Two of the nation’s most scientifically significant landscapes — the Kaiparowits Plateau and Cedar Mesa —could be largely stripped of hard-won protections when President Donald Trump appears in Utah Monday to announce major reductions to Grand Staircase-Esclante and Bears Ears national monuments, according to leaked documents obtained by The Washington Post.
The areas form the very hearts of their respective national monuments, yet portions of them were targeted for removal under recommendations to Trump by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. After reviewing several large monuments across the U.S. this year, Zinke concluded past presidents abused the Antiquities Act when they used the landmark conservation law to designated over-sized monuments in southern Utah.