Bear's Ears National Monument will be located in southeastern Utah. | AP Photo Obama creates new national monuments in Utah, Nevada

President Barack Obama created two new national monuments on Wednesday, setting aside 1.65 million acres in southeastern Utah and southern Nevada, a move sure to anger Republicans who have sought to curb the power the outgoing president has wielded to protect record amounts of sensitive and historic lands and waters.

Obama's aggressive use of the Antiquities Act to create national monuments has drawn scathing criticism from Republicans, who say the White House has abused the law to override local opposition and restrict development and usage of the lands. The new Bears Ears monument in Utah , in particular , has been at the center of those complaints, with local officials and conservative groups decrying pressure from conservationists and tribes on the White House to protect the site.


In creating the Bear's Ears National Monument in Utah and Gold Butte National Monument in Nevada, Obama said in a statement he was protecting desert landscapes that contain "some of our country’s most important cultural treasures, including abundant rock art, archeological sites, and lands considered sacred by Native American tribes."

Obama has used his power under the Antiquities Act to to protect more land than any previous president, from underwater canyons and mountains off Cape Cod to the vast Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in the Pacific Ocean. With the nearly 2,600 square miles he added Wednesday, he's added at least 757,578 square miles to the nation's protected lands.

For Obama, creating the monuments is part of his environmental legacy, and one that's likely to be more permanent than his administration's regulations to fight climate change, like EPA's Clean Power Plan, which is likely to be gutted under the Trump administration.

“The Antiquities Act gives the president the authority to create monuments but does not provide explicit authority to undo them,” said Christy Goldfuss, managing director at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, when asked by reporters whether she was concerned the Trump administration would scrap the Bears Ears monument.

The designations, Goldfuss said, would block any new mining or oil and gas development on the land.

Lawmakers from Utah have been among the president's most vocal critics on monuments. Rep. Rob Bishop, chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, has blasted the Antiquities Act as "past its prime" and philosophically and intellectually wrong, while the state's GOP Sens. Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee introduced legislation ( S. 3317) in September that would prevent presidents from using the Antiquities Act in their state.

In a new message posted on Facebook, Lee vowed to try to kill the new monument designations.

“I’m going to do everything I can to work with the new Congress, and to work with the incoming Trump administration, to undo this monument designation. But I’m not going to stop there. I’m gonna do what I can also to repeal the Antiquities Act so that things like this can’t happen — not in Utah, and not elsewhere in the future."

But retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid told reporters in Las Vegas in August that Gold Butte was expected to get the president’s blessing.

In his statement, Obama said the new designations were designed to preserve the sites and give tribes a voice in their management.

"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. Importantly, today I have also established a Bears Ears Commission to ensure that tribal expertise and traditional knowledge help inform the management of the Bears Ears National Monument and help us to best care for its remarkable national treasures."

The Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition — a partnership between the Hopi, Navajo, Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute, and Zuni governments — welcomed the new designation for the site, which lies between Canyonlands National Park and the San Juan River and is named for twin buttes that resemble a bear raising its head above the horizon.

“Our connection with this land is deeply tied to our identities, traditional knowledge, histories, and cultures. We look forward to working with the current and future administrations to fully and properly administer these lands for all to enjoy,” Alfred Lomahquahu, vice chairman of Hopi Tribe and co-chair man of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition , said in a statement.

Mathew Gross, spokesman for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said the tribes' joining together on the issue was itself historic.

In the 110 years of the Antiquities Act, "it’s the first time that tribes have come together to ask the president to use the act on sacred sites on their behalf," he said.

Eric Wolff contributed to this report.