Obama to designate 5 new national monuments 
		Phil Taylor, E&E reporter
				Published: Friday, March 22, 2013
 
			
	
	
		President Obama will declare five new national monuments Monday, 
ranging from 240,000 acres on a high-desert plateau in northern New 
Mexico to early European settlement sites along the Delaware River.



	The designations are aimed, in part, at quieting critics who in 
recent months have called on the president to expand his use of the 1906
 Antiquities Act to conserve land as compensation for lands the 
administration has made available for oil and gas development.



	The monuments are Rio Grande del Norte in New Mexico; the First 
State National Monument in Delaware; the Harriet Tubman National 
Monument on Maryland's Eastern Shore; the Charles Young National 
Monument in Xenia, Ohio; and the San Juan Islands National Monument off 
Washington state.



	While all five monuments are strongly supported by 
environmentalists, local officials and their congressional delegations, 
they will likely draw criticism from Republicans who argue monuments 
should be vetted and approved by Congress.



	The designations will burnish the conservation record of outgoing 
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who has made personal visits to at least
 two of the monument locations -- Rio Grande del Norte and the San Juan 
Islands -- over the past year to gauge public support for a presidential
 designation.



	Environmental and historical preservation groups this morning 
praised the new designations, arguing that a gridlocked Congress was 
unlikely to protect them.



	"The last Congress was the most anti-environmental in history, so 
President Obama is right to respond to the calls of local communities 
that want their public lands protected for the environmental, cultural 
and economic benefits they provide," said John Podesta, a former chief 
of staff for President Clinton who founded the liberal Center for 
American Progress. "This marks a significant development where President
 Obama has begun to put his mark on protecting the national treasure of 
America for future generations."



	Clinton used the Antiquities Act nearly two dozen times, designating
 19 national monuments and expanding three existing monuments to protect
 more than 5 million acres, according to the Conservation Lands 
Foundation, citing National Park Service statistics. Almost all of those
 designations took place in Clinton's second term.



	Obama next week will have designated nine national monuments covering close to 300,000 acres.



	The largest of those will be Rio Grande del Norte, a 240,000-acre 
sagebrush mesa split by a rugged river gorge near the New Mexico border 
with Colorado.



	Environmentalists have called the area one of the most ecologically 
significant in the state, citing its importance to elk, bald eagles, 
peregrine falcons and great horned owls. The Rio Grande Gorge and Taos 
Plateau are also used extensively by hunters, rafters and hikers.



	"For years, our community of sportsmen, ranchers, small business 
owners and other citizens across northern New Mexico has worked 
collaboratively with our members of Congress to protect it," Taos Mayor 
Darren Córdova said.



	According to one administration source, the president's monument 
proclamation is expected to follow the contours of legislation 
introduced this year by Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich 
(D-N.M.) and originally pushed by former Energy and Natural Resources 
Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.). Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) sponsored 
companion legislation in the House.


	"Protecting the Río Grande del Norte means we are not only 
preserving this beautiful space, but ensuring that it will continue to 
be used by anglers, ranchers, and land grant heirs," Bingaman said in a 
statement this morning. "It is my hope that this decision has a very 
positive impact on the economy of the region."



	But Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), the Energy and Natural Resources
 Committee ranking member, last week requested that the Heinrich-Udall 
bill, S. 241, be removed from a markup of nearly 20 public lands measures (Greenwire,
 March 14). A Murkowski spokesman said the lands surrounding the 
conservation area could contain natural gas and that it was unclear 
whether the legislation was supported by New Mexico's Republican 
governor. An email to Gov. Susana Martinez this morning was not 
returned.



	Still, the monument is backed by Taos County and the Taos and Mora 
Valley chambers of commerce as well as sportsmen's, conservation and 
Latino groups and some ranchers, many of whom showed up to voice their 
support at a public meeting last December hosted by Salazar and other 
top Interior officials (Greenwire, Dec. 17, 2012).



	The Rio Grande designation would mark the first landscape-scale 
monument designation for Obama, whose first four monuments in Virginia, 
California and Colorado protected historic forts, archaeological sites 
and the home of labor leader César Chávez.



	Environmentalists will no doubt be clamoring for more ecologically 
significant designations in Obama's second term, including hundreds of 
thousands of acres north of the Grand Canyon in Arizona and in the 
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, though the president's monument powers 
are restricted in Alaska.



	The San Juan Islands monument will protect roughly 1,000 acres 
managed by the Bureau of Land Management that is home to bald eagles, 
orcas, harbor seals and other rare species.


	The area, which includes historic lighthouses and fossils dating 
back 12,000 years, is popular with campers, kayakers and birdwatchers, 
BLM said.



	"Where the San Juan Islands meet the sea are some of the most 
beautiful, serene spots in the world," said Sen. Maria Cantwell 
(D-Wash.), who co-sponsored a bill with Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to 
create a national conservation area at the islands. "This decision will 
permanently protect these pristine spots for future generations to 
enjoy."



	With Monday's designations, Obama will also burnish his historical 
preservation credentials by preserving early Swedish, Dutch and English 
settlements in Delaware and sites of historical significance to 
African-Americans in Ohio and Maryland.



	The First State designation is also significant because Delaware is the last state without a national park unit.



	According to lawmakers, the First State monument will follow 
legislation introduced earlier this year by Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) 
and Chris Coons (D-Del.) to preserve and interpret resources on early 
settlements and recount Delaware's role in the signing of the 
Constitution.



	The designation will also include the 1,100-acre Woodlawn property 
in the Brandywine River Valley in Delaware and Pennsylvania, which was 
recently donated to the National Park Service by the Conservation Fund. 
The property, which was originally acquired by William Penn from the 
Duke of York in 1682, is near where George Washington's troops fought 
Great Britain in the largest battle of the American Revolution, 
according to the Conservation Fund.



	"History will be made in the place where it all began," said Blaine 
Phillips, senior vice president and mid-Atlantic regional director for 
the Conservation Fund. "President Obama's designation of the Woodlawn 
property as part of the First State National Monument will be a 
celebration of Delaware's rich contributions to American history and its
 inherent natural beauty."



	More details on the monuments, including their sizes and management objectives, likely will be made available Monday.
	
 		 	   		  
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