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How Much is Enough ... How Much Is Too Much?
The United States has 59 protected areas known as national parks that are maintained by the National Park Service, an agency of the Department of the Interior. President Woodrow Wilson created the NPS in 1916 and the agency is in its 100th year of operation. Although it was created to oversee the already established and future national parks, the NPS was also charged in the Organic Act of 1916 with the care of additional areas. An Executive Order in 1933 transferred 56 national monuments and military sites from the Forest Service and the War Department to the National Park Service. Since that time the lands it manages has grown to include battlefields, military parks, historical parks, historic sites, lakeshores, seashores, recreation areas, scenic rivers and trails, and the White House, now totaling over 400 sites. It takes an Act of Congress to create a National Park. But the President has the authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to proclaim national monuments and historic sites on lands already under federal jurisdiction. That presidential authority has caused concern among state and local officials near those areas, since the Federal Government as of the end of 2014 owned roughly 640 million acres of the 2.27 billion acres of the United States, about 28%. In addition, according to the Congressional Research Service, the Department of Defense administers 14.4 million acres consisting of military bases, training ranges and associated areas. One of the primary objections to the use of the Antiquities Act by presidents is that a declaration as a national monument changes a property once available for multiple uses, to having restricted uses as defined by the proclamation’s land-use plan, which varies for each declaration. Some land-use plans go as far as preventing new drilling and mining as well as new road and utility construction, or banning camping, climbing and hunting. Any excavation on national monument land requires permit approval from the presiding department. Some complain that private landowners have been ‘walled in’ by national monument declarations, restricting the owners from using their land the way they want. When he signed the Antiquities Act, President Theodore Roosevelt created 15 national monuments. During his tenure he established several more national monuments, 150 national forests, 51 bird sanctuaries, and 4 game preserves. In those same years, Congress established 5 additional national parks. Sixteen Presidents have created national monuments covering in excess of 285 million acres since the Antiquities Act was enacted. All except three presidents, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George HW Bush, have used their authority under the Act to create new national monuments. Franklin Roosevelt created 28 national monuments; Jimmy Carter proclaimed 15; and Bill Clinton declared 19. GW Bush protected a huge (thousands of square miles) number of marine areas. Thus far President Obama has used the Antiquities Act to declare or expand 25 national monuments, protecting more than 260 million acres of public lands and waters, more than any other president. Teddy Roosevelt, known as the Father of Conservation, established 230 million protected acres.
According to the National Park Service, in 2015, 307.5 million people visited the national parks, and it would not be surprising that even more people visit this year because of centennial celebration activities in most of the parks. Millions of visitors roaming our national parks are a growing problem. Whether it’s pollution from cars, trampling on vegetation, or visitors climbing over protective barriers to get closer to rock formations to take pictures, a lot of damage can be done by millions of feet. An example of such is the recent destruction of the Duckbill, a famous sandstone pedestal at Cape Kiwanda in Pacific City, OR. Although the seven-foot platform is blocked off with fences, people have been ignoring the fences and the signs for years and climbing over the barriers to pose for pictures atop the structure. Each climbing visitor has taken a toll on the Duckbill. It was already wearing thin, until finally a group of people pushed it over. A man (who was not a part of the destructive action) caught the moment on video. When he inquired of the group why they had done it, they replied that a friend of the group had broken a leg there, and they "did the world or Oregon a favor."
Some of the United States areas currently listed as World Heritage Sites or Biosphere Reserves include the Statue of Liberty, Monticello, the Washington Monument, the Brooklyn Bridge, Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite, the Florida Everglades, the Grand Canyon, the Great Smoky Mountains and even Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, the very place where our Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Are you surprised? All of these unique American treasures and more, have been designated official World Heritage Sites by UNESCO, which is headquartered in Paris, France. The United States no longer belongs to UNESCO. President Ronald Reagan pulled us out of UNESCO because he felt it was corrupt. In addition, "Neither Congress, nor any state legislature, has ever voted to approve any of the 47 UN Biosphere Reserves in the United States. The management policy for millions of acres covered by these reserves is crafted by international committees of bureaucrats, none of whom is elected. To comply with international obligations, the United States conforms its management policy and, in some cases its law, to accommodate the wishes of bureaucrats that are completely unknown to the people who are governed by the policies," according to Henry Lamb, executive vice president of the Environmental Conservation Organization, a watchdog organization that monitors UN activity and US sovereignty issues, and chairman of Sovereignty International. Every Biosphere Reserve site consists of a protected CORE area, set aside strictly for conservation, a surrounding BUFFER ZONE with limited human activity allowed, and a larger TRANSITION area, where otherwise legal human use may be severely restricted when the site is judged to be "in danger." Inside Yellowstone, the US Park Service has reportedly already shut down some of the campgrounds as the park is being prepared to become the core of a huge Biosphere Reserve. "Once established, no human activity will be permitted," according to Lamb. In 2005 according to Nathan Tabor, Chairman of NC Energy Forum and contributor to www.RenewAmerica.com, "The President has the sole authority to approve these UN designations. Congress has no oversight, and average American citizens have no input. The House of Representatives has twice passed a bill requiring Congressional approval before any more precious pieces of America can be designated either Biosphere Reserves or World Heritage Sites. So far, the Senate has refused to even bring the measure up for a vote." The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem region "includes Grand Teton National Park, seven national forests, three national wildlife refuges, and more than 3 million acres of private land." So how much protected land is enough? Can there be too much? And just who really is in charge? PHOTOS from top to bottom |
Proponents
of the use of the Antiquities Act believe that such actions taken under
the legislation boost local economies by attracting visitors, generate
more revenue and jobs, and support the outdoor recreation industry.
Opponents feel that designating national monuments restricts land use,
prohibiting economic opportunity and that it leads to more mismanagement
of Federal lands, because the largest landowner, the Department of
Interior, has a maintenance backlog of 13.5 – 20 billion dollars on
the land it already owns. Use of the Antiquities Act removes decision
making from states and private citizens, and, since so much land is
already protected, the Act can no longer serve the purpose of preventing
looting of archaeological items in new areas, as was the act’s purpose
on inception. To opponents, presidents appear to be abusing the
authority, especially immediately before they leave office, leaving no
opportunity for Congressional or citizen input. Some feel that
presidents should be banned from using the Antiquities Act to designate
national monuments on land where local county officials have already
instituted land management programs. Some have even suggested that the
Federal Government sell off some of the land it has acquired over the
years to private commercial interests to retire a portion of the
national debt, or should turn the land back over to the states to
manage. More recently there has developed the argument that national
monuments near US borders provide cover for drug smugglers and human
traffickers and "hamper the US Border Patrol’s ability to conduct
routine patrols and apprehensions," although the US Customs &
Border Patrol disputes such a suggestion.