The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument: A Case Study in Western Land Management
By Janice Fried
INTRODUCTION
On September 18, 1996, President Clinton issued a Proclamation which established the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in the State of Utah. The Monument encompasses 1.7 million acres (2,700 square miles) of federal land within Utah and includes the Grand Staircase, the Escalante Natural Bridge and Canyons, and the Kaiparowits Plateau. The Monument creates a vast ecosystem of protected lands by joining together Bryce Canyon National Park, Dixie National Forest, Box Death Hollow Wilderness, Capitol Reef National Park, and Glen Canyon National Recreational Area.
The Proclamation prevents any future disposition of federal land from within the Monument boundaries under generally applicable public land laws. President Clinton relied on the Antiquities Act of 1906 for the authority to create this national monument, the largest in the continental United States. Other presidents have used the withdrawal authority provided by the Antiquities Act to create one hundred and two national monuments, encompassing sixty-eight million acres.
President Clinton did not consult with Utah's state or federal political representatives before establishing the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Their first notification was a story in the Washington Post on September 7, 1996. After the announcement of the designation, Utah Senator Orin Hatch described the creation of the Monument as “the mother of all land grabs.” On the day of the Monument announcement, southern communities in Utah flew flags at half-mast, and the town of Escalante hanged both Secretary of the Interior Babbitt and President Clinton in effigy.
The President explained that the purpose of the withdrawal was to protect the Kaiparowits Plateau from a pending large coal mining operation by the Andalex Mining Company. Environmentalists applauded the creation of the Monument. Critics claimed it was an election-year political maneuver to make President Clinton appear more environmentally friendly since he was not going to get Utah's five electoral votes anyway.
The uproar over the creation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and the impossibility of designing a future management plan that pleases all interested parties illustrate the problems associated with managing public lands in the West today. The analysis of this paper falls into four sections. First, it will explain the lengthy conflict over federal land management in Utah. Second, it will describe several of the various private land interests located within the Monument.
Third, it will discuss the current statutory structure for the Monument. Finally, it will look to legal issues which may hinder the practical maintenance of the Monument or even challenge its very existence. As a whole, the paper illustrates the fact that the creation of the Monument is not the end, but merely another stage in the continuing political and legal battle over these public lands in Utah.
On September 18, 1996, President Clinton issued a Proclamation which established the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in the State of Utah. The Monument encompasses 1.7 million acres (2,700 square miles) of federal land within Utah and includes the Grand Staircase, the Escalante Natural Bridge and Canyons, and the Kaiparowits Plateau. The Monument creates a vast ecosystem of protected lands by joining together Bryce Canyon National Park, Dixie National Forest, Box Death Hollow Wilderness, Capitol Reef National Park, and Glen Canyon National Recreational Area.
The Proclamation prevents any future disposition of federal land from within the Monument boundaries under generally applicable public land laws. President Clinton relied on the Antiquities Act of 1906 for the authority to create this national monument, the largest in the continental United States. Other presidents have used the withdrawal authority provided by the Antiquities Act to create one hundred and two national monuments, encompassing sixty-eight million acres.
President Clinton did not consult with Utah's state or federal political representatives before establishing the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Their first notification was a story in the Washington Post on September 7, 1996. After the announcement of the designation, Utah Senator Orin Hatch described the creation of the Monument as “the mother of all land grabs.” On the day of the Monument announcement, southern communities in Utah flew flags at half-mast, and the town of Escalante hanged both Secretary of the Interior Babbitt and President Clinton in effigy.
The President explained that the purpose of the withdrawal was to protect the Kaiparowits Plateau from a pending large coal mining operation by the Andalex Mining Company. Environmentalists applauded the creation of the Monument. Critics claimed it was an election-year political maneuver to make President Clinton appear more environmentally friendly since he was not going to get Utah's five electoral votes anyway.
The uproar over the creation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and the impossibility of designing a future management plan that pleases all interested parties illustrate the problems associated with managing public lands in the West today. The analysis of this paper falls into four sections. First, it will explain the lengthy conflict over federal land management in Utah. Second, it will describe several of the various private land interests located within the Monument.
Third, it will discuss the current statutory structure for the Monument. Finally, it will look to legal issues which may hinder the practical maintenance of the Monument or even challenge its very existence. As a whole, the paper illustrates the fact that the creation of the Monument is not the end, but merely another stage in the continuing political and legal battle over these public lands in Utah.
