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NATIONAL MONUMENTS: Obama to designate picturesque Colo. canyon, 2 other sites
Scott Streater, E&E reporter
Greenwire: Wednesday, February 18, 2015
The White House announced today that President Obama will designate the Browns Canyon National Monument in south-central Colorado, drawing cheers from scores of local residents and conservation groups but scorn from some congressional leaders who say the decision is the latest example of executive overreach.
Located in Chaffee County near the town of Salida, Colo., the 21,000-acre monument will be co-managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service. The White House said that while the goal of the designation is to protect the Arkansas River Valley, the monument site will be managed to honor existing water rights and other uses, such as livestock grazing.
The White House said Obama plans to designate Browns Canyon tomorrow during a planned visit to Chicago, where he will also declare Chicago's Pullman historic district a national monument (Greenwire, Feb. 10). The president tomorrow will also designate the 160-acre Honouliuli National Monument, the site of a Japanese-American internment camp on the island of Oahu in Hawaii.
"On behalf of the Japanese American internees and their families, I want to thank President Obama for vindicating the honor of those who were incarcerated and for recognizing the historic site as a lesson in injustice and forgiveness for all Americans and for future generations," Carole Hayashino, president and executive director of the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i, said in a statement.
Browns Canyon will become at least the 14th national monument designated by Obama since 2009, and the most recent since October 2014, when he established the 346,000-acre San Gabriel Mountains National Monument in Southern California.
The designation comes nearly three months after former Colorado Sen. Mark Udall (D) and Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), with the support of Gov. John Hickenlooper (D), wrote Obama asking him to consider bypassing Congress and using his executive powers under the Antiquities Act to protect it.
The Browns Canyon announcement pleased supporters who have tried for more than a decade to get the area protected as a critical brown trout fishery and the site of world-class whitewater rafting and hiking.
Former Colorado Rep. Joel Hefley (R), who in 2005 introduced legislation supported by the entire Colorado congressional delegation to designate Browns Canyon a wilderness area, said today in a statement that the monument designation "will mean a lot to Chaffee County" and the people there who "have been working together for many years to protect this scenic landscape and the important river corridor that runs through Browns Canyon."
"I am thrilled that after all these years it is finally happening," Hefley said.
Udall, who in late 2013 introduced a Browns Canyon monument bill that stalled, said today in a statement that Obama's decision "is a landmark victory for the thousands of Coloradans who have stood up and asked their leaders for years to protect this special place."
The designation also comes almost exactly two months after hundreds of residents, business owners and conservation leaders packed a public hearing in Salida to urge the president to use his executive authority to designate the Browns Canyon National Monument after years of work by local elected and community leaders (Greenwire, Dec. 8, 2014).
Udall and Bennet, along with BLM Deputy Director Steve Ellis and Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell, attended the public hearing.
The Browns Canyon area boasts a wide diversity in landscape, supporters of the monument proposal say, from ponderosa forests to higher-elevation aspen stands, and it is home to an array of species such as bobcats, mountain lions, elk, bighorn sheep and black bears.
"This is a great day for Colorado and for sportsmen," said Tim Brass, southern Rockies coordinator for Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. "Protecting this last bastion of wild country along the Arkansas River ensures that herds of elk and deer have high-quality winter range and anglers can pursue wily trout in an outstanding Gold Medal fishery."
Bill Dvorak, public lands organizer for the National Wildlife Federation, added, "Those of us who have rafted, hunted and fished Browns Canyon for years know what a gem it is. The designation has been a long time coming, and the community, hunters, anglers and Coloradans overall are grateful this stunning landscape will be conserved."
Matt Keller, the Wilderness Society's national monuments campaign director, said the announced designations of Browns Canyon, the Pullman National Monument and the Honouliuli National Monument "remind us that the spaces commemorating our nation's heritage come in a rich variety of shapes and sizes."
"We are proud of the administration for listening to local communities and using the Antiquities Act to preserve these irreplaceable sites for all Americans to visit," Keller said.
Decision sparks backlash
But while the designation of Browns Canyon drew mostly raves from residents and conservation leaders, the president's use of the Antiquities Act remains a source of controversy.
GOP leaders in both chambers have deplored Obama's use of the 1906 law to bypass Congress and designate national monuments, accusing the president of abusing the law for political gain.
Among the biggest critics of the Browns Canyon designation is Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), whose 5th District encompasses the canyon and who did not sponsor a companion bill to Udall's in the House.
Lamborn said today in a statement that he is "outraged" by the president's national monument decision.
"This is a top-down, big government land grab by the president that disenfranchises the concerned citizens in the Browns Canyon region," Lamborn said.
Colorado Rep. Ken Buck (R) echoed Lamborn's statement.
"My message to the president is cut it out. He is not king. No more acting like King Barack," Buck said in a statement. "That is not how we do things in the U.S. Actions like this lead the American people to view Mr. Obama's presidency as an imperial presidency."
There are currently several active congressional proposals designed to curtail the president's executive authority.
Alaska Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan last week filed legislation that would require the president to gain approval from Congress and state legislatures before designating a monument on federal lands or waters (E&E Daily, Feb. 12).
Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) last month introduced a similar bill, H.R. 330, that drew attacks from conservation groups (E&ENews PM, Jan. 15).
But Western voters may not share the GOP's outrage at the presidential authority to unilaterally designate national monuments.
A poll released last week by Colorado College's State of the Rockies Project found that most of the 2,400 voters surveyed in Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming support the president's authority to bypass Congress and designate new national monuments (E&ENews PM, Feb. 10).
Bennet said in his statement that he is confident the Browns Canyon designation reflects the public's broad support for the president's ongoing authority to protect pristine landscapes.
"Coloradans have been very clear they wanted this protection, along with assurances that existing uses will be protected," he said. "We're glad the administration heard those voices and provided those assurances."
Reporter Phil Taylor contributed.
Scott Streater, E&E reporter
Greenwire: Wednesday, February 18, 2015
The White House announced today that President Obama will designate the Browns Canyon National Monument in south-central Colorado, drawing cheers from scores of local residents and conservation groups but scorn from some congressional leaders who say the decision is the latest example of executive overreach.
Located in Chaffee County near the town of Salida, Colo., the 21,000-acre monument will be co-managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service. The White House said that while the goal of the designation is to protect the Arkansas River Valley, the monument site will be managed to honor existing water rights and other uses, such as livestock grazing.
The White House said Obama plans to designate Browns Canyon tomorrow during a planned visit to Chicago, where he will also declare Chicago's Pullman historic district a national monument (Greenwire, Feb. 10). The president tomorrow will also designate the 160-acre Honouliuli National Monument, the site of a Japanese-American internment camp on the island of Oahu in Hawaii.
"On behalf of the Japanese American internees and their families, I want to thank President Obama for vindicating the honor of those who were incarcerated and for recognizing the historic site as a lesson in injustice and forgiveness for all Americans and for future generations," Carole Hayashino, president and executive director of the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i, said in a statement.
Browns Canyon will become at least the 14th national monument designated by Obama since 2009, and the most recent since October 2014, when he established the 346,000-acre San Gabriel Mountains National Monument in Southern California.
The designation comes nearly three months after former Colorado Sen. Mark Udall (D) and Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), with the support of Gov. John Hickenlooper (D), wrote Obama asking him to consider bypassing Congress and using his executive powers under the Antiquities Act to protect it.
The Browns Canyon announcement pleased supporters who have tried for more than a decade to get the area protected as a critical brown trout fishery and the site of world-class whitewater rafting and hiking.
Former Colorado Rep. Joel Hefley (R), who in 2005 introduced legislation supported by the entire Colorado congressional delegation to designate Browns Canyon a wilderness area, said today in a statement that the monument designation "will mean a lot to Chaffee County" and the people there who "have been working together for many years to protect this scenic landscape and the important river corridor that runs through Browns Canyon."
"I am thrilled that after all these years it is finally happening," Hefley said.
Udall, who in late 2013 introduced a Browns Canyon monument bill that stalled, said today in a statement that Obama's decision "is a landmark victory for the thousands of Coloradans who have stood up and asked their leaders for years to protect this special place."
The designation also comes almost exactly two months after hundreds of residents, business owners and conservation leaders packed a public hearing in Salida to urge the president to use his executive authority to designate the Browns Canyon National Monument after years of work by local elected and community leaders (Greenwire, Dec. 8, 2014).
Udall and Bennet, along with BLM Deputy Director Steve Ellis and Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell, attended the public hearing.
The Browns Canyon area boasts a wide diversity in landscape, supporters of the monument proposal say, from ponderosa forests to higher-elevation aspen stands, and it is home to an array of species such as bobcats, mountain lions, elk, bighorn sheep and black bears.
"This is a great day for Colorado and for sportsmen," said Tim Brass, southern Rockies coordinator for Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. "Protecting this last bastion of wild country along the Arkansas River ensures that herds of elk and deer have high-quality winter range and anglers can pursue wily trout in an outstanding Gold Medal fishery."
Bill Dvorak, public lands organizer for the National Wildlife Federation, added, "Those of us who have rafted, hunted and fished Browns Canyon for years know what a gem it is. The designation has been a long time coming, and the community, hunters, anglers and Coloradans overall are grateful this stunning landscape will be conserved."
Matt Keller, the Wilderness Society's national monuments campaign director, said the announced designations of Browns Canyon, the Pullman National Monument and the Honouliuli National Monument "remind us that the spaces commemorating our nation's heritage come in a rich variety of shapes and sizes."
"We are proud of the administration for listening to local communities and using the Antiquities Act to preserve these irreplaceable sites for all Americans to visit," Keller said.
Decision sparks backlash
But while the designation of Browns Canyon drew mostly raves from residents and conservation leaders, the president's use of the Antiquities Act remains a source of controversy.
GOP leaders in both chambers have deplored Obama's use of the 1906 law to bypass Congress and designate national monuments, accusing the president of abusing the law for political gain.
Among the biggest critics of the Browns Canyon designation is Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), whose 5th District encompasses the canyon and who did not sponsor a companion bill to Udall's in the House.
Lamborn said today in a statement that he is "outraged" by the president's national monument decision.
"This is a top-down, big government land grab by the president that disenfranchises the concerned citizens in the Browns Canyon region," Lamborn said.
Colorado Rep. Ken Buck (R) echoed Lamborn's statement.
"My message to the president is cut it out. He is not king. No more acting like King Barack," Buck said in a statement. "That is not how we do things in the U.S. Actions like this lead the American people to view Mr. Obama's presidency as an imperial presidency."
There are currently several active congressional proposals designed to curtail the president's executive authority.
Alaska Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan last week filed legislation that would require the president to gain approval from Congress and state legislatures before designating a monument on federal lands or waters (E&E Daily, Feb. 12).
Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) last month introduced a similar bill, H.R. 330, that drew attacks from conservation groups (E&ENews PM, Jan. 15).
But Western voters may not share the GOP's outrage at the presidential authority to unilaterally designate national monuments.
A poll released last week by Colorado College's State of the Rockies Project found that most of the 2,400 voters surveyed in Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming support the president's authority to bypass Congress and designate new national monuments (E&ENews PM, Feb. 10).
Bennet said in his statement that he is confident the Browns Canyon designation reflects the public's broad support for the president's ongoing authority to protect pristine landscapes.
"Coloradans have been very clear they wanted this protection, along with assurances that existing uses will be protected," he said. "We're glad the administration heard those voices and provided those assurances."
Reporter Phil Taylor contributed.
