, when President Theodore Roosevelt designated it as a national monument.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="dd2fa" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="SCUKYK1576664241"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1097562370203766784" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Today we honor the leaders of our nation on #PresidentsDay
President Theodore Roosevelt said in 1908, when he decl… https://t.co/EOLqVb1slF</div> — Grand Canyon NPS (@Grand Canyon NPS)<a href="https://twitter.com/GrandCanyonNPS/statuses/1097562370203766784">1550514235.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>It was upgraded to a national park three years after the National Park Service was officially created.<br></p>
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