Trump wrong on monuments

By Elizabeth Bennett, Las Vegas

Monday, Sept. 4, 2017 | 2 a.m.

Our president thinks it’s a shame to remove Confederate statues, and he tweeted that the “beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks will be greatly missed and never able to be comparably replaced!”

What about the beauty of all those national monuments and preserves that he wishes to shrink or destroy, including Gold Butte and Basin and Range right here in Nevada? What about the Native American site in North Dakota that is getting a pipeline through it? What about the preserves that protect reefs, aquatic life and sand dunes? What about the forest that protects the giant Sequoia trees that are up to 2,000 years old?

What about those things? Are they replaceable? If this man finds more beauty in a bronze statue commemorating our nation’s racist legacy than standing in a landscape that took millions of years to form, it’s not about beauty. National monuments and parks such as Gold Butte and Basin and Range cannot be replaced. If you are looking for something beautiful and irreplaceable from our past that needs to be preserved, one need look no further than the protected landscapes and wildlife of our national monuments.