DuBois column

navy seals, national monuments, and New Mexico ranchers

Navy Seal Retreats

Secretary Zinke’s report to President Trump on national monuments has leaked to the press, and has been met with great disappointment by many in the West.

Many of us who met with Zinke felt we had provided multiple reasons for the monuments to be downsized, and walked away from those meetings convinced the Secretary had understood and agreed with the reasons presented.

Carlos Salazar, President of the Northern New Mexico Stockmen, tells me he “felt very comfortable after leaving the meeting with Zinke that he was sincere in that the Rio Grande Del Norte Monument and Organ Mountains Monument would be downsized.” David Sanchez, Vice-President of the group says they “identified and expressed the negative and cumulative impacts the monument would have on the ranch families of Northern New Mexico” and told Zinke the boundaries and size of the monument, “had not been justified by the BLM or any other body of government.”

Those hopes were crushed when the contents of the report were made public. Of the 27 monuments reviewed, Zinke only recommended three of the land-based monuments have boundary changes: Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah (where he had to follow the wishes of Trump and the Utah congressional delegation) and the Cascade Siskiyou in Oregon (where Interior is being sued because it contains O&C lands).

In his report to Trump, Zinke says they found designations where the Antiquities Act definition of "objects" and "smallest area compatible" were either "arbitrary or likely politically motivated" and that "boundaries could not be supported by science or reasons of practical resource management." Zinke also found that "certain monuments were designated to prevent economic activity such as grazing, mining and timber production rather than to protect specific objects." Clearly, many of these areas were not in compliance with the Antiquities Act. But even with these findings by the Secretary, he has recommended, in effect, that Trump endorse these abuses of the Act.

Congressman Steve Pearce says Zinke’s recommendation “fails to provide the solutions New Mexico needs” and leaves an “overly burdensome and harmful footprint” on the areas.

Former Dean and current holder of a distinguished chair at the Linebery Policy Center at NMSU, Jerry Schickedanz, is disappointed “that the Secretary of the Interior did not follow the review criteria in his recommendation” resulting in the monuments not being reduced in size In addition, Schickedanz says by not reducing the size of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, Zinke has left the community with the lack of “access for border security, flood control, and watershed management.” 

Carlos Salazar said, “we were misled by phony intent by a government official, Zinke.  Some of us drove 8-10 hours to make this meeting to be let down.” Salazar also said,”Thanks to Congressman Steve Pearce for setting up this visit with the Secretary.  We cannot depend on our two NM Senators for help on this government overreach.”

The environmental groups who said this whole review was a "sham", were correct. Zinke used the review process to take care of his political problem in Utah, and the rest is window dressing.

The political ineptness of this is amazing. Even though Zinke has agreed with almost 90% of what Clinton and Obama wrought, Trump will still be subjected to the same amount of enviro and media criticism as if he had made significant corrections.

Zinke's hero, Teddy Roosevelt, may have charged up San Juan Hill, but the Secretary has retreated behind the barricades of the establishment bureaucracy.

Trump has said he wants to "drain the swamp", but Zinke has only offered the President a thimble to work with.

Grazing Language

If nothing else, the Secretary has recommended some of the management language in the New Mexico monuments be revised. Changing the grazing language will help, but does not answer all the concerns of the ranching community. For instance, the language in the Proclamation that prevents off-road travel, even by nonmotorized means, is a great hindrance to the day-to-day operations of a ranching family. How do they get fencing supplies to a fence line? How do they get a trailer to a sick cow or horse? How do they transport equipment needed for an existing range improvement? In addition, the language in the Proclamation limiting new right-of-ways will certainly put a stop to new range improvements like water pipelines, and in some instances prevent them from getting power to their property.

Both monuments have terrible anti-grazing language in them. What remains to be seen, however, is how Interior proposes to fix this issue. It would appear to me they have three options:

° Revise the proclamation to include language like that in the Basin and Range Proclamation, which makes it clear the monument designation has no impact on livestock grazing,

° Revise the proclamation to remove the consistency language but still leave it vague as to how the proclamation affects livestock grazing, or

° Not  revise the proclamation and claim they can fix the issue through policy memos and internal guidance.

If they truly want to protect the ranching families in these monuments, they will pursue the first option.

The second option will give these families a better chance of surviving the designation, but still leave them vulnerable to lawsuits or other negative actions

The third option is a total cop out. The consistency language will remain causing great vulnerability to lawsuits and anti-grazing policies of future administrations.

We will be watching to see what Interior's real intent is with respect to the future of ranching in these monuments.

Trump

The issue is now in the President’s hands. Will he only accept the Zinke recommendations, or will he listen to the views of others, especially those making their living off the land? As Carlos Salazar says, “President Trump, the common folk people from the rural communities need your help.” His colleague, David Sanchez, puts it this way, “We can only hope and Pray that President Trump makes the right decision.”

Until next time, be a nuisance to the devil and don’t forget to check that cinch.

Frank DuBois was the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003, is the author of a blog: The Westerner (www.thewesterner.blogspot.com) and is the founder of The DuBois Rodeo Scholarship and The DuBois Western Heritage Foundation

This column first appeared in the October edition of the NM Stockman and the Livestock Market Digest