monuments

A tribal-led coalition has urged the Biden administration to designate three new monuments in the Golden State using the Antiquities Act of 1906, a law that has allowed presidents to protect land of historic and scientific significance.

Trump downsized monuments in the West during his first term, and some want him to go further in his second — by abolishing the Antiquities Act altogether.

“I would say any monuments that Biden has already designated or is going to designate in the coming two months are at severe risk of being shrunken or eliminated by the Trump administration,” said Brendan Cummings, conservation director for the Center for Biological Diversity.

Last time around, the Trump administration sharply reduced the size of two monuments in southern Utah — Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante.

Since 2021, the Biden administration has put more than 42 million acres of land into conservation by creating and expanding national monuments.