Protect Our Public Lands!

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By Bianca Walder

Bear Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante are located in southern Utah. The monuments were created by Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, respectively, using the Antiquities Act in 2016 and 1996. This act allows for the President to designate an area as a national monument without Congress's approval. It's been used to create parks that have eventually moved up to higher levels of federal protection, such as Acadia National Park, Smoky Mountains National park, and the Grand Canyon.


Created in 1906, the Antiquities Act gave then President Theodore Roosevelt the power to protect areas that were in danger of being developed for commercial profits faster than through an act of Congress. While the act allows for the creation of federal lands that are of cultural, historical, or natural significance, it says nothing about reducing their size. However, in 2017, Donald Trump used the Antiquities Act to dramatically reduce the area of Bear Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante. The legality of this move is still under review by the Supreme Court, and the areas of each monument were restored to their original size by President Biden in October of 2021. Nevertheless, Trump's actions have the potential to set a dangerous precedent that cannot be undone. The potential damage it could create is unimaginable.


To designate an area as one that deserves federal protection means that the area in question has significance. Where there's significance, there's a market and a want to commercialize the area. Imagine how much money someone could make by selling a condo complex that overlooks the Grand Canyon. Thankfully, that type of thing won't happen in the near future; it would take the destruction of all our public land infrastructure, which protects nearly 15% of the nation's land and is governed by various agencies, to occur. However, it's the smaller actions that set precedents for bigger changes. Bear Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante were new, underdeveloped, and had low visitation rates, so erasing them went basically unnoticed by the American public. This action could give permission for a future President to omit or eliminate protection for entire monuments.


So, why does this matter? Why are public lands important?


Public lands are America's lungs, culture, playground, insurance, gem, and so much more. They mean something different to every person that visits them. They're nationwide and accessible in the most urban and rural areas of the country. These lands are designated areas where nature is protected from development, where recreation is permitted, and where education is administered. Without our public lands, we would have few ways to protect our resources from the use of private developers, giving our future generations less to work with.


Public lands are also part of the key to fighting climate change. so much scientific research is made possible and accessible to scientists around the world through our public lands. These locations of wonder give us access to some of the world's most unique environments, and help us better understand our world and how we impact it. National Parks can help to create legislation and policy that will actually help climate change, assuming that's what our elected leaders want.


The wonders that are our public lands are also sentimental places where visitors create memories that have profound impacts on their lives. I should know; I'm one of those visitors. I've been lucky enough to have visited over 50 national parks, monuments, historical sites, and other places that are federally protected. The experiences that I've had with my family in these places have sparked a passion in me for their protection, and a drive to relive and find the emotions that I felt when I entered those parks: awe, curiosity, adventure, triumph, fear, joy, pain, success, and everything in between. Public lands are truly amazing spaces that I want to protect, for the good of future generations' recreational and ecological needs.

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