Trump expected in Utah to announce national monument changes
President Donald Trump is expected to visit Utah on Monday to unveil his plan to shrink two national monuments there, but it’s unclear if he will have anything to say about the fate of monuments in Nevada and elsewhere.
Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch’s office says the president accepted Hatch’s invitation to visit Utah to discuss Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments.
Hatch and Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said Trump called them in October to say that he would adopt Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s recommendation to downsize the two monuments, which protect a combined 3.6 million acres of federal land.
Zinke also recommended boundary reductions for Gold Butte National Monument in Nevada and Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon, according to a leaked copy of his memo to the president.
The memo included no recommended changes to Basin and Range National Monument, the only other site in Nevada that was under scrutiny.
Zinke completed his review of 27 land and marine monuments in August, but his findings have been kept under wraps by the Trump administration.
Environmental groups have promised to take the administration to court to block any attempts to rescind or reduce monument designations made by presidential decree over the past 20 years.
Hatch’s spokesman, Matt Whitlock, said Tuesday that the president also is expected to meet with leaders of the Utah-based Mormon church during Monday’s visit.
The White House declined to confirm Trump’s trip to Utah or his monument plans.
Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., who has urged the administration to trim the boundaries of Gold Butte, said he was not aware that the president would announce a decision on the Nevada monument while in Utah.
“I hope so, but I don’t know,” Heller said. “The White House hasn’t contacted me and told me there would be one, but I would like there to be one.”
Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @RefriedBrean on Twitter.
Review-Journal Washington Correspondent Gary Martin, White House Correspondent Debra J. Saunders and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
