With so many Right-Wing attacks on so many fronts, it’s hard to focus and choose what battle to fight next. But this week, I’m working on saving our National Parks and Monuments.
I live in California, and Public Comments are open concerning the “review” of our National Parks and Monuments, which is doublespeak for preparing to sell off parts of them to the lowest bidder for drilling and mining.
Here’s my letter to the Secretary of the Interior:
Secretary Zinke,
I spent many summer vacations with my family visiting our national parks and monuments. My memories of those wonderful trips remain vivid and cherished. They contributed a great deal to my pride in being an American.
Preserving the special beauty of our country is one of the greatest ideas that the U.S.A. ever came up with, and it has sparked national preservation movements in many other countries. The world is indebted to thinkers like John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt and so many other Americans who have nurtured and continued to expand our National Parks and Monuments. If ever there was an example of American exceptionalism, this is it.
National monuments, public lands, and waters are also a critical part of our nation's economy, especially for rural and Western communities. My state benefits from the tourism, outdoor recreation, and quality of life associated with healthy and protected public lands.
I strongly support protecting our public lands, and the public overwhelmingly opposes attacks on national parks, monuments, public lands, and waters. In particular, the San Gabriel Mountains, Carrizo Plains, and the Giant Sequoia National Monument hold important significance here in California. These monuments meet the requirements and objectives of the Antiquities Act, are appropriately classified, and provide significant economic benefits associated with outdoor recreation, travel, and tourism.
Our national monuments should remain protected for future generations to enjoy – they are a gift that belongs to all Americans, and which we hold in trust for our children and grandchildren, and their children's children. An attempt to attack one monument by rolling back protections would be an attack on them all.
The Department of the Interior would be hard-pressed to shrink, eliminate, or alter national monuments without undermining the very cultural and natural resources they protect. I am firmly opposed to any effort to revoke or diminish protections for any of our national monuments, and I urge you to recommend that our current national monuments remain protected.
Drilling and mining are inherently destructive, and what has been destroyed can never be restored. Some things must be held sacred, placed above temporary commercial gain, or our children will live in a barren land that was once called 'America the Beautiful.'
If you agree, please make your voice heard in a Public Comment to the Department of the Interior. Time is running out, so please — do it today!
California may be the first target, but if we fail here, the rest of our National Parks will be on the chopping block too.
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