The Conservation Alliance has a 28-year history of investing in efforts to protect public lands for their habitat and recreation values. In April, President Trump signed an executive order directing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review all national monument designations larger than 100,000 acres from the past 21 years to determine whether their boundaries are consistent with the intent of the Antiquities Act. The Interior Department then issued a list of 27 national monuments that would be included in the review, of which 22 are terrestrial and five are marine monuments. The Conservation Alliance made grants that helped secure 10 of those 22 land-based monuments under review.
Going back to 1999, we made 25 grants totaling $765,000 to 13 different conservation organizations whose work was instrumental in protecting 10 national monuments. This list only includes monuments currently under review by the Interior Department. Our funding has also helped secure many national monument designations that are not being considered by this review.
The Conservation Alliance opposes any effort to change the boundaries of existing national monuments through executive action. National monuments designated since 1996 protect landscapes with important recreation, cultural, and habitat values.
