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East Oregonian
Saturday, August 20, 2016
Obama’s legacy: Some 24 national monuments
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The race
is on to win President Barack
Obama’s attention as he puts some
inal touches on his environmental
legacy.
Conservation groups, American
Indian tribes and federal lawmakers
are urging his administration
to preserve millions of acres as
national monuments. Such a desig-
nation often prevents new drilling
and mining on public lands, or
the construction of new roads and
utility lines.
The lurry of activity is creating
enthusiasm — and tensions — in
several parts of the country.
Efforts are underway in Utah,
Arizona, Nevada, Maine and else-
where to get Obama to designate
new national monuments. Propo-
nents aren’t just focused on land.
They’re also looking to greater
protections for vast swaths of
ocean bottom off the coasts of New
England, California and Hawaii.
Obama has created or expanded
24 national monuments during
his seven-and-a-half-year tenure,
the most of any president. Almost
nobody thinks he’s done yet. Envi-
ronmental groups are urging him to
go big as he leaves ofice.
“What he’s done in terms of
protection has been good, but what
he does next is how we measure
whether his legacy is great or not,”
said Sharon Buccino of the Natural
Resources Defense Council.
Proponents of the various
monument proposals know that the
next administration will have other
immediate priorities. Some pres-
idents, including Richard Nixon,
Ronald Reagan and George H.W.
Bush, never exercised their powers
to designate national monuments
through the 1906 Antiquities Act.
The proponents recognize the
window of opportunity could be
closing for several years.
They’re also aware that Obama’s
immediate predecessors, Presidents
Bill Clinton and George W. Bush,
waited almost exclusively until their
inal months in ofice to designate
national monuments, so there is a
chance Obama will become even
more active.
That’s disconcerting for many
members in Congress, particularly
Republicans, who say the Antiqui-
ties Act wasn’t designed to bolster a
president’s legacy.
“Presidents are starting to abuse
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File
In this 2015 ile photo, President Barack Obama, center, talks about the designation of three new
national monuments — Berryessa Snow Mountain in California, Waco Mammoth in Texas, and the
Basin and Range in Nevada — in the Oval Ofice of the White House in Washington.
A look at various national
monument proposals nationally
Oregon: Keen Footwear is working with various
environmental groups to designate 2.5 million acres
in southeastern Oregon, an area twice the size of
Yellowstone National Park, as the Owyhee Canyon-
lands National Monument.
Utah: A coalition of ive Indian tribes is leading
an effort to designate 1.9 million acres in the south-
east corner of the state as the Bears Ears National
Monument. The tribes say Native Americans were
forcibly removed from the land and marched to
reservations, but the land remains important to their
heritage and should be protected from mining and
what they describe as irresponsible off-road vehicle
use and rampant looting. The National Congress of
American Indians has also endorsed the effort, which
is overwhelmingly opposed by state oficials.
Arizona: Various environmental groups and
Indian tribes announced the delivery in July of more
than 550,000 petition signatures and comments
urging the president to create a buffer zone around
Grand Canyon National Park. The proposed Greater
Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument would
consist of 1.7 million acres outside the park bound-
aries and prevent new uranium mining. The state’s
Chamber of Commerce said the designation would
this authority as they leave the
ofice. If they actually tried to do this
on the irst day so that Congress had
some ability to respond to it, and the
have far-reaching consequences for public access,
water rights and resource management, saying a
national monument designation would only hurt, not
help, the state.
Maine: A private foundation formed by Roxanne
Quimby, co-founder of Burt’s Bees personal care
products, has proposed donating about 87,000
acres for the creation of the Maine Woods National
Monument. The foundation would also provide a $40
million endowment to support maintenance costs.
Nevada: Sen. Harry Reid has voiced his
support for the creation of the Gold Butte National
Monument, a 350,000-acre region of red sandstone
canyons about an hour outside the Las Vegas Strip.
The Gold Butte proposal includes land where cattle
belonging to rancher Cliven Bundy roamed. Bundy
led an armed standoff with federal oficials in 2014,
and environmental groups complain that Gold Butte’s
ecosystem has faced catastrophic damage from illegal
cattle grazing and rampant use of off-road vehicles.
Massachusetts: Some in Congress are calling
for the irst marine national monument off the
continental United States to be located about 150
miles off Cape Cod where a series of canyons and
mountains are home to an array of deep sea corals
species important to the survival of many ish, whales
and sea turtles. The New England Coral Canyons
and Seamounts Marine National Monument would
contain up to 6,173 square miles.
people did, I’d be more comfortable
about what their motives are,” said
GOP Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah,
chairman of the House Natural
Resources Committee.
Christy Goldfuss, managing
director of the White House Council
on Environmental Quality, won’t
BRIEFLY
BLOOMIN’ BLUES
Common cinquefoil deies
scientiic classiication
By BRUCE BARNES
For The East Oregonian
Name: Sticky Cinquefoil
Scientiic name: Poten-
tilla glandulosa
This is fairly common
throughout much of the west,
from Southwest Canada to
Mexico, and the Paciic to
the Rockies. The plant’s clas-
siication has been debated
for the last two centuries,
beginning with scientiic
consensus in the early 1800s
when they described it as
being about 15 separate
plants, all slightly different,
divided among two genera,
Potentilla and Drymocaulis.
Eventually in the 1970s
consensus came to see it as
the single, somewhat variable
species as named here. Then
four years ago it was again
split into about 15 species
and varieties, all under the
genus Drymocaulis.
I igure the dust is yet
to settle on this, so I’m
“sticking” with the name
most people today know it as
(pardon the pun).
The name Potentilla
comes from the Latin
“potens,” which means
powerful, referring to the
medicinal qualities it was
thought to have. The species
name glandulosa refers to the
glandular hairs usually found
on the plant, which secrete a
sticky substance at the tips.
“Cinquefoil” means ive
ingers, referring to many
species of Potentilla that
have leaves divided into ive
Photo courtesy Bruce Barnes
Sticky Cinquefoil
lealets.
The plant is a perennial,
standing 1-2 feet high, and is
usually coated with a sticky
substance secreted by a dense
covering of hairs.
The leaves at the base of
the plant are divided into 3
to 9 lealets arranged along
a central midrib. Leaves on
the stem are usually limited
to 3 lealets. The lealets are
sharply toothed along the
edges.
The lowers are bright
yellow, in openly spreading
arrangements at the stem
tops.
Each lower is about ¾
inch wide, has ive round
petals, and many yellow
stamens at the center. Beneath
the petals are 5 pointed sepals
alternating with 5 shorter
sepal-like bracts.
Indian tribes in the west
used the plant for poultices to
reduce swelling. Many tribes
used it to make a stimulant or
tonic.
Where to ind: The plant
should still be blooming at
upper elevations in meadows
and open forests. If you ind
what looks like the plant,
check the leaves at the base
to be sure, and check for the
glandular hairs, which will
make your ingers stinky and
sticky.
Have a great photo of your trophy catch
or kill that you’d like to show off?
Or have an outdoor story you’d like to tell?
Call outdoor editor Tim Trainor
at 541-966-0835.
discuss speciic national monument
possibilities, but said Obama
“certainly feels we have more to do
to protect this planet from climate
change, so we’ll see how this plays
out.”
Bishop said lawmakers would
work with the administration on
additional protections for some
public lands, but environmental
groups and others are less willing
to compromise knowing they can
go to the president to get a national
monument designation.
“It actually impedes the ability
of bringing everyone together
knowing the president has this
power to create a monument when-
ever he wants to,” Bishop said.
Goldfuss said the administration
works to get extensive local feed-
back before making any monument
determination. She and others such
as Interior Secretary Sally Jewell
and Agriculture Secretary Tom
Vilsack feed the president informa-
tion, but in the end, it’s his decision.
“It is all about taking the long
view here and recognizing there
are things of importance to future
generations, and the president is in
a good spot to make that determina-
tion,” Goldfuss said.
Bishop’s state is home to perhaps
the most talked about effort, the
proposed Bears Ears National
Monument.
Utah’s Republican-dominated
Legislature overwhelming voted
for a resolution opposing the
monument. Republican Gov. Gary
Herbert said a monument designa-
tion would bring more visitors but
not necessarily more resources,
leading to an increase in vandalism
and environmental degradation.
Bishop wants instead additional
protections for about 1.4 million
acres of the Bears Ears area and
opening up other lands for gas and
oil exploration and recreation.
Matt Keller, the national
monuments campaign director for
the Wilderness Society, said he
believes the prospects for a monu-
ment designation in Bears Ears are
promising. Jewell’s fact-inding
trip to the region last month shows
the administration is serious about
protecting the thousands of artifacts
and rock carvings documenting how
Native Americans lived through the
centuries.
“A big priority for them is
protecting lands that are inclusive
of diverse populations and tell the
story of the American people a little
more broadly,” Keller said.
More lawsuits to
stop plan to spay
wild horses
BEND (AP) — More
advocacy groups have iled
lawsuits seeking injunctions
to stop researchers from
surgically sterilizing more
than 200 wild mares in
central Oregon.
The Bulletin reports
that American Wild Horse
Preservation Campaign
and The Cloud Foundation
jointly iled a lawsuit on
Monday against the Bureau
of Land Management
arguing that the agency
had violated the groups’
First Amendment rights by
rejecting their request to
record the procedures.
Bureau oficials say they
are still reviewing the latest
lawsuits.
The U.S. Bureau of
Land Management has
said the research in Hines,
Oregon, would help
determine whether the three
methods to be studied could
be safely used to control the
wild horse population.
Front Range Equine
Rescue and Friends of
Animals have also sued the
agency over the proposed
sterilization.
Tribes can gather
park plants under
new federal rule
PHOENIX (AP) —
Tribes can begin entering
into agreements with the
National Park Service to
allow their members to pick
plants on protected land
under a new federal rule.
The rule announced in
June by Interior Secretary
Sally Jewell went into
effect Thursday.
Under the rule, tribes
must have a culturally
signiicant tie to the land
that makes up a national
park in order for its
members to harvest foliage
that grows there.
And Native Americans
or Alaskan Natives must
use the plants for traditional
reasons, such as using a
root for medicinal purposes,
or branches or bark to make
a basket.
There are 58 national
parks in the U.S., with
some covering vast
expanses within proximity
to some of the nation’s
largest Indian reservations.
Thunderstruck
hosts its Xtreme
Bike Show
Thunderstruck Custom
Bikes will rock the block in
downtown Medford when
it hosts its 20th annual
Xtreme Bike Show and
Street Party Saturday, Aug.
20.
General Dentistry
For You and Your Family
• Digital X-rays
• Laser Cavity Detection
Extended hours: Mon. - Thur.: 7:00 am to 6:00 pm
We take most insurances, including PPO’s
Dr. Smith se habla Español
310 SE2nd St., Ste 203
Pendleton, OR 97801
541-276-4768
T. Blair Smith, DMD
Edward S. Dolan, DDS