Luminous Landscape has an unique forum....due to the awesome civility of Michael Reichmann, its founder. For more than a decade I can recall Michael discussing a (political) world event in a quintessential Canadian manner....direct, adult, with humility....and without the increasingly rancorous discourse affecting his southern neighbor. So, welcome to Lula Kent. And after your "I call "bullshit."", your subsequent posts are thoughtful.
To the OP's topic of protection of public lands: I have hiked, camped and photographed the northern Arizona and southern Utah national monuments for the past two decades. I have particularly followed the path of Bears Ears NM over the past several years. A reasonable summary is this: Utah politicians have forever been unhappy with the fact that a good portion of Utah is not private, it's federal land (meaning it belongs to all Americans). Presidents cannot proclaim national monuments of private or state land, only of federal land.....so their "over reach" is over their own land. So who to "listen to" about land use planning/protection/exploitation? Nationally there were some several million comments (98%) in favor of protecting Bears Ears that Zinke ignored. Utah voters were mostly 50/50 depending on the poll language. Locally, the nearest community, Bluff, was very supportive of Bears Ears; In nearby Monticello (site of the notorious pot hunting ring arrest) the federal government is the devil; five adjacent native American tribes are suing the Trump administration for its attempt to downsize the monument by 85%. In the end, the two Utah senators, congressional delegation and the state governor are the rabid opposition to the national monuments.....and currently this is what Trump and Zinke are pandering to.
Too often opponents and proponents of national monument proclamations claim all sorts of adverse consequences. I encourage people to look up and read the actual proclamation language. Typically, ranchers can still ranch, jeepers can still jeep, hunters can still hunt, most all existing uses can continue. But no, it's not likely that a big coal mine, uranium mine, oil field, resort, can be developed; and its not likely that the state can dictate what happens (it's our land not theirs).
Mike Coffey
Prescott Arizona