While Trump’s Utah visit was met with both protests and promises of lawsuits, many Utahns, including Basin residents and officials, are applauding the President’s action to cut back the size of Bears Ears and the Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. While neither border or touch the land of northeastern Utah, the President’s statements on public lands is considered a positive in the effort to reduce federal overreach and encourage local decisions on how best to manage public lands. In his address, President Trump emphasized that “the families and communities of Utah know and love this land the best” and know the best how to conserve this land. “Your timeless bond with the outdoors should not be replaced with the whims of regulators thousands and thousands of miles away,” said Trump. “They don’t know your land and truly they don’t care for your land like you do.” Trump emphasized that the spirit and intent of the Antiquities Act has been abused, giving “enormous power to far away bureaucrats at the expense of the people that actually live here.” Representative Scott Chew is among those that support the President’s action from the point of view that he says it is important to take a stance against federal overreach and over regulation of public lands.
