Interior Secretary recommends Mojave Trails National Monument be preserved

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke said Thursday he’s recommending none of the 27 national monuments — including Mojave Trails National Monument in California — under review by the Trump administration be eliminated.

Although the elimination of the Mojave Trails appears to be off the table, Zinke may recommend other changes for it and five other national monuments, reported the Associated Press.

Zinke told The Associated Press that unspecified boundary adjustments for some monuments designated over the past four decades will be included in the recommendations he planned to give President Donald Trump on Thursday. None of the sites would revert to new ownership, he said, while public access for uses such as hunting, fishing or grazing would be maintained or restored.

He also spoke of protecting tribal interests and historical land grants, pointing to monuments in New Mexico, where Hispanic ranchers have opposed two monuments proclaimed by President Barack Obama.

Zinke declined to say whether portions of the monuments would be opened up to oil and gas drilling, mining, logging and other industries for which Trump has advocated.

Trump ordered the unprecedented review, especially those created by predecessor Barack Obama, shortly after taking office earlier this year. That prompted fears the 1.6-million-acre Mojave Trails — which includes about 90 miles of Route 66 in Southern California — would be on the chopping block after Obama designated it in February 2016.

As usual, the devil remains in the details with Zinke’s review.

Zinke’s exact recommendations remained unknown as of Thursday night, and the Los Angeles Times reported the report may not be released for weeks. The Desert Sun of Palm Springs, California, reported the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get a copy of Zinke’s report.

The Sun also reported:

More than 2.4 million people submitted comments to the Interior Department during a 60-day comment period, with the vast majority voicing support for leaving the monuments as they are.

Trump could ignore the recommendations and try to order the elimination or vast shrinkage of the national monuments. Either action would prompt immediate lawsuits from California and likely other affected states and Native American tribes.

The AP noted no president has tried to drop a national monument. A few presidents have trimmed acreage.

U.S. Rep. Paul Cook (R-Calif.) has recommended to the Trump administration to cut the Mojave Trails National Monument by 500,000 acres, reported the San Francisco Chronicle earlier this week. Cook also has wanted a private company in the monument boundaries, Cadiz Inc., to be allowed to pump billions of gallons of ground water from the Mojave Desert to serve large cities such as San Diego and Los Angeles.

The Chronicle also noted that Zinke, during field research for his review, visited none of the eight potentially affected national monuments in California.

The newspaper also reported this, featuring someone well-known in the Route 66 community:

Jim Conkle, a Marine known as “Mr. Route 66” for his efforts to protect the historic road, said neither Cook nor his staff will talk to him. “They don’t answer my phone calls, my emails, I go over there to see them, they’re there, but they’re not there to me,” he said. “They don’t want anything to do with me. Because they know that I just want to sit down and say, ‘Why are you doing this?’”

(Image of Amboy Crater near Amboy, California, by the Bureau of Land Management via Flickr)

6 thoughts on “Interior Secretary recommends Mojave Trails National Monument be preserved

  1. It was ordered because the antiquities act states to take as little land as possible for protection! Not millions of acres as has been done in the past! They have already shut down areas under Obama’s thumb to the public that have previously been open in the Mojave and Route 66 corridor! That made it not the people’s land anymore , but the governments!

  2. “Jim Conkle, a Marine known as “Mr. Route 66” for his efforts to protect the historic road, said neither Cook nor his staff will talk to him. “They don’t answer my phone calls, my emails, I go over there to see them, they’re there, but they’re not there to me,” he said. “They don’t want anything to do with me. Because they know that I just want to sit down and say, ‘Why are you doing this?’”

    Is this what is called Democracy at Work? If the land is dewatered to serve the ever growing cities of San Diego and Los Angeles, where will the local inhabitants get their water when the ground water level drops and drops? One of the biggest arguments for limiting populations everywhere is the shortage of drinking water. Here is just one example of what happens when populations outgrow their own resources. They take other people’s resources.

  3. Ok as usual what is printed for public to read is not always the full text. I want to set the record straight on two issues that pertains to me.
    One I NEVER call myself Mr. Route 66 in print or any other medium. I can not control what others refer to me. I know there are many people that both deserve or feel they have that title. So to them please do not think I am trying to steal your thunder.
    Second point is that paragraph was only one part of the interview and did not fully express all my feelings and thoughts on this issue. Yes, there are a number of different issues about the monuments; size and how they were designated at the top of the list. As to size, every acre was already a part of the Mojave National Preserve. Not one new section of land was added that was not already under the stewardship of the BLM. In fact not all of the existing preserve was included in the monument.
    My reason for getting involved in this monument, over 17 years in fact, was to protect the only attraction Route 55 has in that area, VIEW SCAPE. Without this monument both sides of the old road will be open to the Wind & Solar industries to install their farms. People will NOT drive down that section to see windmills and solar panels.

    1. Yes Eric you are correct. I did not see that mistake till now. This is what happens when your fingers go faster than the brain.

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