The Washington Post: Interior chief urges shrinking 4 national monuments in West.

“Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is recommending that four large national monuments in the West be reduced in size, potentially opening up hundreds of thousands of acres of land revered for natural beauty and historical significance to mining, logging and other development.

Zinke’s recommendation, revealed in a leaked memo submitted to the White House, prompted an outcry from environmental groups who promised to take the Trump administration to court to block the moves.

The Interior secretary’s plan would scale back two huge Utah monuments — Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante — along with Nevada’s Gold Butte and Oregon’s Cascade-Siskiyou.”

We’ve been to Grand Staircase Escalante and are/were planning on visiting Bears Ears in the future. There is so much natural beauty and pristine wilderness in Utah. Don’t throw it away please!