These lands are our lands

By Richard David Lester, Henderson

Sunday, July 30, 2017 | 2 a.m.

Since the early 1900s, when Republican President Theodore Roosevelt played a key role in creating our system of national parks and monuments, the American public and both political parties have strongly supported designating places of great natural beauty and historical significance as national parks or monuments.

Yet the Trump administration now proposes to undo much of Roosevelt’s legacy. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order instructing the secretary of the interior to review the status of all national monuments created in the last two decades, with the apparent goal of either completely eliminating some monuments or greatly reducing how much land they protect. Ultimately, this could result in federal public lands being sold off to the highest bidder or opened to commercial development inconsistent with environmental protection or historic preservation. Roosevelt would be horrified. And if national monument status can be revoked, is any national monument safe?

Nevadans should be particularly concerned about these policies. Nevada has majestic sites of natural beauty, which should be preserved. Trump’s executive order is a potential threat to two Nevada monuments, Gold Butte and Basin and Range. In addition to their natural beauty, their prehistoric rock art makes both monuments sites of great historical and cultural significance. The tourism promoted by these monuments benefits Nevada’s economy. According to a recent survey, 80 percent of Nevadans oppose any attempt to remove protections from current national monuments. We need to let our public officials know that we support protecting our national monuments.