Babbitt asks Clinton to name four more monuments in the West June 1, 2000

Babbitt asks Clinton to name four more monuments in the West June 1, 2000

Babbitt asks Clinton to name four more monuments in the West June 1, 2000
Web posted at: 11:04 AM EDT (1504 GMT)

WASHINGTON -- Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt wants President Clinton to declare four new national monuments protecting more than 500,000 acres of federal land in Washington state, Oregon, Colorado and Arizona.

If Clinton approves the request as expected he will have used the Antiquities Act to protect nearly 3.7 million acres -- the second most by a U.S. president.

"These are priceless natural landscapes that have somehow remained almost untouched by exploitation, development and urban sprawl," Babbitt said Wednesday in a statement.

"Each of the areas recommended today represents an exceptional, irreplaceable piece of America's natural and cultural heritage," Clinton responded, also in a written statement.

"This is not what the Antiquities Act was intended for," complained Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz. "It was not designed for the creation of another Yellowstone."

Also Wednesday, Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush criticized the Clinton administration for designating state land for national monuments without close consultation with state officials.

The largest of the sites in Babbitt's latest recommendation _ The Hanford Reach National Monument in Washington -- would protect 200,000 acres along 51 miles of the Columbia River that is one of the largest, undisturbed river stretches in the United States and a critical spawning ground for salmon.

The other three monuments requested by Babbitt:

Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, 164,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management land in Colorado that contains more than 20,000 archaeological sites -- the highest known density of such sites in the nation. The site's remoteness has helped protect it, but growing population and tourism requires more protection, Interior officials said.
Ironwood Forest National Monument in Arizona, 134,750 acres of BLM land, includes stands of ironwood trees that can live more than 800 years, along with blue palo verde and saguaro blanket stands. The area needs protection because of urban expansion in the southern part of the state, officials said.
Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon, 52,000 acres of BLM land, including Soda Mountain, is one of the most biologically diverse areas in North America, home to 100 species of butterflies, eight species of bats and old growth habitat important for the threatened northern spotted owl.

The 1906 Antiquities Act allows presidents -- without congressional approval -- to safeguard objects of historic and scientific interest. President Theodore Roosevelt used the law to set aside the Grand Canyon in 1908 and President Carter used it to create large sections of Alaska wilderness in the 1970s.

If he approves Babbitt's request, Clinton will have used the Act to declare or expand 10 monuments during his presidency. Only Carter has used the Act to protect more acreage, as he set aside 50 million acres in Alaska alone.

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