Zinke says he’s unlikely to advocate scaling back Katahdin monument

Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke on Wednesday hinted support for retaining federal control of Maine’s national monument, but did not address whether he would recommend that President Donald Trump rescind its status or make major changes to it. Zinke did not appear to favor turning the land over to private or state ownership — for which Gov. Paul LePage and U.S. Rep Bruce Poliquin have pressed — saying that he was “not an advocate for the transfer of public lands.” Speaking atop a lookout at Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, Zinke also said that dividing the monument’s assets into different classifications, like he recommended as part of shrinking the much larger Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument, would not be wise. “Scaling back, I don’t think, makes a lot of sense from here,” Zinke said Wednesday...more