SALT LAKE CITY — On the eve of a much-anticipated visit from a prominent presidential cabinet member to the Beehive State, Utah's junior U.S. senator is voicing support for changes to federal law that would give more input to local interests regarding land-use provisions.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is scheduled to come to Utah on Monday to visit with stakeholders concerned about the designation of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante as national monuments. At issue is whether the authority to make such designations should be left to one person — the president — or if local interests should have more say in the decision-making.

The Trump administration has directed Zinke to conduct a 45-day review of the Bears Ears monument designation and offer some recommendations. The Bears Ears review is part of a larger probe of monument designations going back to 1996, which includes the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument declared by then-President Bill Clinton.

As part of that review, Zinke is scheduled to tour the remote and rugged region in both geographic footprints of the two monuments Monday and Tuesday.

It's a move supported by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

"We're pleased to be having Secretary Zinke come to town right now – in part because of President Trump's executive order calling for a review of decisions to designate national monuments under the Antiquities Act over the last few decades," Lee said. "We think it's a good thing."

Passed into law by Congress in 1906, the Antquities Act gives the president the authority to create national monuments from federal lands as a way to protect significant natural, cultural or scientific features.

Leaders and members of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, along with environmental groups and conservation organizations, pushed for the creation of a 1.9 million-acre monument to protect lands and artifacts they say are sacred. In December, over objection of Utah's elected leaders, then-President Barack Obama designated a 1.35 million-acre monument in San Juan County.

In the ensuing controversy, opponents have vowed to see the Bears Ears monument status rescinded, reduced in size or even defunded — accusing outside interests of co-opting tribes for their own environmental agenda.

Related:

Bears Ears tribal coalition blasts Zinke, executive order on monuments review

Leaders of multiple Native American tribes in the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition say they have been ignored by new Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke in their requests for a meeting over the new monument in Utah. They vow to sue if it is rescinded.

"At the time it was written, it was anticipated that we'd be talking about a few hundred — maybe 1,000 or 1,500 acres — at the most," Lee explained. "But what we've seen in recent years is much larger monuments."

The Bears Ears monument designation is composed of a parcel of land larger than Delaware or Rhode Island, he noted, which is not how the Antiquities Act was intended.

"It's all within San Juan County, Utah's poorest county, where the residents are overwhelmingly against that monument," Lee said. "It was used in a way that demonstrated the need for reform of the Antiquities Act. There needs to be some type of requirement for approval from the local population before such a designation can be made."

In the alternative, Lee suggesteed that designations could be made temporarily to allow congressional review before a permanent decision is made. He said the designation received no support from local elected officials or state lawmakers representing that areas in and around the monument.

"Designating (the land) as a national monument puts it under the discretionary control of government bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., thousands of miles away from the affected population," Lee said. "There are other ways to protect it that don't require the designation of a monument."

Lee said he would like President Trump to rescind the monument designation and allow state and local representation to determine how best to use and protect the land.

"The people of San Juan County want that land protected, but they want to have input, (and) they want to have a degree of control (with) some ability to have their say in how it's managed," he said, "not to have it handed over to a few government officials in Washington."

While there is no real precedent for rescinding national monument status, redrawing the boundaries of existing monuments has been done, Lee said. However, the senator would prefer to see Trump "rescind it altogether in this case," he said.

Despite the long-term impact of setting a precedent such as undoing a previous president's executive action, Lee said he supports the notion based on the idea that the Antqiuties Act should be reformed.

"We're giving too much discretionary authority to one person, the president of the United States," he said. "With something that affects local populations as much as a monument designation, the people ought to have more a say in the process."

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