1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

President Donald Trump is using our public lands as a punching bag. Following an Interior Department "review" of every national monument and mining ban on U.S. public lands, he's once again slashed Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments — this time by 90%, nearly 3 million acres. These Utah monuments were the first on Trump's chopping block, but they won't be the last. Other monuments at risk of being slashed include Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon in Arizona; Chuckwalla, Sand to Snow, and Carrizo Plain in California; Rio Grande del Norte in New Mexico; and Avi Kwa Ame in Nevada. Like Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, many of these are sacred places stewarded by Indigenous peoples since time immemorial. They're home to incredible species like chuckwalla lizards, kit foxes, Mexican spotted owls, and California condors. Trump's attacks on national monuments are, like Utah Sen. Mike Lee's attempts last summer to sell public lands to the highest bidders, a grotesque abuse of the people's trust. By virtually eliminating Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, the Trump administration is handing the keys to our heritage lands over to private industry — so they can lock the public out. Americans overwhelmingly support national monuments, which protect wild landscapes for water, wildlife, recreation, and cultural use. Don't let industry oligarchs get rid of these beloved public lands.