Help Save Our National Monuments!

Hi Friend –

SBCAN member Kathy Sharum prepared the helpful information below about the threat to our National Monuments and how you can help protect them. Kathy is recently retired from the Bureau of Land Management, where she worked at Carrizo Plain, the National Monument closest to home for all of us.

Please note the deadline for comments--July 10--and please help save our National Monuments by commenting to the Secretary of the Interior.

We added links to the Center for Biological Diversity and Audubon for your convenience.

-- SBCAN staff

National Monuments Threatened

In April of 2017, President Trump issued an executive order to review the status of 27 National Monuments that have been created since 1996. This means there are intentions of perhaps rolling back their national monument status and in so doing, removing some or all of the cultural and environmental protections for these areas. Even though each one of these Monuments had extensive public involvement, Trump wants to do it all over.

Why this matters:

National Monuments are created through Executive Orders by sitting Presidents under the authority of the Antiquities Act. These places are areas that are home to irreplaceable resources such as Native American cultural sites and thriving ecosystems with threatened or endangered species of plants and animals.

Our Own Precious Monument Under Threat!

Photo of the Carrizo Plain Super Bloom April 15, 2017.

Click here for more photos of Carrizo Plain.

One of the many National Monuments up for review is the Carrizo Plain National Monument in San Luis Obispo County!

This gem is one of California's last remaining grassland ecosystems and has one of the highest concentrations of threatened and endangered plants and animals. It is also where Painted Rock is located, an immensely important site that is sacred to the Chumash, Yokuts and Salinan Native Peoples.

How you can help:

Secretary Zinke is asking for public comments from the American people to get our views on these special places. If we want to keep these areas preserved for future generations, we must let the Secretary know our thoughts.

Comments can be made online before July 10, 2017 athttp://www.regulations.gov (Enter “DOI-2017-0002” in the Search bar and click “Search”), or by mail to Monument Review, MS-1530, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street NW., Washington, DC 20240.

Or you can send your comments using the Center for Biological Diversity's web site with its easy-to-submit pre-filled and editable form.

Or you can send your comments using Audubon's web site with its easy-to-submit pre-filled and editable form.

Please send SBCAN a copy of any comments you submit. Email them to [email protected]. Thank you!

Tips on commenting:

• Spend a little time looking over the website to become familiar with it.

• If your comments are lengthy, compose somewhere else then copy and paste.

• Try to address one or more of the seven things listed that the Secretary will supposedly use to make his determination; these are found on the website. In the least, say you support protecting areas created under the Antiquities Act for future generations (or something similar) and why Zinke should not be rolling back protections.

Many organizations such as the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Audubon Society and others have their own comments that can be used, but these become more effective when your additional comments are added.

Additional information on how to comment taken from the Department of the Interior website:

Summary

The U.S. Department of the Interior is conducting a review of certain National Monuments designated or expanded since 1996 under the Antiquities Act of 1906 in order to implement Executive Order 13792 of April 26, 2017. The Secretary of the Interior will use the review to determine whether each designation or expansion conforms to the policy stated in the Executive Order and to formulate recommendations for Presidential actions, legislative proposals, or other appropriate actions to carry out that policy. This Notice identifies twenty-seven National Monuments under review and invites comments to inform the review.

Dates

To ensure consideration, written comments relating to all other National Monuments must be submitted before July 10, 2017.

Addresses

You may submit written comments online at http://www.regulations.gov by entering “DOI-2017-0002” in the Search bar and clicking “Search,” or by mail to Monument Review, MS-1530, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street NW., Washington, DC 20240.

For Further Information Contact

Randal Bowman, 202-208-1906, [email protected].