The twin buttes that give Bears Ears National Monument in Utah its name are sacred places to many Indigenous Tribes and Pueblos.
T. Schofield, iStock via Getty Images
If confirmed, US Rep. Deb Haaland of New Mexico would be the first Native American to run the agency that interacts with tribal nations. But her agenda extends far beyond Indian Country.
Utah’s Cottonwood Canyon is a popular hiking destination on federal land.
BLM
Border wall construction through Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona is encroaching on a site where people from many cultures have interacted for thousands of years.
The Buzludja monument, Bulgaria.
Todor Stoyanov/Shutterstock
As Bulguria’s iconic Buzludzha monument attracts international investment, a survey has found that the country’s people want more of their Communist monuments to be conserved.
Entry to Mount Rushmore along the Avenue of Flags.
Xiao Fang/Wikimedia
Patriotism means pride in country, but what are we proud of? A former national park ranger suggests that visiting historic sites can remind Americans of the heritage, good and bad, that they share.
A polar bear crosses ice In Alaska’s Chukchi Sea area, where a recent court ruling bars the Trump administration from greenlighting offshore drilling.
NOAA/OER/Hidden Ocean 2016:The Chukchi Borderlands
Can presidents undo decisions by their predecessors to protect federal lands from development? A recent court ruling on offshore drilling says no, and could also affect contested lands in Utah.
Landscape of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah, one of the most abundant fossil fields in the world.
P. David Polly, 2018
Twenty-two years ago, President Clinton established Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument for paleontological conservation. As the Trump administration shrinks its borders, that mission is jeopardized.
Covered statue of Stonewall Jackson in Charlottesville, Virginia.
REUTERS/Justin Ide
The US has yet to fully undergo a process of truth and reconciliation.
Supporters of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments during a rally Saturday, Dec. 2, 2017 in Salt Lake City.
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
Nicholas Bryner, University of California, Los Angeles; Eric Biber, University of California, Berkeley; Mark Squillace, University of Colorado Boulder, and Sean B. Hecht, University of California, Los Angeles
President Trump signed an order on Dec. 4 to drastically reduce the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. Four legal experts explain why this action is likely to be reversed.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has proposed shrinking Oregon’s Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument and allowing more public access and road maintenance.
Bob Wich/BLM
Environmental law and natural resource experts respond to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s proposals to shrink four national monuments and allow logging, fishing and other activities in six more.
Public lands along the south fork of the Snake River in southeastern Idaho.
BLM
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke calls himself “a Teddy Roosevelt guy,” but supports many actions that critics call anti-conservation, such as shrinking national monuments and fast-tracking energy projects.
Browns Canyon National Monument, Colorado.
Bob Wick, BLM
Within the next month, the Trump administration may move to abolish or shrink up to two dozen national monuments. Our experts explain why these sites matter and whether presidents can undo them.
A May Day protest in San Francisco. The state is at odds with the Trump administration on a number of policies, notably immigration and environment.
AP Photo/Jeff Chiu
Defiant against Trump’s policies on immigration and environment, California finds itself defending its way of life – the California Dream itself.
The Trump administration will review the status of The Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, one of the country’s most significant cultural sites.
Bureau of Land Management
Trump wants to scale back national monuments on federal lands in the name of boosting the economy. But this would undo decades of investments to manage our cultural and ecological resources.
Bears Ears National Monument, Utah.
Bob Wick, BLM/Flickr
Nicholas Bryner, University of California, Los Angeles; Eric Biber, University of California, Berkeley; Mark Squillace, University of Colorado Boulder, and Sean B. Hecht, University of California, Los Angeles
President Trump has ordered a review of national monuments protected by his predecessors, and may try to abolish or shrink some. But four legal experts say that only Congress has that authority.
U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke campaigns for reelection in Billings, Montana, October 20, 2016.
AP Photo/Matthew Brown
If US Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana is confirmed as interior secretary, he will face difficult choices about balancing extractive activities like energy production with conservation on public lands.
The Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, Germany.
Shutterstock
History shows how the act of remembrance has changed over time.
Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, built by Anasazi c. 1200. The Antiquities Act was passed to protect such sites from looters.
National Park Service
The 1906 Antiquities Act gives presidents unilateral power to protect land as national monuments. The law has saved important places, but has also fueled intense conflicts over land control.