Monument Was A Visionary Move
Contrary to the protestations of Utah politicians, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt believes there is “considerable support” for the newly created Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
In time and as the plan for managing the monument in southern Utah takes shape, Babbitt says he’s hopeful the protest will give way to the forces of moderation.
“One has to see this in the context of history,” he told me after President Clinton signed the declaration at the Grand Canyon.
In 1903, the Grand Canyon was granted national monument status by Theodore Roosevelt, but it wasn’t a universally popular decision among Arizonans who saw the canyon more for its mineral potential. The “Williams Sun,” for example, said many in the region thought it “a fiendish and diabolical scheme.”
Drawing a comparison, Babbitt says that strong negative reaction tends to recede as people have time to think and as ideology gives way to the prospects of new jobs and economic growth. “Within about 10 years people are fighting each other to claim credit for having originated the idea. And often you will find the original opponents among those explaining to the next generation that it was their idea.”
Already, Babbitt says, people from southern Utah have inquired as to where the visitor centers might be located, and when funds will be included in the Interior Department’s budget. That shouldn’t surprise because the people are ahead of the politicians. And, in time, I have to think that setting aside 1.7 million acres of some of the most forbidding yet spectacular landscape in all of America will be viewed as a visionary move by President Clinton.
Sure, it was smart politics. The environment, once headed for inclusion on the Endangered Species List, has rebounded as a major electionyear issue for a simple but salient reason: Americans don’t want to see a weakening of our environmental protections. But politics aside, Clinton’s decision to invoke the 1906 Antiquities Act, which nearly every president since Roosevelt has used in order to preserve lands of historical, cultural and scientific interest, was the right thing to do.
For starters, the designation only applies to federal lands. Those are lands that you and I own, not individuals or corporations, foreign or domestic. They are public property for all of us to enjoy, not somebody’s private domain to exploit.
Clinton made it clear that existing uses would be permitted. Multiple use long has been the rallying cry for those angry with federal dictates, whether it be wilderness or forest lands. He deftly turned the tables, saying, “The land will remain open for multiple uses including hunting, fishing, hiking, camping and grazing.”
As for mining, Clinton made it clear that Andalex Resources Inc., a Dutch company with coal mining leases on the Kaiparowits Plateau, probably shouldn’t expect to break ground. At least not there. Clinton asked that Andalex work with the administration, and accept in trade leases on other federal lands. Such a swap would be a win-win: creating jobs and saving unspoiled canyonlands.
As for state trust lands, Clinton took steps to ensure that school kids in Utah wouldn’t suffer any financial harm. He instructed Babbitt to form a group that includes Utah politicians to expedite swaps of school trust lands for federal land “and to resolve reasonable differences in valuation in favor of the school trust.” What could be fairer?
Clearly, in a bid to soften the impact, Clinton pushed all the right buttons. Americans treasure their parks and monuments, and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument will be no exception.
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