Dear Guardian,

United States Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke has asked you to submit comments  about removing or reducing National Monument designation on 21 western national monuments by July 10, 2017.

There are so many reasons we love our national monuments. They contain thousands of years of culture—cliff dwellings; petroglyphs; villages; trade routes. Their breathtakingly diverse landscapes include lunar lava fields; swirling sandstone formations; towering dunes; and cliffs dotted with the fossils of long-extinct dinosaurs.

They are a haven for endangered species, from the Chinook salmon that spawn in their rivers to the giant sequoias that flourish in their forests.

They reshape public sentiment, protect resources, and promote inclusivity. And they celebrate civil rights, history, conservation, and biodiversity—all that is great about American public lands.

Zinke’s and Trump’s attempts to dismantle our monuments put everything we love at risk. Nearly 10,000 of you recently spoke up in support of Bears Ears National Monument. Now we’re asking you to step up again to defend all 21 national monuments on Trump’s hit list.

We plan to present Zinke with a petition containing 21,000 signatures—1,000 for each monument up for review. But we can’t do it without you.

Failure to take action to preserve our national monuments will prove that our current administration cares more about industry growth through extraction than the landscapes, animals, cultures, and ecosystems that make these areas such treasures for all Americans—and for the entire world.

For the wild,

 

Greg Dyson
Wild Places Program Director
WildEarth Guardians
gdyson@wildearthguardians.org

photo: Vermilion Cliffs—Bob Wick, BLM