It's Time To Create More National Monuments

Let's protect land adjacent to Canyonlands Park in Utah (left), Mesa Arch, Canyonlands(right) and habitat in the Arctic Refuge, which is home to arctic wolves photos © Steve Bein

Last November, President Barack Obama used the Antiquities Act to protect Virginia’s Fort Monroe, an important and symbolic Civil War site. In April, he designated the 7,200 acres of Fort Ord on the Monterey Peninsula his second national monument.

If I were president for a day, I’d take the opportunity to create more national monuments and protect America’s best wild places. I’d start with these three:

Greater Canyonlands

National Monument designation of this area would protect one of the most remote and undeveloped places in the continental United States. The 1.4 million-acre proposed monument, adjacent to Canyonlands National Park in Utah would include the entire basin surrounding the confluence of the Colorado and Green Rivers. The area is home to wildlife such as desert bighorn sheep and the Mexican grey wolf. A Canyonlands Monument would be the final piece in the puzzle of protected lands in this region, stretching from Wyoming to Arizona.

Organ Mountain-Desert Peaks

The Organ Mountains form the rugged backdrop to Las Cruces, New Mexico’s second-largest city. The range is the most botanically diverse in the state, home to a rich assortment of ferns, lichens, mosses, and several species that exist nowhere else in the world. If protected with National Monumen status, it would provide outstanding recreational opportunities in some of the state’s most iconic landscapes.

Arctic Refuge

The 1.5 million acres of coastal plain in the Arctic Refuge are truly one of America’s last completely wild places. The vast grasslands support large populations of wildlife, including the Porcupine River caribou herd, three species of bears (the coastal plain is the largest polar bear denning area in the country), and millions of migratory birds. In addition, the area is sacred to Alaska’s Gwich’in people, who depend on the Porcupine River caribou herd much as Great Plains Native Americans depended on bison.

There are many other deserving candidates -- the Sierra Club’s Presidential Lands Legacy project has a long list I could choose from.

Earlier this year the Obama administration announced a 20-year ban on new mining on a million acres of public land near the Grand Canyon. When that 20 years is up, this region will still be priceless. Why not go a step further and permanently protect areas around the North Kaibab Plateau as a new Grand Canyon Watershed National Monument? It would be a boon to local communities, because in addition to protecting natural systems, national monuments sustain property values, attract new investment, and provide jobs.

That’s what I’d do in my 24 hours as president. Not bad for one day’s work. Think how big of a dent Obama could make in a year. Go wild, Mr. President, and show us what you can do.

One more thing: A little encouragement never hurts. Let the president know you support the designation of new national monuments.

Michael Brune is executive director of the Sierra Club.