In Idaho, we know some places are worth more protected than stripped for parts. Public lands give us room to hunt, fish and explore. They preserve irreplaceable history and sustain local communities. Ninety-six percent of Idaho voters want that legacy defended.

For more than a century, presidents of both parties have used the Antiquities Act to set aside places too important to lose. Now, Donald Trump is attempting something perverse. Instead of defending public lands, he is stripping away the safeguards that keep powerful private interests from cashing in.

Trump signed proclamations reducing Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments by 90%, cutting nearly 3 million acres from their boundaries, despite strong opposition from the people who know them best. Seventy-one percent of Utah voters supported keeping Bears Ears intact, while 74% said the same of Grand Staircase-Escalante. Even most Republican voters opposed shrinking them.

The lands can now be opened to mining, mineral leasing and geothermal development, threatening public access, cultural sites, wildlife habitat, and communities. At Bears Ears, Trump dissolved the commission that gave five Tribal Nations a role in managing lands they have stewarded for generations.

President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act in 1906 as historic sites and Native American artifacts across the West were being looted and destroyed. He used it to protect Devils Tower and the Grand Canyon. Nearly half of our national parks began as national monuments.

The law gives presidents the power to establish national monuments, not erase them. Public land advocates are preparing to challenge Trump’s actions in court, as they did when he targeted the monuments during his first term.

But the threat reaches beyond one legal fight.

Trump has repeatedly courted extractive industries for campaign cash while promising to deliver their agenda. In 2024, he asked oil executives to raise $1 billion as he pledged to weaken environmental protections and expand drilling. Since returning to office, he has opened huge swaths of public lands to private development.

He has also put people with similar priorities in charge. Michael Boren, the Idaho billionaire now overseeing the U.S. Forest Service, fought to operate a private airstrip on his ranch inside the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. Then he spent years suing a conservation officer who had the nerve to speak up. A court recently dismissed the case.

Here at home, the Antiquities Act protects Craters of the Moon and Hagerman Fossil Beds. Stripping that status would endanger irreplaceable landscapes and devastate nearby communities.

This should serve as a warning to Idaho. A president willing to erase protections, backed by congressional Republicans unwilling to challenge him, can bring the same attack anywhere.

Idahoans understand our natural heritage is worth preserving. We should demand leaders who do, too.

Onward,

Lauren Necochea
Idaho Democratic Party Chair