SALT LAKE CITY — President Barack Obama designated two national monuments Wednesday at sites in Utah and Nevada that have become key flashpoints over use of public land in the U.S. West, marking the administration's latest move to protect environmentally sensitive areas in its final days. 
 
 The Bears Ears National Monument in Utah will cover 1.35 million acres in the Four Corners region, the White House said. In a victory for Native American tribes and conservationists, the designation protects land that is considered sacred and is home to an estimated 100,000 archaeological sites, including ancient cliff dwellings. 
 
 It's a blow for state Republican leaders and many rural residents who say it will add another layer of unnecessary federal control and close the area to new energy development, a common refrain in the battle over use of the American West's vast open spaces. Utah's attorney general vowed to sue. 
 
 This April 5, 2012 file photo shows rock formations in Gold Butte, located about 90 miles northeast of Las Vegas. Jeff Scheid / AP 
 
 In Nevada, a 300,000-acre Gold Butte National Monument outside Las Vegas would protect a scenic and ecologically fragile area near where rancher Cliven Bundy led an armed standoff with government agents in 2014. It includes rock art, artifacts, rare fossils and recently discovered dinosaur tracks. 
 
 The White House and conservationists said both sites were at risk of looting and vandalism. 
 
 "Today's actions will help protect this cultural legacy and will ensure that future generations are able to enjoy and appreciate these scenic and historic landscapes," Obama said in a statement. 
 
 Related: Obama to Create First Marine National Monument in the Atlantic 
 
 His administration has rushed to safeguard vulnerable areas ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration. It has blocked new mining claims outside Yellowstone National Park and new oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean. Obama's creation and expansion of monuments covers more acreage than any other president. 
 
 But Trump's upcoming presidency has tempered the excitement of tribal leaders and conservationists, with some worrying he could try to reverse or reduce some of Obama's expansive land protections. 
 
 Utah's Republican senators vowed to work toward just that. 
 
 "This arrogant act by a lame duck president will not stand," U.S. Sen. Mike Lee tweeted about Bears Ears, which is named for a set of rock formations. 
 
 I will work tirelessly with Congress & incoming Trump administration to honor the will of Utahns and undo this monument designation. #utpol — Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) December 28, 2016 
 
 Sen. Orrin Hatch said Obama showed "an astonishing and egregious abuse of executive power" and that "far-left special interest groups matter more to him than the people who have lived on and cared for Utah's lands for generations." 
 
 Christy Goldfuss, managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said the Antiquities Act that allows a president to create monuments does not give a president authority to undo a designation, a rule the courts have upheld. She acknowledged that Congress could take action, though. 
 
 Related: President Obama Designates Stonewall a National Monument 
 
 Opponents agreed the area is a natural treasure worth preserving but worried the designation would restrict oil and gas development as well as residents' ability to camp, bike, hike and gather wood. 
 
 New mining or energy development will be banned, but existing operations won't be affected, federal officials said. Wood and plant gathering is still allowed as well as hunting, fishing and other recreation, they said. 
 
 The Colorado River winds around the northern reaches of the proposed Bear Ears National Monument, with Canyonlands National Park in the background, viewed from Dead Horse Point State Park near Moab, Utah, 12 November 2016. JIM LO SCALZO / EPA 
 
 Members of Utah's all-GOP congressional delegation had backed a plan to protect about 1.4 million acres at Bears Ears, while opening up other areas of the state for development. 
 
 The boundaries of the monument are roughly based on that plan — significantly smaller than what a coalition of tribes had sought. 
 
 But Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye called it an exciting day for his tribe and people of all cultures. 
 
 "We have always looked to Bears Ears as a place of refuge," Begaye said. "The rocks, the winds, the land — they are living, breathing things that deserve timely and lasting protection." 
 
 The Navajo Nation is one of five tribes that will get an elected official on a first-of-its-kind tribal commission for the Bears Ears monument. It will provide federal land managers with expertise about the area, officials said. 
 
 Related: First Family National Parks Vacation Highlights Obama's Environmental Push 
 
 Tucked between existing national parks and the Navajo reservation, the monument features stunning vistas at every turn, with a mix of cliffs, plateaus, towering rock formations, rivers and canyons across wide expanses covered by sagebrush and juniper trees. 
 
 At the Gold Butte site, Native American rock art and artifacts are scattered amid rugged mountains, sandstone formations and Joshua tree forests. Pioneers used the area for cattle ranching and mining, while campers and ATV riders enjoy it today. It's named for an early 1900s mining town. 
 
 2 new national monuments protect gorgeous landscapes, important cultural sites & wildlife habitat for future gens: https://t.co/02leB01DUV pic.twitter.com/a113oZELY6 — US Dept of Interior (@Interior) December 28, 2016 
 
 Retiring Democratic Sen. Harry Reid pushed for protection of the remote area northeast of Lake Mead, but GOP members of Nevada's congressional delegation have been vocal opponents. 
 
 The "designation is a wonderful capstone to a career of fighting to protect Nevada's pristine landscapes," Reid said in a statement. 
 
 Nevada Sen. Dean Heller and Gov. Brian Sandoval, both Republicans, said Congress should make land designations. 
 
 But the governor said he "recognized the inevitability" of the move and met with landowners and White House officials to ensure it aligned with state water law and the land would be open to recreation. ||||| If only the sandstones could sing, imagine the stories they'd tell, of dinosaurs, mammoth hunters and the "ancient ones" known as the Anasazi. 
 
 All roamed southern Utah over the eons, long before Native Americans struggled to hold their land against Mormon settlers, modern life and now, Donald Trump. 
 
 As the President arrives in Utah Monday afternoon, this rocky corner of the Wild West is a battlefield once again, but this time the warriors will carry briefcases and lawsuits. 
 
 Trump, by signing two presidential proclamations on Monday, shrunk the size of Bears Ears National Monument by more than 80% and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by roughly 45%, fundamentally reshaping the two large national monuments. 
 
 The proclamations split the two national monuments into several smaller sections. Bears Ears will be shrunk from 1.35 million acres to 228,337 acres, according to the spokesperson for Interior, and split into two separate monument sections. Grand Staircase-Escalante, a monument designated by President Bill Clinton, will be split into three sections and shrunk from 1.9 million acres to just about 1 million acres. 
 
 Trump slammed past administrations -- namely Clinton's and President Barack Obama's -- for what he called "federal overreach." The two former Democratic president designated Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante for protection, hoping to preserve their culture, history and natural beauty. 
 
 Past administrations, Trump said, thought "the natural resources of Utah should be controlled by a small handful of very distant bureaucrats located in Washington. And guess what? They are wrong." 
 
 "The families and communities of Utah know and love this land the best and you know the best how to take care of your land," Trump said. "You know how to protect it. And you know best how to conserve this land for many, many generations to come." 
 
 President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore pose at the edge of the Grand Canyon, during the signing of a proclamation establishing Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. 
 
 Locals in the area saw the designations as nothing more than a 3-million-acre federal land grab. The drillers, miners and frackers who were shut out by Clinton's and Obama's use of the Antiquities Ac t would have new leases on life. Sen. Orrin Hatch and his fellow Utah Republicans would have a major victory to celebrate. 
 
 Hoodoos are among the natural wonders in Bears Ears National Monument. 
 
 But those who believe the rocks can talk, through countless fossils, sacred ruins and desert solitude, are bracing for a fight. 
 
 "I'm going to sue him," says Yvon Chouinard, founder and CEO of outdoor gear maker Patagonia. "It seems the only thing this administration understands is lawsuits. I think it's a shame that only 4% of American lands are national parks. Costa Rica's got 10%. Chile will now have way more parks than we have. We need more, not less. This government is evil and I'm not going to sit back and let evil win." 
 
 Chouinard led the effort to move a major outdoor show from Salt Lake City to Denver in protest of Utah's land use politics and he's been a big supporter of the historic coalition of the five local tribes, which put aside ancient rivalries and lobbied for monument protection. 
 
 Outdoor retailer Patagonia also lent its voice in opposition to the move Monday, setting the home page of Patagonia.com to a blacked-out page that says, "The President Stole Your Land," with the option to learn more about "the largest elimination of protected land in American history." 
 
 The site also gave visitors the option to support groups that are pushing back. 
 
 Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said he was unmoved by people like Chouinard who are threatening lawsuits. 
 
 "I don't yield to pressure, only higher principle," he said. "And I don't think public policy should be based on the threat of lawsuit ... I feel very confident." 
 
 San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman says the designation of Bears Ears as a national monument never felt right. 
 
 But Chouinard's arguments carry no sway at a pro-Trump, anti-monument rally in Monticello. Here, Chouinard represents all the liberal interests from outside, conspiring to pit neighbor against neighbor. "What's his net worth? One billion dollars? Two billion?" says San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman. "You got Patagonia in here waving the flag of environmentalism while he's completely exploiting the outdoors for industrialized tourism. For a person in that position to try and lecture morality to one of the poorest counties in the entire nation is wrong." 
 
 There has been opposition to Bears Ears as a monument since it was designated. 
 
 The size of New Jersey, San Juan is the biggest and poorest county in Utah and with this moment of political victory, Lyman finds kinship with the coal miners of Appalachia. 
 
 He points out that Bears Ears is the fifth national park or monument in his county and argues that oil and gas extraction would have less impact on the landscape than the brand of adventure tourism that has transformed nearby Moab. "By designating a monument, you are using a tool that will bring hordes of people to a place that is very sensitive," he says. 
 
 Mark Maryboy walks in Bears Ears, home to generations of his ancestors. 
 
 But according to former county commissioner and Navajo elder Mark Maryboy, cultural sensitivity is hard to find in San Juan County. "They didn't want to work with us," he says. "In fact, one of the county commissioners told me 'You guys lost the war so you have no business talking about the land planning process.'" 
 
 With efficient strides, he drops into a canyon near the San Juan River, past one of the 100,000 sacred ruins in Bears Ears, to a wall covered in 1,200-year old rock art. The spindly renderings of man and animal are the work of an artist they've dubbed "Wolfman" for the paw print signature that accompanies the pictoglyphs. And then he points out the modern bullet holes. 
 
 Ancient rock art is pockmarked by bullet holes. 
 
 To his Navajo faith, this canyon holds the spirits of his loved ones and these carvings are just as sacred as any art in the Vatican or any wall in Jerusalem, yet someone has been using it for target practice. 
 
 "The local white community members are determined to get rid of all the art rock," he says. "It stands in the way of progress for them. It stands in the way of a job. New cars. New clothes. Rolex watch." 
 
 He's heard the argument that his people need jobs and that the extraction industry could provide them while protecting the most important sites. 
 
 Native Americans built grain stores and other structures in what is now southern Utah. 
 
 But, he feels, history hasn't shown that to be true. 
 
 "The experience that Native Americans see in this county is discrimination," he says. "They are the last ones to be hired for any position. Even if there's a huge mining operation opening up, they will not be hired for that position. And they will be exposed to the toxic materials that are left on the ground or in the air." 
 
 Regardless of Trump's decision and unless Utah politicians can figure out a way to take them back and sell them off, the 3 million acres around Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante will remain public. 
 
 If you are an American, this is your land and these are your rocks. Pay them a visit sometime. You'll be amazed at the stories they tell. ||||| IDEAS Marcario is CEO of Patagonia. 
 
 President Donald Trump’s Dec. 4 proclamation robs the American people of their public lands heritage. The President and a handful of politicians would like you to believe that they are doing what is best by rescinding 85% of Bears Ears National Monument and nearly half of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Nothing could be further from the truth. This action is unprecedented and widely unpopular. It is also illegal, and Patagonia will be challenging his decision in court. 
 
 By eliminating so much of Bears Ears National Monument, the President is putting over a million acres of land at risk for permanent destruction, and we aren’t going to just stand by. Protecting public lands is a core tenet of our mission and vitally important to our industry, and we feel we need to do everything in our power to protect this special place. 
 
 People often look at this as a states’ rights issue. We acknowledge that people who live closest to these lands often want what is best for them, like the Native American tribes near Bears Ears who are filing suit alongside us. We must also acknowledge that history shows when states control public-trust land, 70% is sold off — and then often used for oil drilling, mining and other industrial activities. This also means that hunters, fishers, outdoorsmen and families like yours can no longer enjoy them. 
 
 While our complaint contains the specific legal arguments we’re making in challenging the President’s illegal actions, some very basic principles explain why we’re joining this lawsuit: 
 
 To enforce the law. The Property Clause of the U.S. Constitution — Article IV, section 3, clause 2 — vests Congress with the power to manage federal lands. Through the Antiquities Act of 1906, Congress delegated a limited amount of power to the President — specifically, the authority to create national monuments protecting certain federal land. But it did not give the President the power to undo a prior president’s monument designations. It kept that power for itself. 
 
 To carry out our purpose as a benefit corporation. Patagonia became a California benefit corporation in 2012, in order to legally enshrine our longstanding environmental and social values into the foundation of our business. Our articles of incorporation require that we confront urgent environmental threats by investing our resources as a growing business into environmental nonprofits. 
 
 To stand with our grassroots partners. Since 1985, Patagonia has supported hundreds of grassroots organizations in all 50 states fighting to protect public lands at the community level. As a company, we have donated more than $80 million to these groups. Beginning in 2013, we joined tribal leaders and grassroots allies to advocate for the designation of Bears Ears National Monument, and have worked together to defend it from the President’s threats. 
 
 To defend our business. Patagonia’s business relies directly on public lands, like Indian Creek in Bears Ears, which hosts world-class climbing. Powered by national monuments, national parks and other special public lands that draw millions of visitors a year, outdoor recreation is America’s fourth-largest industry — driving $887 billion in annual consumer spending and 7.6 million jobs, according to the Outdoor Industry Association. 
 
 For more than a century, presidents of both political parties have upheld their solemn responsibility as stewards of America’s public lands by protecting our most special wild places. In every corner of the country and across the political spectrum, the American people resoundingly support this tradition. This is not about politics; it’s about protecting the places we love and keeping the great promise of this country for our children and grandchildren. 
 
 We won’t let President Trump tear down our heritage and sell it to the highest bidder. We’re proud to keep fighting with everything we’ve got. ||||| The Latest on President Donald Trump's plan to shrink two national parks in Utah (all times local): 
 
 6:30 p.m. 
 
 Outdoor company Patagonia has sued to block President Donald Trump's cuts to Utah's Bears Ears National Monument. 
 
 Patagonia's lawsuit was filed Wednesday night, becoming the fourth legal challenge after Trump announced Monday he would shrink Bear Ears and the Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah. 
 
 The California-based company argues shrinking the monument by 85 percent is an "extreme overreach in authority" and strips much-needed protections from sacred tribal lands. It filed the suit on behalf of several organizations. 
 
 The lawsuit came after Patagonia replaced its usual home page with a stark message, "The President Stole Your Land." 
 
 Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke shot back by saying the claim is "nefarious, false and a lie." 
 
 A coalition of five tribes has also sued to preserve Bears Ears. Two lawsuits have been filed to protect Grand Staircase. 
 
 ——— 
 
 1:54 a.m. 
 
 More lawsuits are expected Wednesday over the Trump administration's plans to shrink several national monuments. 
 
 Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and outdoor retail giant Patagonia traded harsh words Tuesday — an opening salvo in an imminent legal battle that could last for years. 
 
 On Monday, President Donald Trump ordered drastic reductions to Utah's Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. Three lawsuits had been filed by Tuesday night. 
 
 Trump said he was reversing federal overreach by drastically cutting the sprawling monuments named by Democratic presidents. But tribal leaders, environmentalists and others argue the president doesn't have that authority and his move jeopardizes a wealth of Native American artifacts, dinosaur fossils and rugged spaces. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. 
 
 / Updated / Source: Associated Press 
 
 SALT LAKE CITY — Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and outdoor retail giant Patagonia traded harsh words over the Trump administration's plans to shrink several national monuments, an opening salvo in an imminent legal battle that could be waged for years. 
 
 A barrage of lawsuits is expected by groups looking to block President Donald Trump's order on Monday drastically reducing Utah's Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. Three lawsuits had been filed by Tuesday night, with more expected Wednesday. 
 
 Trump said he was reversing federal overreach by drastically cutting the sprawling monuments named by Democratic presidents. But tribal leaders, environmentalists and others argue the president doesn't have that authority and his move jeopardizes a wealth of Native American artifacts, dinosaur fossils and rugged spaces. 
 
 Patagonia, which is expected to file a lawsuit by Wednesday, replaced its usual home page with a stark message, "The President Stole Your Land."The California-based company called Trump's actions illegal and described Monday's action as the largest elimination of protected land in American history. 
 
 Zinke shot back, calling that "nefarious, false and a lie." He told reporters that the land targeted by Trump remains protected because it is still under federal control. 
 
 "I understand fundraising for these special interest groups," Zinke said. "I think it's shameful and appalling that they would blatantly lie in order to gain money in their coffers." 
 
 Related: Trump cutting national monuments sets up environmental showdown 
 
 Outdoor retailer REI also criticized Trump but in less harsh language. 
 
 Zinke took a defiant tone in a conference call with reporters, saying, "I don't yield to pressure, only higher principle. And sound public policy is not based on threats of lawsuits, it's doing what's right." 
 
 Patagonia has "always viewed public lands as our special interest," said company spokeswoman Corley Kenna. "And it's odd that Ryan Zinke has no problem with special interests when they're paying for his private jets. We have been fighting for these lands for decades, so that hunters, fishers, hikers and everyone else can use them and help us protect them." 
 
 A full moon sets behind Cedar Mesa, which is within Bears Ears National Monument, near Mexican Hat, Utah on Nov. 14, 2016. Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA file 
 
 Patagonia's statements follow more than a year of the company's activism on the issue, which is not the only time the retailer has stepped in a debate over Utah's public lands. The company joined with REI and other outdoor recreation companies in leading a push to move the industry's lucrative trade show from Salt Lake City to Denver after two decades in Utah. The move was a high-profile protest over Utah leaders' insistence on getting the Bears Ears designation rescinded and trying to take more control of federal lands. 
 
 Zinke argued that Bears Ears is still larger than Zion and Bryce Canyon national parks combined even after being downsized to about 202,000 acres while Grand Staircase-Escalante retains about 1 million acres. 
 
 Environmental and conservation groups and a coalition of tribes filed lawsuits Monday that ensure Trump's announcement is far from the final word in the yearslong battle over public lands in Utah and other Western states. The court cases are likely to drag on for years. 
 
 A coalition of the Hopi, Ute Indian, Ute Mountain Ute, Zuni tribes and Navajo Nation sued late Monday to challenge the Bears Ears reduction, which cuts monument status for the rugged land in southeastern Utah by about 85 percent. Bears Ears features thousands of Native American artifacts, including ancient cliff dwellings and petroglyphs. 
 
 The tribes argue that federal law only gives presidents the ability to create a national monument, not the ability to downsize one. 
 
 Two lawsuits also have been filed to try to block the Grand Staircase decision, which cuts the monument nearly in half. Grand Staircase contains scenic cliffs, canyons, waterfalls and arches — and one of the nation's largest known coal reserves. 
 
 The two monuments were created by Democrats Barack Obama and Bill Clinton under a century-old law that allows presidents to protect sites considered historically, geographically or culturally important. 
 
 Trump acted on a recommendation by Zinke, who also has urged that two other large national monuments in the West be reduced in size, potentially opening up thousands of acres of land revered for natural beauty and historical significance to mining, logging and other development. 
 
 The interior secretary's plan would scale back Nevada's Gold Butte and Oregon's Cascade-Siskiyou, in addition to the two Utah sites. 
 
 Zinke said Tuesday he would focus changes in Gold Butte on the site's water districts. Gold Butte protects nearly 300,000 acres of desert landscapes featuring rock art, sandstone towers and wildlife habitat for the threatened Mojave Desert tortoise and other species. 
 
 Zinke declined to specify how many acres he wants to remove from monument status, stressing that the administration is working with Nevada's governor and congressional delegation to find a solution. ||||| Monuments 1996: Clinton takes a 1.7 million-acre stand in Utah A Bold Stroke: Clinton takes a 1.7 million-acre stand in Utah 
 
 Diane Sylvain 
 
 Tom Brownold 
 
 At Hartmann/Salt Lake Tribune 1 2 3 
 
 "God's handiwork is everywhere in the natural beauty of the Escalante Canyons and in the Kaiparowits Plateau, in the rock formations that show layer by layer the billions of years of geology, in the fossil record of dinosaurs and other prehistoric life, in the remains of ancient civilizations like the Anasazi Indians. " 
 
 
 
 "In protecting it, we live up to our obligation to preserve our natural heritage. We are saying simply, "Our parents and grandparents saved the Grand Canyon for us; today, we will save the grand Escalante Canyons and the Kaiparowits Plateau of Utah for our children." " 
 
 
 
 * President Bill Clinton, Sept. 18, 1996 
 
 
 
 Though the day starts cool and gray, by noon the sun breaks through the clouds, casting golden rays on some 2,000 people gathered on the south rim of Arizona's Grand Canyon. Environmentalists, Native Americans, government bureaucrats, politicians, scholars and even a few movie stars mingle in the warm September light, excitedly awaiting a pronouncement. 
 
 
 
 As the ceremony begins, a few Hopi elders rise and deliver a blessing: "This is a time of healing," they say. "The healing must begin." 
 
 
 
 Then, with a stroke of his pen, President Clinton signs a document establishing 1.7 million acres in southern Utah as the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Thanks to the little-known Antiquities Act of 1906, which grants the president executive powers to designate new monuments, the declaration is final. No Congress, no mind-numbing or raucous public hearings, no mess: "Here Utah, have a monument." 
 
 
 
 The crowd roars its approval, but three men wearing black ribbons on their lapels stand quietly in the back. Perhaps the only time they smile during the ceremony is when the chopping of a helicopter interrupts Utah writer and wilderness advocate Terry Tempest Williams at the precise moment she asks the assembly to "listen to the silence." These three men from Kane County, the home of the new monument, are virtually the only Utah officials present, and they are mad as hell. 
 
 After all, the battle over wilderness has raged for more than a decade here. County commissioners sent bulldozers into proposed wilderness areas one Fourth of July, wilderness supporters have been hung in effigy and environmentalists have decided that compromise and consensus are dirty words. It remains to be seen whether the designated monument will heal Utah's environmental war, or prolong it. 
 
 
 
 Following the announcement at the Grand Canyon, solemn and angry locals in Kanab, Utah, 70 miles to the north, file into the high school gym for their own ceremony. To protest their loss of rights, they wear black arm bands and bear signs reading, "Shame on you Clinton" and "Why Clinton, Why? You're our President." And while environmentalists in Washington, D.C., release festively colored balloons on tethers, schoolchildren in Kanab free 50 black balloons to symbolically warn other states that the president could unilaterally lock away their lands, too. 
 
 
 
 For six years, Kanab, pop. 3,000, has eagerly awaited coal development by Andalex, a Dutch-owned company that would tap into a mother lode of coal - 62 billion tons according to a recent federal analysis - under the remote, grassy Kaiparowits Plateau. The 50-year project was to provide locals with hundreds of decent-paying jobs and billions of dollars in state and local taxes. Now, with one simple proclamation, Clinton had derailed the plan. 
 
 
 
 Utah's mostly Republican congressional delegation, which fought hard to keep the Kaiparowits open to mining, blasted Clinton for steamrolling Westerners. "This is the mother of all land grabs," said Sen. Orrin Hatch. "An outrageous, arrogant approach to public policy," echoed Sen. Bob Bennett. 
 
 
 
 Rep. James Hansen, R-Utah, vowed to cripple the monument by stripping it of funds while state and county officials began crafting a legal challenge to the designation. The outrage wasn't confined to Utah. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, immediately introduced a bill to prevent the president from making a similar designation in his state without full public participation and congressional approval. 
 
 
 
 The monument will not be managed by the National Park Service, but by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which already administers the area and has long-standing relationships with local communities. Grazing, hunting and fishing will still be allowed (see accompanying story). 
 
 
 
 This helps some, but not a lot: "I'd like to see local people involved," said Kane County Commissioner Joe Judd. "I'd like to see taxes for school trust lands (in the monument), and I'd like to see 900 well-paying jobs. But I come across as un-American because the president says this land should be a national monument. Well, the reason this land is so beautiful is because we've been taking care of it for the last 150 years." 
 
 
 
 Before Clinton's announcement, but after rumors had been leaked to the national press, Judd flew back to Washington, D.C., to confront White House officials. "They said they knew nothing about it," he said. "Then the next day we find out it's a done deal and that it's been in the works for four months." 
 
 
 
 Even some environmentalists felt miffed by the administration's secretiveness. "All kinds of people I work with are angry about the process that didn't happen," said Bill Hedden, a Grand County council member who also works for Grand Canyon Trust, the environmental group that helped host the ceremony. 
 
 
 
 And while newspapers on either coast ran glowing editorials about the plan, most Utah papers - even the generally pro-environment Salt Lake Tribune - took positions decrying the lack of public participation, if not the plan itself. 
 
 
 
 From defense to offense 
 
 
 
 Behind the anger, some Utahns were searching their souls. How had control over public land management been so easily wrested from their hands? And would the new monument divide or unite the state in its future struggles over wilderness designation? 
 
 
 
 Less than a year ago, the state's political leaders seemed on the verge of resolving the struggle over Utah's unprotected wild lands once and for all. They passed legislation based on county recommendations that would have designated as wilderness approximately 1.8 million acres of land controlled by the Bureau of Land Management (HCN, 12/25/95). The rest would have been thrown open to development, including large portions of the Kaiparowits Plateau. 
 
 
 
 Environmentalists complained bitterly about the delegation's bill - they were pushing for 5.7 million acres of BLM wilderness - and the process, which they said gave too much influence to rural counties and ignored pro-environmental sentiments in Utah's densely-populated Wasatch Front. 
 
 
 
 Led by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, environmentalists nationalized the debate, calling on people across the country to stand up for Utah's magnificent wild lands, to pressure their members of Congress to defeat the Utah delegation's wilderness bill. It worked. Last December, opposition within the House of Representatives forced Hansen to pull his bill before a vote. 
 
 
 
 The defeat created a political vacuum, and into it stepped the Clinton administration. One anonymous White House official says administration staffers had been on the lookout for environmental victories they could achieve without congressional support. They'd considered making Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge a monument, but decided that the president could use his veto powers to stop destructive oil drilling in the refuge, so they targeted Utah instead. A team from the Department of the Interior, including Interior Solicitor John Leshy, and some outsiders, was asked to work out the details. 
 
 
 
 Administration officials involved realized the designation was a stroke of political genius. It would resonate well with a public irritated at Republican efforts to roll back environmental laws and regulations; it would shore up the president's green credentials; and it wouldn't affect Clinton's prospects in Utah, where he had finished third behind Ross Perot in 1992. Some say Clinton also got swept away by enthusiasm after announcing a month earlier that the administration would halt a gold mine near Yellowstone National Park. "It's fun to be president; let's do some more of this," he reportedly told a nearby staffer at the park ceremony. 
 
 
 
 But it seems that even the administration was caught a little off-guard. Officials were still crafting the monument proposal when reporter Frank Clifford of the Los Angeles Times broke news of it. Then it appeared in the Washington Post, and the White House decided it could wait no longer. 
 
 
 
 Already, officials were inundated with pleas from both sides. Utah's delegation begged the president's staff to back off and let Utahns decide the fate of the wildest country left in the lower 48 states. They told Clinton that Utah's schoolchildren would suffer if Andalex couldn't develop and pay fees on 200,000 acres of school trust lands scattered throughout the proposed monument. Finally, they resorted to name-calling in the media: They said the president was a midnight land-grabber seeking to burnish his image just weeks before the November election. Some even charged that environmentalists cozy with the administration had crafted the proposal. 
 
 
 
 Utah environmentalists denied the allegation and said the Utah congressional delegation itself had set the stage for Clinton's decision. 
 
 
 
 "The stars were aligned," said an exultant Ken Rait of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. "The backdrop was created by the arrogance of the Utah delegation which snubbed much of its constituency. It pushed a wilderness bill that tried to bring down the spirit and intent of the wilderness act, (and that) put Utah public lands on the national map." 
 
 
 
 Added the Grand Canyon Trust's Hedden: "The creation of the monument was a reaction to the fact that we are so polarized in this state that we can't communicate at all with each other. We have failed to come up with a solution on our own, so basically we took ourselves out of the debate." 
 
 
 
 What happens now? 
 
 
 
 Will Utahns hold a permanent grudge or will they sit down together to craft an agreeable management plan for the monument? 
 
 
 
 So far, cooperation seems unlikely. Kane County Commissioner Judd says his county will now back away from an expected agreement with state and federal agencies to reintroduce California condors to the area. "We're not going to sign it now," said Judd. "If one of those condors sits its butt in the monument, why, then, we've got an endangered species problem." 
 
 
 
 "We're going to be a whole lot less cooperative with the federal government," echoes Kane County's attorney Colin Winchester. "I know it's playground stuff - you know, my daddy's bigger than yours - but that's the way we feel now." 
 
 
 
 Others believe that the president's move will ultimately be seen as a watershed leading to more peaceful resolutions of public land issues. Writer Terry Tempest Williams says she believes many Utahns support the monument. "To hear what's going on in the papers, you'd think Utah is in a wake," she said. "But my family is Republican and they're absolutely thrilled. This is one important step toward a growing conservation ethic that we are seeing in Utah. I think things will calm down and the hard work will begin." 
 
 
 
 Pollsters at the Salt Lake Tribune are waiting for the anger to subside before trying to find out what Utahns really think. The Deseret News, however, released an early poll showing 49 percent opposed to the monument and 29 percent for it; 61 percent said the process used to create it was unfair. 
 
 
 
 Beyond the immediate question of the monument lurks the larger question of how much additional public land in Utah should be designated wilderness. Some environmentalists fear the monument will be the extent of it for a long, long time. Others say it strengthens their hand. Says Tempest Williams, "I view (the monument) as a down payment." 
 
 
 
 One precedent for such a view is Alaska. Following President Jimmy Carter's designation of some 56 million acres of national monuments there in 1978, Alaska's congressional delegation began holding serious talks with industry leaders and environmentalists about which lands warranted protection and which could be exploited for resources. The result: the 1980 Alaska Lands Act, the largest and perhaps most remarkable piece of public-lands legislation in the last century. 
 
 
 
 Optimists might also take heart from a marquee outside a roadside business in Kanab. Clinton is clearly a villain, but the monument could be something locals warm to. "Shame on you Clinton," read the sign. Then below: "Buses welcome." 
 
 
 
 Paul Larmer is HCN's associate editor. HCN's assistant editor Elizabeth Manning contributed to this story. 
 
 The following sidebar articles accompany this feature story: 
 
 - The mother of all land grabs 
 
 - A daunting, beautiful place 
 
 - Managing the monument: The devil is in the details
– Go to Patagonia's website and you're greeted with a message Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has deemed "nefarious": "The President Stole Your Land." The California company is referring to President Trump's move to shrink the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah, but it's not stopping at that: It filed a lawsuit Wednesday to block the Bears Ears slashing, joining three other legal challenges to save the monuments, the AP reports. The suit, which the AP notes was filed on behalf of several groups, says the proposed 85% reduction at Bears Ears is an "extreme overreach in authority" and puts at risk dinosaur fossils and Native American artifacts, among other resources. Patagonia owner Yvon Chouinard told CNN of his litigious plans earlier this week, noting, "This government is evil, and I'm not going to sit back and let evil win." President Obama designated Bears Ears a national monument at the end of 2016; Grand Staircase-Escalante received the protection 20 years earlier from President Clinton. At the heart of the commotion is whether a current president can walk back a former president's creation of a national monument under the Antiquities Act, with Native American tribes, environmental groups, and paleontologists arguing that Trump doesn't have the authority to do so; two legal experts interviewed by the AP had varying opinions on the matter. NBC News, which notes the legal wrangling over the national monuments could stretch out for years, adds that Patagonia has long been active in fighting for Utah's public lands. The AP notes more lawsuits are anticipated, especially if Trump moves on Zinke's push to cut other national monuments. More in Time from Patagonia's CEO on why the company is suing.