BLANDING, Utah (AP) — U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke says he’s a “Teddy Roosevelt Republican” who values national monuments. But as he tours America’s newest and most hotly contested monument, he questions whether the monument designation by the federal government was the right way to preserve sacred tribal lands.
Zinke said Monday at a news conference that Washington sometimes does things “that seem to be heavy-handed or without coordination.”
Zinke’s four-day tour of Bears Ears National Monument, a 1.3-million acre (5,300 square kilometers) area, was part of a review ordered by President Donald Trump to determine if 27 monuments were properly established.
On Tuesday, Zinke plans to visit a ranch and conservation area within Utah’s new national monument as he re-evaluates government protections on the vast expanse of tribal lands, canyons and plateaus.
