Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke scratched a site adjacent to the Grand Canyon off his list of national monuments that President Trump had directed him to review and decide whether or not to scale back.
“Today I’m announcing that Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument’s review process has concluded and I am recommending no changes be made to the monument,” Zinke said.
The monument borders the Grand Canyon National Park in Northwest Arizona. The National Park Service touts the Parashant for its solitude and pristine wilderness, where visitors are invited to “journey into the wild.”
“The land has some of the most pristine and undeformed geological formations in North America, which show the scientific history of our Earth while containing thousands of years of human relics and fossils,” Zinke said, who is a trained geologist as well as a former Navy SEAL commander.
The Parashant National Monument was designated in 2000 and encompasses more than 1 million acres. The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service share management of the monument.
Friday’s announcement followed another that Zinke made this week on the Missouri Breaks monument as he appears to be ramping up the pace of the review process. The president initiated the review in an April executive order.
Zinke has been charged to review each presidential monument decision made since 1996, including the controversial expansion of the Bears Ears Monument in Utah under former President Barack Obama late last year.
An interim report on Bears Ears was submitted in June, proposing to massively scale back the monument. But five monuments, including Missouri Breaks and Parashant, have been removed from review.
Zinke is charged with reviewing 27 monuments.
