GOP Rep. Chris Stewart of Utah presented a bill Thursday that establishes Utah’s sixth national park and codifies a management plan for the federal land in the park and names three new national monuments.
Stewart’s bill establishes the Escalante Canyons National Park and forms three national monuments out of the recently reduced Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument designation: Grand Staircase, Escalante Canyons and Kaiparowits. The legislation also establishes a committee composed mostly of local officials to oversee management of the protected land.
The legislation builds on President Donald Trump’s decision to reduce Grand Staircase-Escalante’s designation by about half early in December. Stewart and other western legislators praised Trump for “reversing prior administrations’ abuses of the Antiquities Act.”
“Washington has a bad habit of drafting policies without giving local communities a seat at the table,” Stewart told the House Natural Resources Committee during the Thursday hearing on his bill. “[Garfield County] is a county that 93 percent of it is controlled by the federal government. Why in the world would anyone object to giving the local community a voice in how it is managed?”
Stewart’s legislation aims to overhaul the management of the federally protected in land in Garfield County, which he represents, to make room for industries like ranching and mining and recreational activities such as hunting and fishing.
Susan Hand, who manages a tourist company in Garfield County, Utah, testified at the hearing that Stewart’s bill places the area’s “economic future at risk.” Hand’s company Willow Canyon Outdoor experienced a downturn in business recently that she attributes to Trump’s actions toward national monuments.
“The downturn coincides with negative press generated by the monument review and [Interior Secretary Ryan] Zinke’s visit to Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante. Social media reveals that a boycott against Utah is underway,” Hand told the committee. “The public perception is that the Utah delegation and the current administration have assumed a hostile attitude toward our state’s national monuments — which were wildly popular.”
Garfield County Commissioner Leland Pollock said Trump’s monument cutback and Stewart’s legislation was necessary to revive industries like logging and ranching that were choked under the original, expansive national monument. The tourism industry will receive a boost as well from better land management and more amenities that can be placed in national parks.
“Garfield County has the skills, technical knowledge, and ability to accomplish these two tasks simultaneously: facilitate and allow the enjoyment of Garfield County’s outstanding resources by the current generation; and preserve our outstanding resources for future generations,” Pollock testified.
“The local people had accomplished those multiple use/ sustained yield goals for over 100 years prior to the designation in 1996. Unfortunately, many individuals and groups create conflict and promote exclusive, single-use designations for the purpose of restricting public access to public lands,” he added.
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