Efforts Launched In Congress To Decommission Two National Monuments

Efforts have been launched in Congress to decommission two national monuments that were established by Presidents Clinton and Biden in Arizona, a move opponents say was telegraphed by the Interior Department earlier this year. 

At stake is the future of Ironwood Forest and Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni national monuments. Both contain wildlife habitat, inspiring vistas, and solitude. And in the case of Ironwood Forest, apparently rich copper reserves underground, and at Baaj Nwaavyo, apparently uranium deposits.

U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, an Arizona Republican, on Wednesday introduced legislation to decommission the two.

“The reckless declaration of vast national monuments has locked up thousands of acres of land, placing them off limits to responsible mining, energy development and other multiple-use purposes that help fuel our economy and support American energy independence," the congressman said. "The Antiquities Act was never intended to be a tool for radical environmentalists and their political cronies in Washington, D.C. to block access to America’s abundant and much-needed resources. Thankfully, the Trump administration is reconsidering both of these national monuments as executive abuses under the Antiquities Act."

A poll of Western attitudes conducted earlier this year indicated strong public support for protection of public lands.

The poll, the 15th annual survey conducted by Colorado College, showed that nearly three-quarters of those who live in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming — including self-identified “MAGA” voters — don't want national monuments to be reduced in size or opened to energy development. A similar number want Congress to put more emphasis on clean water, clean air, and wildlife habitat than on maximizing the amount of public land available for oil and gas drilling or mining.

Arizonans contacted for the survey overwhelmingly voiced support for emphasizing conservation of public lands over energy development. 

An internal Interior Department memo obtained by media outlets earlier this year indicated that the administration was considering boundary shifts in Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon, Ironwood Forest, Chuckwalla, Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments to allow for energy development.

According to The Wilderness Society, Ironwood Forest, "designated [by President Bill Clinton] as a national monument with strong community support 25 years ago, spans 129,000 acres in the Sonoran Desert and holds one of the region's richest stands of ironwood trees. The monument has significant 5,000-year-old cultural and historical sites, including three areas listed on the National Register of Historic Places: the Los Robles Archeological District, the Mission of Santa Ana del Chiquiburitac, and the Cocoraque Butte Archeological District."

Baaj Nwaavjo was designated in 2023 by President Biden in response to decades of calls from tribes to protect ancestral lands and the Colorado River from uranium mining and other threats. The national monument preserves the region’s land, water, and air while allowing activities like hiking, hunting, and grazing. 

Gosar's legislation, if passed by Congress and signed into law by Trump, would nullify the presidential proclamations establishing the two monuments. The move was criticized by conservation organizations.

“Gosar’s bills to scrap two of Arizona's treasured national monuments represent a new low in his career of service to industry instead of the public,” said Taylor McKinnon, Southwest director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "Arizonans across the political spectrum support these monuments for their sacred cultural sites, rare wildlife and precious water resources. Gosar's attempt to sell them out to the mining industry is both reckless and wildly unpopular.” 

Scott Miller, Southwest regional director of The Wilderness Society, said Gosar's efforts are "an affront to the freedom of all Americans who rely on these landscapes for cultural, recreational, economic and health benefits. It will threaten critical habitat for wildlife and desecrate our treasured natural places, and flies in the face of the massive broad Tribal and local support for these places.”

The Tucson City Council earlier this month passed a resolution in support of keeping Ironwood Forest as it is, stating that the monument protects "a richly biodiverse and quintessential Sonoran Desert habitat only a short drive from downtown Tucson that encompasses 189,713 acres and parts or all of seven mountain ranges and several wildlife movement areas, thus preserving a vast area in its natural wild state for the public interest..."

The resolution added that the monument "safeguards an extraordinary cultural heritage, including three areas listed on the National Register of Historic Places and encompassing thousands of years of human history reflected in Ancestral Native American archaeological sites, petroglyphs, ancient habitation areas, and traditional cultural places that are sacred to Native American tribes, including the Tohono O'odham Nation and the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, and whose continued preservation is essential to maintaining the cultural identity and historical continuity of these communities..."