Free Republic

Yesterday, President Trump signed an executive order requiring a review of the large national monuments that have been created over the last 21 years. The president ran on a platform of reducing regulations to promote jobs and economic growth, but he inherited vast areas -- nearly a billion acres in total -- that have been shut off from productive use under the Antiquities Act. His predecessor, Barack Obama, was the king of Antiquities Act abuse, designating more monuments covering more area than any prior president. He tripled the total area restricted, adding more than 500 million acres in new and...

Grabbing Our Land? U.S. News and World Report, July 21, 1997, Cover Story: "Parks in Peril" "The national parks have been called the best idea America had. But their wild beauty and historical treasures are rapidly deteriorating from lack of funds, pollution, encroaching development, overcrowding, and congressional indifference." This is true, but there's a lot more to it that we are not being told. Our parks, national and state, are being taken over by forces that are beyond our control. The problem is not only congressional indifference, but public indifference due to media misinformation. It is time to quit ...

Today, over 68% of public land -- land belonging to the people of the United States -- the land in our National Parks, Preserves and Monuments, is designated as a United Nations World Heritage Site, Biosphere Reserve or both. Worse yet, United Nations' land designations, such as UNESCO Biosphere Reserves and World Heritage Sites, currently take place without the approval of Congress and with no Congressional oversight. Nor are State and local officials, or even private landowners, usually consulted. By allowing these international land designations, the U.S. is indirectly agreeing to terms of international treaties, such as the Convention on...