Trump calls for review of national monuments

Photo / Dan Sakura Lucas St. Clair, president of Elliotsville Plantation Inc., is also the president of the newly formed Friends of Katahdin Woods and Waters. He plans to testify before Congress next week in support of the new national monument.

Write a Comment

President Donald Trump signed an executive order today directing the U.S. Department of the Interior to review designations of land and marine national monuments stretching back over 20 years, but it’s unclear whether the directive will include President Barack Obama's designation of the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument last August.

As reported Tuesday by NPR, in a briefing with reporters at the White House Tuesday night, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said the order will direct his department to review all national monument designations on federal public land since 1996 that are 100,000 acres or more in size. The Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument covers approximately 87,500 acres of land east of Baxter State Park that was given to the federal government by philanthropist and Burt's Bees co-founder Roxanne Quimby.

Trump’s order is expected to direct Zinke to make recommendations to Trump as to whether such designations should be modified, resized or rescinded, NPR reported.

The Bangor Daily News reported that Lucas St. Clair, Quimby’s son, will testify before Congress next week in defense of the national monument. Maine Gov. Paul LePage, who opposes the monument, also is slated to speak at the May 2 hearing, the newspaper reported.

BDN reported that St. Clair planned to tell Congress the consequences of the creation of Maine’s monument have been “incredibly positive,” with at least six businesses expanding in East Millinocket and Patten since President Obama signed the executive order creating the national monument.

In a Feb. 14 letter, LePage urged the president to rescind Obama’s designation “and return the land to private ownership before economic damage occurs and traditional recreational pursuits are diminished."