Antiquities Act to meet fierce local opposition, rep representatives from Utah warn Obama

This one looks like another good potential location for the next Bundy ranch. At least one Indian tribe in the area seems to be siding with the fed government which should facilitate mobilization of the blue side by portraying the red opposition as racist and anti-aboriginal.

Two other proposed conservation zones also look very interesting.

1. Owyhee Canyonlands is likely to be perceived as a slap in the face in Malheur where residents in general maintained their loyalty despite many admitting some truth to Bundy's claims. The locals are already up in arms against this one. It's not obvious, however, that the Obama administration will have the audacity to press forward with this one so soon after the standoff.

2. Gold Butte is the cradle of the Bundy movement and it's a message to the militias. Some may refuse to back off. Bundys, however, are mostly in jail now. It's not clear how and in the name of who the opposition to the zone can organize itself. Bundys were apparently the last ranchers in the area.

By THOMAS BURR (The Salt Lake Tribune) {

Date = Feb 12 2016

Source = Obama has ‘big ambitions’ for protecting land, White House says

"We have big, big ambitions this year, so let's see what happens," Christy Goldfuss, managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, told The Washington Post.

That could mean action on the proposed 1.9-million-acre Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah, a move that Utah's six members of Congress urged Obama against Friday as the president designated three new national monuments covering 1.8 million acres of the California desert.

Several American Indian tribes have joined together to form the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, which has urged Obama to use his authority to name the monument in southeastern Utah, arguing that it would protect cultural and historic sites.

"Bears Ears offers something unique that we can't find anyplace else in the world," Eric Descheenie, the group's co-chairman, said recently at a news conference. "The threat of looting, grave robbing and mineral leasing, to name a few — the list is extensive — we've already seen it in and around these lands. If this is something we lose, we lose it forever."

[...]

Utah's federal delegation, however, is lockstep opposed to a new monument designation and wrote to Obama on Friday, saying a locally driven approach called the Public Lands Initiative would be a better way to protect sensitive areas and would not exacerbate the already divisive issues over federal land management.

"Make no mistake, both the state of Utah and San Juan County value our public lands. With that said, public participation in land-use decisions is critical to their long-term acceptance and success; the most effective land-management policy is inclusive and engaging, not veiled and unilateral."

"Use of the Antiquities Act within [Utah] will be met with fierce local opposition and will further polarize federal land-use discussions for years, if not decades," the members said in the letter. }