Oregon’s attorney general is threatening to sue the Trump administration if it tries to change the boundaries of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. The Department of Interior is currently reviewing the status and size of national monuments across the country.
In his final days in office, President Obama invoked the Antiquities Act to expand Southern Oregon’s Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument by nearly 50,000 acres. The region is considered a bio-diversity hotspot in the West.
Supporters of the expansion fear the current review will be used by the Trump administration to reverse course.
In a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum threaten to sue if that happens.
State attorney Paul Garrahan said the Trump administration would be exceeding its executive-branch powers if tries to undo Obama's action.
“The Antiquities Act does not include authority for the President to reduce or reverse a decision to designate a national monument,” said Garrahan, who is in charge of the Natural Resources Section at the Oregon Department of Justice.
Two timber companies filed a lawsuit earlier this year to block the expansion. That suit is on hold pending the result of the current federal review.
This week, the Interior Department recommended that the administration keep Washington’s Hanford Reach National Monument and Idaho’s Craters of the Moon intact.
It’s unclear if those decisions will have any bearing on the outcome of the Cascade-Siskiyou review. It’s also unclear what the Interior Department is using to make its recommendations, says Oregon State Representative Pam Marsh, whose district include the Monument.
“I don’t really understand what the criteria is that they’re looking at this point," she said. "And is it the same criteria across all monuments?”
Reports have surfaced that Zinke will be visiting Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument this weekend to meet with stakeholders. The Interior Department would not confirm those reports.
Jefferson Public Radio's Liam Moriarty contributed to this report.
Copyright 2021 EarthFix. To see more, visit .
Mateusz Perkowski
/Rancher Lee Bradshaw visits a horse on his property near Eagle Point, Oregon. The near-doubling of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument poses challenges for people like Bradshaw, who has a cattle grazing allotment within the expansion.