US Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM), together with 18 more senators, sent a letter to US Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to urge her and the rest of the Biden Administration to undo "unlawful attacks" done to the Antiquities Act.

Originally signed by Theodore Roosevelt into law in 1906, the US Antiquities Act gives the president the authority to designate national monuments in order to protect significant natural, cultural, or scientific features on federal lands. It has been used more than a hundred times, by sixteen US Presidents from both parties, to protect significant locations.

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Overturning Changes in the Antiquities Act

"From Chaco Canyon in New Mexico to Harriet Tubman's house in Maryland, the Antiquities Act has long protected key landscapes and historical sites," the senators wrote in the letter.  They argued that national monuments like the two locations in Utah protect the country's "most previous natural, cultural, and historical resources," adding that threats made to monuments protected by the Antiquities Act also threaten all monuments in the nation.

Under President Trump's administration, the United States lost 2 million acres of protected area for Utah's Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments - now identified as the largest rollback of federally protected lands in the history of the US. A press release from the office of Senator Heinrich noted that the previous administration pushed through with the rollback despite the Americans' resounding support for keeping both national monuments intact.

"During your confirmation process, you committed to undertaking a thorough review of the Antiquities Act proclamations of the previous administration. Former President Trump illegally attempted to reduce the protections provided by proclamations that previous presidents issued," the senators continued. They then reiterated the call for the new administration to defend the Antiquities Act, starting with a recommendation to the president to undo President Trump's actions.

Now, the validity of this decision has been brought to the judiciary but temporarily put on hold as the newly-inaugurated Biden administration has been reviewing the actions and decisions of its predecessor. However, Interior Secretary Haaland has already visited Bears Ears National Monument in San Juan County, southeastern Utah, and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Southern Utah - with proponents of the call expecting a recommendation from the Department of Interior to President Biden soon.

Protecting the Lands Means Protecting Its People

National monuments, as well as other federally protected lands across the United States, are responsible for keeping an $887 billion outdoor recreation industry afloat, which in turn supports 7.6 million jobs and turns over $65.3 billion in federal tax revenue on top of the $59.2 billion local and state tax revenues. In New Mexico alone, where Senator Heinrich serves, the industry is responsible for the jobs of 99,000 people.

The letter also includes Democrat senators Dic Durbin of Illinois, Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey (Massachusetts), Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut), Ron Wyden (Oregon), Tina Smith (Minnesota), (=Ben Ray Luján (New Mexico), Cory Booker (New Jersey), Mazie K. Hirono and Brian Schatz (Hawai'i), Alex Padilla (California), Tim Kaine (Virginia), Chris Van Hollen (Maryland), Michael Bennet (Colorado), Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), and Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen (Nevada).