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Murphy – A law dating back to Theodore Roosevelt’s administration in 1906 is drawing concerns by county boards across the nation that it is being used as a tool to confiscate private property.
Under the 1906 Act for the Preservation of American Antiquities, presidents can unilaterally designate national monuments without any input or involvement of the public, community leaders or elected officials. The Antiquities Act was enacted before the creation of federal land management laws and was intended to be used in emergency situations to protect historic artifacts and sites of scientific value from “imminent threat.”
Cherokee County Commission Chair Dan Eichenbaum, who presented his revised version of a proclamation made by commissioners in by Catron County, N.M., in January, wrote that the act “has been misused for political purposes by presidents with large-scale designations intended to limit specific uses, activities or access to vast areas of public lands; allowing unfettered governmental control and hindering the productive use of those lands.”
Monument designations appear to be nothing more than another attempt at federal land grabs driven by political motivation and outside interests, he wrote. Creating additional federal lands and placing public lands into permanent conservation status causes dramatic and irreversible harm to the economies of many states.
“Many businesses and citizens are involved in or otherwise depend on industries that utilize federal lands and their resources, including the oil and gas industry, livestock grazing, mining and mineral development, recreational industries, hunting, fishing, and other outdoor recreation,” Eichenbaum wrote.
Joining the other counties passing similar proclamations, the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners opposed the designation of lands, whether private lands or government lands as national monuments, wilderness, wilderness study areas, wildlife preserves, open space or other conservation land, thereby restricting public access to such lands and preventing the development and productive use of the resources on or within such lands.
The board called on the U.S. Congress to repeal the Preservation of American Antiquities Act or, at a minimum, remove the unilateral presidential discretion for designation and require that designation proposals have the approval of affected local governments.
The board also requested that any legislation adopted by Congress will continue to authorize the president, by executive order, to decommission lands as national monuments if the decommissioning has the approval of affected local government.
It is unclear what features in Cherokee County might be eligible for notice under the act, aside perhaps from the Native American burial mounds that still survive.
In 1996, President Bill Clinton designated the nearly 1.9 million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah a national monument. The designation was controversial because of the vast size of the landmass and the lack of local input solicited when making the decision.
President Barack Obama declared the 1.35 million-acre Bears Ears in Utah a national monument, with the support of a limited group of tribal organizations and leaders but opposed by Utah’s governor, state legislature and local residents. The Utah congressional delegation was in the midst of developing a compromise to demarcate part of the area as wilderness while allowing resource extraction in other areas, but before a compromise could be reached, Obama exercised his authority under the Antiquities Act in what critics saw as an overreach of presidential authority.
Since the Antiquities Act became law, all but three presidents – Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush – have chosen to enlarge or dedicate new national monuments.
Obama established more monuments than any president, with 29 in total. The previous record was held by Clinton with 19 monuments. President Jimmy Carter dedicated the most acreage to national monuments, mostly in areas in Alaska.
On April 26, 2017, President Donald Trump, during his first term, signed Executive Order 13792 directing a review of the law and its uses.
The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld presidential proclamations under the Antiquities Act, ruling each time that the act gives the president wide discretion as to the nature of the object to be protected and the size of the area reserved.