Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities


** Everything you need to know about the Antiquities Act
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Thursday, September 1, 2022
Browns Canyon National Monument ([link removed]) | Bob Wick, Bureau of Land Management
Over the last week, America’s national monuments and the Antiquities Act have been in the news thanks to elected officials in Colorado asking President Biden to invoke the Antiquities Act and other executive powers to protect lands that are part of the CORE Act ([link removed]) , which is stalled in Congress despite near-universal support in the state. At the same time, Utah’s attorney general filed a lawsuit ([link removed]) challenging President Biden’s use of the Antiquities Act to confirm the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, which President Trump had attempted to shrink in an action that was also challenged and not resolved before he left office.

The Center for Western Priorities put together a helpful primer ([link removed]) on what the Antiquities Act is, why and when it was passed, how it's held up to legal challenges in the past, and how President Joe Biden can use it to protect important landscapes like Avi Kwa Ame ([link removed]) , Castner Range ([link removed]) , Caja del Rio ([link removed]) , as well as areas identified for protection in the CORE Act ([link removed]) .

Click here to learn more ([link removed]) about the Antiquities Act.


** Time to protect Caja Del Rio
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From Rio Grande Del Norte National Monument to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico boasts spectacular natural beauty and stunning archeological sites. Past presidents have used the Antiquities Act to protect many of these places, while Congress has acted to protect others.
Yet an important New Mexican landscape ([link removed]) remains unprotected. It's called Caja del Rio (Spanish for “Box of the River”), and it spans over 106,000 acres and contains thousands of ancient petroglyphs.

Diverse communities of New Mexicans are seeking protection ([link removed]) for Caja del Rio, which is threatened by mining, poaching, vandalism, desecration, illegal dumping, and habitat fragmentation. It’s time to implement both legislative and administrative protections—whether by designating Caja del Rio as a national conservation area, traditional cultural property, or a national monument.


** September is National Wilderness Month!
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Today is the first day of National Wilderness Month ([link removed]) . Get out and enjoy your public lands this Labor Day weekend—bonus points for recreating (responsibly!) in wilderness areas. We'll be back in your inbox on Tuesday.
Quick hits


** Report: Nearly $1 billion worth of methane lost on public land
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E&E News ([link removed]) | Taxpayers for Common Sense ([link removed])


** Art therapy helps Colorado wildfire victims process their experiences
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Yale Climate Connections ([link removed])


** How climate change is transforming the Pacific Crest Trail
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New York Times ([link removed])


** Bipartisan wildlife conservation legislation lacks any mention of climate change
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High Country News ([link removed])


** A centuries-old cactus survived everything. Then summer rains came.
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Washington Post ([link removed])


** Proposed sand mine near Dinosaur shelved by red tape and sage grouse
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Salt Lake Tribune ([link removed])


** Death Valley braces for 124-degree temperatures as heat wave broils California
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Los Angeles Times ([link removed])


** Utah's Fremont Indian State Park breathes life into ancient tribal way of life
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KUER ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” Fire is a hazard that leaves other hazards in its wake: meager shade, disruptions to streams and water sources, 'blow down' trees you have to clamber over or walk around, and fine black soot that lingers in the back of hikers’ throats and aggravates open blisters. Fire scars—the blackened expanses a wildfire leaves behind—can take days to walk through.”
—New York Times reporter Rowan Moore Gerety ([link removed]) , on changes to the Pacific Crest Trail
Picture this


** @USFWS ([link removed])
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Breaking turtle news! For the first time in 75 years, sea turtle hatchlings were found at Louisiana's Chandeleur Islands! A Kemp's ridley hatchling, the most endangered sea turtle in the world, was spotted on the islands and within Breton National Wildlife Refuge.

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