This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

[Video: Wilderness Society footage of Bears Ears National Monument, via The Washington Post.]

Inside Obama's decision to name the Bears Ears National Monument — Thomas Burr | The Salt Lake Tribune

" ... President Barack Obama's designation last week of the 1.35 million-acre Bears Ears National Monument ended a multigenerational effort to preserve the land dotted with American Indian artifacts and sacred grounds.

"But Obama's move also stokes a renewed fight between Westerners and Washington, one that isn't likely to end with the announcement and furthers disconnect among those who live in the monument's backyard, their elected leaders and those who see preservation as a vital and urgent need. ..."

Monuments Man — New York Times Editorial

"When historians get around to measuring President Obama's record of protecting America's public lands from commercial development — its national monuments, parks, forests, wilderness and wildlife refuges — they are likely to rank him high on a list of luminaries that includes both Roosevelts, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. What makes this all the more remarkable is that Mr. Obama came to office as a Chicago urbanite with no obvious passion for environmental stewardship, had no help from Congress and, for his first four years, made little use of his executive authority to protect the federal estate from commercial encroachment. Indeed, his second inaugural address said a great deal about using those lands to produce energy and very little about conservation.

"But somewhere along the line, as happened to President Clinton before him, came an epiphany ...

" ... One particularly aggrieved member of Congress is Rob Bishop of Utah, the powerful head of the House Natural Resources Committee. Mr. Bishop, who objected strongly to the Bears Ears designation, had earlier engineered House approval of a bill that would have stripped Mr. Obama and any future president of the unilateral authority to create monuments. That bill is certain to resurface in the new Congress, which makes us doubly grateful that Mr. Obama acted when he did."

Bears Ears' critics should take a deep breath — Washington Post Editorial

" ... Utah leaders responded with fury, arguing that the president is behaving imperiously, and promised to push for a rollback. In fact, Mr. Obama took a moderate approach, and his critics should take a deep breath. ..."

— Antiquities Act is a "land grab" for all the right reasons — Denver Post Editorial

"Republicans calling President Barack Obama's recent national monument designations a 'federal land grab' are badly mistaken, unless they are praising Obama for grabbing precious, irreplaceable resources for the American people. ...

" ... That Congress has utterly failed to do the right thing on behalf of communities, including the Native American community, clamoring for these places to be preserved is certainly not the president's fault, nor is Obama's subsequent intervention a sign that the Antiquities Act has spiraled out of control. ..."

National monuments a worthy use for public lands — Joplin (Mo.) Globe Editorial

" ... First, at no time did Utah or other western states ever have authority, control or ownership over federal land, which was acquired with 'federal blood and treasure,' and it has long been understood that "the federal government has absolute control over federal public lands, including the constitutional authority to retain lands in federal ownership."

"Those phrases are from John Ruple, one of the leading scholars on public lands in the American West. If anyone has a genuine prior claim on the land, it would be Native American tribes, but in Utah's case, most of them overwhelmingly support monument designation as a way to protect sacred and historic sites. ..."

Protecting the environment in the state, nation — North Jersey Record Editorial

" ... we should take time to applaud worthy environmental struggles that were fought and won in 2016, in the name of protecting our air, ground and water. One came by way of a purely grass-roots movement that gathered the steam to halt the state's very bad idea to possibly build a hotel, conference center, amusement park, amphitheater and other large-scale developments at Liberty State Park in Jersey City. ...

" ... On a national land-use issue, President Barack Obama handed up a late-term conservation triumph that will protect 1.65 million acres of federal land surrounding Bears Ears Buttes in Utah and around Gold Butte in Nevada. Obama designated both sites as national monuments last week by using the executive authority under the 1906 Antiquities Act. As The New York Times reported, the sites encompass sacred ground important to Native Americans, as well as wildlife habitats and hiking terrain...."

Monument benefits children if Utah leaders allow it — Salt Lake Tribune Editorial

"In the overheat against Utah's newest national monument, there comes outrage over the harm President Obama has supposedly inflicted on Utah's schoolchildren. ...

"When the Bears Ears boundaries were announced last week, more than 100,000 acres of school trust lands were inside the 1.35 million-acre monument. ...

" ... those trust lands produce virtually no income for Utah schools now. They're just sitting there, and there aren't a lot of prospects for making more money off them. The president, in his proclamation designating the monument, called for those lands to be traded out, which would take an act of Congress that gives SITLA some federal land elsewhere in exchange. ..."

" ... The people of San Juan County — at least those of them who are in power and aren't Native Americans — are being told by their governor and their congressional delegation that they are powerless to control their own destinies because people the locals will never meet have moved land the locals have never owned from one bureaucratic basket to another.

"The insult to the people around the Bears Ears isn't from President Obama's monument. It's from the fellow Utahns who have no confidence in their ability to turn the corner without seeking mercy from Washington. ..."

Bears Ears is a holiday gift Utahns should embrace — Erik Molvar | For The Salt Lake Tribune

" ... Opponents' claims that the new designation is a "land grab" ring false: The national monument designation does not change land ownership one bit. These lands have always belonged to all Americans — not just Utahns or local residents — and that's the way they'll stay, with liberty and access for all. As a national monument, these fragile desert lands will benefit from enhanced protection and more thoughtful planning and management. Nobody gets to grab them from anyone else. ..."

New monument designation reflects conservative values — David Jenkins | For The Deseret News

" ... The Rob Bishops of the world despise the Antiquities Act for the very reason our nation's most genuine and thoughtful conservatives have embraced it, because it enables the president — or Congress — to place America's long-term national interests above greed-driven parochial ones.

"Bears Ears and Gold Butte belong to all of us. They are shining examples of America's history, its cultures and its spectacular natural beauty. We should all be grateful for the added protection these designations afford.

"President Reagan, as he so often did, put our responsibility for such assets in the proper perspective when he said, 'This is our patrimony. This is what we leave to our children. And our great moral responsibility is to leave it to them either as we found it or better than we found it.'"

A Trump pick who says this land should stay your land — James Greiff | Bloomberg View

"By almost every measure for the incoming Trump administration, Ryan Zinke, the president-elect's pick to run the U.S. Department of Interior, has the perfect resume.

"He's a former commander in the Navy's Seal Team Six special-forces branch, which among other things took out Osama bin Laden. He's the lone congressman from Montana, where the Interior Department figures large because it owns significant swaths of land used for grazing and mining. And Zinke is all for developing and exploiting resources on public lands, earning him a lifetime score of just 3 out of 100 from the League of Conservation Voters.

"But for those who still embrace the goals of the Sagebrush Rebellion, a loose coalition of ranchers, miners, drillers, hunters, off-road enthusiasts, libertarians and anti-government die-hards, Zinke is a heretic. The reason is that he is an unshakable foe of selling federal lands or transferring them to the states. ..."