The United States has 129 national monuments located in 31 states. These lands, designated by presidents and/or Congress, are protected from commercial development and private ownership in order to preserve historical, archeological, scientific, cultural or just plain beauty assets for the benefit of the American public.
On Dec. 4, our president issued a proclamation that will allow the pillaging of two of them: Bears Ears and the Grand Staircase — Escalante National Monuments, both in Utah.
He has reduced the size of Bears Ears 85 percent to 203,000 acres and the Grand Staircase-Escalante 51 percent to 838,000 acres. Effective last week, the lost acres were made available for mining leases.
I have been to the Grand Staircase-Escalante and, among its many wonders, it is an area of indescribable beauty and awe for the work of nature. It deserves to be on everyone’s bucket list.
I wonder what it will look like a few years after the mining starts? To get an idea, Google "environmental impact of mining" to see what the future holds for these two monuments. What a shameful thing our president has done, and he plans to do more of it.
Oh well, on the bright side, sometime in the near future maybe I will be able to park a camping trailer on my lot on the north rim of the Grand Canyon.
H.A. "Pete" Grant, Lakeland