Water across the West at risk as Trump targets national monuments - High Country News

"Using geospatial data to quantify the miles of rivers and watersheds within the studied national monument boundaries, as well as the number of users who depend on that water, the report found that the water supplies for more than 13 million Americans are directly provided by watersheds within or downstream of these national monuments. About 83% of the water passing through these public lands has no other protection besides the monument designations, it found."

"In March, the Trump administration announced it would eliminate California's Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands national monuments before removing language from a White House fact sheet announcing that decision. The following month, The Washington Post reported that the administration was considering downsizing or eliminating six national monuments, and in June, the U.S. Department of Justice issued an opinion that the president has the power to rescind national monument designations, backtracking on a decades-old determination on the matter."

Thirty-one national monuments designated since the Clinton administration protect watersheds that directly supply clean water to more than 13 million Americans. Geospatial quantification of rivers, watersheds, and dependent users shows watersheds within or downstream of these monuments provide those water supplies, and about 83% of the water passing through these public lands has no other protection besides the monument designations. National monuments safeguard more than 21,000 miles of waterways across the United States, nearly twice the mileage protected by the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. The Trump administration has considered downsizing or revoking monuments, including moves affecting Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands, and the Department of Justice issued an opinion asserting presidential power to rescind monument designations. During Trump's last term, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante were shrunk to fractions of their original sizes.

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