Environmentalists are celebrating a letter sent last week to President Barack Obama by 14 U.S. senators asking him to use his power under the Antiquities Act to create a Greater Canyonlands National Monument in Utah.
"I think other groups will jump on," said Marc Thomas, a Moab-based Sierra Club member who is among the leaders of the campaign to create the new monument. "Other groups will follow the lead of this letter to keep the pressure on President Obama and other politicians."
But such a designation — and the letter — runs counter to an effort being shepherded by Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, called the "Grand Bargain" or the Public Lands Initiative.
The effort has involved meetings and field trips across the state and collaboratively draws on diverse interests such as environmental groups, the oil and gas industry, ranchers, local county commissioners and federal land agencies. Bishop also met with Interior Secretary Sally Jewell at her request at the end of June to keep her up to date on the collaborative effort.
The letter last week by more than a dozen U.S. senators follows another letter sent in late July by more than 200 health care professionals from Utah asking for the creation of the monument.
In that missive, the group stressed that protecting Greater Canyonlands would provide physical, psychological and public health benefits.
The most recent letter, which included signatures by U.S. Sens. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., urges Obama to make the designation, calling the action a "meaningful part of your conservation legacy."...
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It only took two Senators to get him to designate one down here, but of course, they were both from NM.
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