by Liu Mei
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Californian residents are still sparing no efforts to rescue their monuments from elimination list as the Donald Trump administration is expected this week to release results of assessment for 27 national monuments on its "review list."
A national monument in the United States is a protected area which is similar to a national park, but can be created from any land owned or controlled by the federal government. The first national monument, Devils Tower in state of Wyoming, was declared by then President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908.
In history, there was no president who ever tried to reduce the number of national monuments. However, Trump signed an executive order in April, listing a total of 27 national monuments, which are potentially to be revoked or shrunk from the size.
He claimed that previous administrations "abused" their right to designate federally protected monuments, putting millions of acres of land off limits to drilling, mining, logging and other activity.
As soon as the order was signed, local nature and wildlife protection organizations started to launch campaigns against the list.
Michael Reinemer, the deputy director of The Wilderness Society, a leading conservation organization, told Xinhua on Monday that "The Wilderness Society views the Trump administration review of these national public lands as an assault on America's natural wonders."
"Many of the nation's most iconic wild places, such as the Grand Canyon, were first protected as national monuments under the Antiquities Act in 1906. We will fight to preserve, intact, all these places under the review. None of these places warranted a 'review' in the first place," he said.
There are six national monuments located in California on the list, including Berryessa Snow Mountain, Carrizo Plain, Giant Sequoia, Mojave Trails, San Gabriel Mountains and Sand to Snow. The last one has been dropped from the government's plan to eliminate national monuments.
Sand to Snow is a national monument located in the east of Los Angeles, covering an area of 154,000 acres (623 square kilometers). It was just created last year by then President Barack Obama and has become popular among hiking lovers.
Many local people sighed a relief and cheered on Twitter and Facebook for the result.
"I would say that would be a big loss for California and the United States if it was eliminated or changed by the president. I want to go hiking in the Snow to Sand monument area, the landscape there is amazing. That absolutely is the paradise for hiking lovers and I am so glad now it has been saved," Lindsay Scott, an outdoor enthusiast, told Xinhua on Monday.
But California' s Attorney General Xavier Becerra warned there are more works to do. He wrote a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke in June, urging him to continue protecting the California national monuments, then released a statement last week, presented his determined opposition to the executive order.
"As the attorney general, I'm prepared to take any and all action necessary, including filing a lawsuit, to protect our national monuments," he said in a statement.
Becerra pointed out that the Trump administration is considering to change to status of some current national monuments and open up more treasured public lands to leasing for oil and gas exploration.
"Californians have made it clear that they do not want new drilling off the shores of California's coast. As their attorney general, I will do everything possible to protect our state's pristine natural resources," he said.
"The Trump Administration should focus on developing clean energy alternatives so that this nation remains energy independent into the foreseeable future," Becerra noted.
His words were echoed by local businessmen, who said, California, the third largest state in the United State with so many distinct natural landscapes, attracts dozens of millions of tourists from all over the world every year and creates lots of jobs.
"The natural resources are very valuable to California. Every year customers from Asia ask me about California's featured landscapes. I usually would recommend them the National Parks and Monuments. The feedbacks from them are always 'awesome' and 'fantastic'," Bessie Wong, a tourism agency owner, told Xinhua.
