Public Lands Are Not a Partisan Issue
Published by the Natural Resources Defense Fund
The following is a transcript of the video:
Audrey Peterman, author & public lands advocate: Our national monuments, to a great degree, protect the places of history, of culture, of natural beauty. If we were to lose monuments, then that’s like taking out a piece of our soul.
Robert Garcia, founding director & counsel, The City Project: To attack national monuments undermines the precious natural heritage of the people and the nation.
A.P.: The current administration is undertaking an effort to review national monuments created since 1996. To me, that is fairly odious, shall we say.
Hillerie Patton, public lands advocate: In the simplest terms, the basic threat is destruction of the area. If it doesn’t have the protections, then it can be destroyed.
Angel Peña, regional director, Conservation Lands Foundation: It’s about the people and the ties to the land that these people have had for hundreds and thousands of years in some cases. It really is like a history book that you can walk in and touch and experience and learn from.
H.P.: When I was a kid in the first grade growing up in Kansas, we learned “This Land is Your Land.” When I go out on the public lands, I always think of that song. Think it’s important that all of us take an active interest in making sure that these areas are here for all of us to enjoy.
A.P.: The effort to “review” national monuments that are already in the public lands system, to my mind, is really reprehensible.
R.G.: It’s wrong on environmental grounds, it’s wrong on social justice grounds, it’s wrong because it violates the will of the people.
H.P.: We don’t want to make our public lands a partisan issue. It’s something that all Americans can enjoy.
A.P.: Presidents add monuments, they don’t subtract them.
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Read the full article at: https://www.nrdc.org/stories/public-lands-are-not-partisan-issue
