Imperial Valley News: President Obama Designates New National Monuments

The other two new monuments, though, total more than one million new acres of protected lands.

First exercised by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, the authority of the Antiquities Act has been used by 16 presidents to protect areas of unique significance to national heritage. On Friday, July 10, 2015, President Barack Obama established three new national monument preserves in California, Nevada and Texas.

“We got the news today along with everybody else”, Maciel said.

Under Friday’s action, no rules will change on the federal lands included in the new Northern California monument.

“The monument also allows for the continuation of certain historic uses, including livestock grazing and military use”, the administration said.

This monument encompasses almost 331,000 acres of public land in the heart of northern California’s Inner Coast Range.

Some Republicans accused Obama of a sneaky land grab that showed disdain for Congress and ignored the interests of residents in the three states. “There is nothing Obama announced that had anything to do with the criteria”, Bishop said.

-The 704,000-acre Basin and Range National Monument, in mountains and valleys of Nevada’s Great Basin desert about 150 miles north of Las Vegas. “That’s not an antiquity”.

Federal designation also will protect cultural sites of Native Americans, who lived in the area for at least 11,000 years. “I thank the President and all those who made today possible”. Some Utah lawmakers are still raging over a similar move that occurred back in the late ’90s when then-President Bill Clinton designated the Grand Staircase a national monument without any input from the state. “This designation will also expand opportunities for Californians to explore this region’s rich natural environment and way of life, bringing important tourism dollars into local communities”.

“And for me to be able to add to that heritage is greatly appreciated”.

Three of Nevada’s Republican congressmen, Reps.

The Basin and Range is home to rare rock art from 4,000 years ago and includes more 700,000 acres of public land.

The Snow Mountain area will be managed the U.S. Forest Service and the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, the White House said.

He called the National Monument status “a testament to the invaluable partnership between the City of Waco, Baylor University and the National Park Service”.

“We need to be sure local communities don’t have their concerns ignored by politicians eager to leave a legacy or pull favors for their friends by setting aside huge tracts of land”, Hardy said in a veiled reference to Obama. In addition, over 25 local and national recreation and conservation organizations support the increased status, including Tuleyome, The Wilderness Society, California Wilderness Coalition, and the Conservation Lands Foundation, among others.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an worldwide nonprofit environmental organization with more than 2 million members and online activists. “It’s heartening to know that our children and all future generations will have the opportunity to learn and draw inspiration from their visits to these attractive, uniquely American places”.