National Monuments and the Antiquities Act: President Clintonâs Designations and Related Issues (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Revised June 28, 2001 |
| Report Number |
RL30528 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Carol Hardy Vincent, Resources, Science, and Industry Division; and Pamela Baldwin, American Law Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
President Clinton used the Antiquities Act of 1906 (16 U.S.C. ¿¿431-433) to create 19 new
national
monuments and enlarge 3 others. All but one of the designations were made during President
Clinton's last year in office. The new monuments range in size from 2 acres to nearly 1.9 million
acres. The 22 monuments created or enlarged by President Clinton total about 5.9 million acres, the
second largest acreage of any President, and only President Franklin D. Roosevelt used his authority
more often (on 28 occasions vs. 22 for President Clinton).
The Antiquities Act authorizes the President to create national monuments on federal lands that
contain historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, or other objects of historic or scientific
interest. The President is to reserve "the smallest area compatible with the proper care and
management of the objects to be protected." The Act was designed to quickly protect federal lands
and resources, and Presidents have proclaimed about 120 monuments totaling about more than 70
million acres. Congress has modified many of these, has created monuments itself, and about a
dozen times has abolished presidentially created monuments.
Presidential establishment of monuments sometimes has been contentious, e.g., President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt's creation of the Jackson Hole National Monument in Wyoming (1943)
and especially President Carter's massive Alaskan withdrawals (1978). Monuments created by
President Clinton also have generated criticisms centering on the size and the types of resources
protected; the level and types of threats to areas; the inclusion of non-federal lands within monument
boundaries; effects on land uses; the agency that manages the monuments; the constitutionality of
the Act; and consistencies of the Act with the withdrawal, public participation, and environmental
review aspects of other laws. Opponents have sought to revoke or limit the President's authority to
proclaim monuments, or to impose environmental studies and consultation procedures, among other
changes. Supporters favor the Act in its present form, as applied by Presidents for nearly a century,
and note that many past designations that initially were controversial have come to be supported.
They contend that the President needs continued authority to promptly protect valuable resources on
federal lands that may be threatened.
President Clinton selected the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to manage many of the
monuments, but other agencies were assigned to manage monuments as well. Monuments typically
are established or enlarged subject to valid existing rights, which would allow existing rights to
continue, e.g., development of valid existing mineral rights. In general, land uses may continue if
they are not barred by the proclamations and do not conflict with monument purposes. Usually the
proclamations and supporting documents do address land uses. Many of the new monuments bar
new mining claims and mineral and energy leases, as well as motorized vehicle use off-
road,
although grazing often is allowed. In some cases, water rights have been reserved for the federal
government, while in others water rights are expressly not reserved. Monument
management plans,
to be developed with public participation, also will elaborate on land use regulation.
