New Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke, after much ear-bending by Sens. Mike Lee and Orin Hatch, Congressman Rob Bishop and other Beehive State lawmakers, has promised that one of his first acts upon confirmation will be a visit to Utah — the nation’s proverbial squeaky wheel on public land policy.
This visit will likely be a defining moment for Secretary Zinke, who has gained popularity and support among sportsmen and centrist conservation groups as a strong Republican defender of our nation’s public lands.
Zinke began his Senate confirmation hearing by calling himself an “unapologetic admirer of Teddy Roosevelt,” and stating his belief that Roosevelt “had it right when he placed under federal protection millions of acres of federal land. …”
Those comments reflect the same values and commitment to public lands that led him to boycott last year’s Republican convention in protest of the party’s platform plank calling for the transfer of federal lands to states.
Unfortunately, the elected officials who will be hosting Zinke’s visit to Utah do not share his values. Quite the contrary. Congressman Bishop, Sens. Lee and Hatch, and other Utah lawmakers, along with Gov. Gary Herbert, are leading agitators in the public land transfer effort.
They also want to gut Roosevelt’s Antiquities Act, do away with existing national monuments, undermine the Land and Water Conservation Fund, strip the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Forest Service of their law enforcement authority, and weaken the Endangered Species Act.
Ironically, each of the items targeted have always enjoyed broad bipartisan support and represent a big part of the Republican Party’s conservation legacy. This underscores just how out-of-sync the priorities of Utah officials are with longstanding American conservation values.
Will the incoming secretary continue to stand on principle — and with Teddy — or will he allow himself be cajoled and bullied into aiding the advancement of a radical and exploitive anti-public lands agenda?
This largely Utah-driven agenda is unpopular with the vast majority of Americans, especially outdoor enthusiasts. The pushback is growing in Utah too. A massive outcry from hunters, anglers and outdoor businesses recently caused Congressman Jason Chaffetz (Utah 3rd District) to abandon his bill requiring the secretary to dispose of 3.3 million acres of public lands.
Bishop, Lee, Herbert and others remain undeterred.
Atop these officials’ wish list is the rollback or reversal of the Bears Ears National Monument designation, an unfortunate priority that recently led to Salt Lake City losing at least two vital outdoor industry trade shows, along with more than $45 million in economic impact.
Secretary Zinke’s hosts will no doubt double down on peddling the notion that the new monument stokes conflict and lacks in-state support.
Such a portrayal is at odds with a Colorado College poll showing that Utah voters favor the Bears Ears designation 47 percent to 32 percent. While some legitimate in-state polls reflect a more even split, none has shown public opinion lopsidedly opposed to the monument.
That same Colorado College poll found that 80 percent of Western voters favor keeping national monument designations in place, while only 13 percent support having them removed.
The monument opposition that does exist is primarily driven — as is most opposition to public land protections — by short-term special interests. These same forces have resisted virtually every national monument, park, refuge or other public land protection since 1900.
Had such opposition prevailed in the past, many of our most cherished national parks would have never been protected.
All of this makes it important for Secretary Zinke to meet independently with all sides of the Bears Ears issue. He should have his own itinerary for the Utah visit and not allow monument opponents to control what he sees and whose voices he hears.
It is one thing to admire Theodore Roosevelt; it is another to approach the stewardship of our shared public lands with the same moral courage, foresight and commitment to conservation.
Many other Roosevelt admirers — Americans of all political stripes who love the great outdoors and cherish our country’s natural and cultural heritage — will be watching to see if Secretary Zinke will emulate their hero, or placate those trying to destroy his century-old conservation legacy.
David Jenkins is the president of Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship, a national nonprofit organization.