A recent feature lauds the powers of the president to protect lands by declaring them national monuments (“Monument Man,” HCN, 5/25/15). Meanwhile, in a companion article discussing grazing and oil drilling, the author finds “little has changed on the ground” since Canyon of the Ancients National Monument received its designation. A second sidebar describes a similar situation at Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument: “The BLM’s management plan made so few changes that it even garnered the support of a local group of ranchers who had opposed the monument designation.” If this is the case, one must ask: Has anything been protected at all? Or are these new designations national monuments in name only?
Brian Gatlin
Grand Canyon, Arizona
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Protection in name.
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