Photo from the Patagonia television ad.

Outdoor clothing and gear company Patagonia has spent nearly $700,000 on a media buy to run TV and radio ads in Montana and Utah, and radio ads in Nevada, in the hopes of convincing Ryan Zinke, secretary of the interior, to “protect these national treasures.” Zinke is reviewing 21 national monuments to determine if previous administrations exceeded their authority in setting them aside for protection. Zinke is expected to recommend that some national monuments either be scaled back or transferred to state ownership.

Patagonia president and CEO Rose Marcario said the company chose this issue for its first-ever television ad because the national monuments under review are “a critical part of our national heritage.”

Patagonia says it does not know of any other company currently running “persuasion ads” on TV targeting the administration, but that the company felt it was important to raise awareness of “history’s lesson that when public lands are turned over to states that can’t afford to maintain them, the result is the land is often auctioned off to private companies who irrevocably damage them and deny access to them for all of us.”

Ads in Secretary Zinke’s home state of Montana are meant to remind him of what he once said, that “our greatest treasures are public lands.” Ads are running in Utah because Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments could be recommended to be rescinded, and Patagonia will be on the radio in Nevada where Gold Butte and Basin and Range National Monuments are also under threat. Patagonia intends to spread even more awareness by promoting the ad on social and digital media and it will be on the homepage of Patagonia.

Zinke will make his decision on Thursday. Patagonia asks individuals to text “DEFEND” to 52886 by August 24th.

The ad is voiced by Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard. The script follows:

“I can be a pretty cynical guy. The one thing that really keeps me going are these wild places that are the real soul of this country.

“A great part of my life I’ve been climbing and fishing and hunting on public lands. I’ve been a successful businessman because of the lessons I’ve learned in the outdoors. Our business is built on having wild places.

“Public lands are under threat now more than ever because you have a few self-serving politicians who want to sell them off and make money. Behind the politicians are the energy companies and the big corporations that want to use up those national resources. It’s just greed – this belongs to us – this belongs to all of the people in America. It’s our heritage. I hope my kids and grandkids will have the same experiences that I had.

“Our Secretary of the Interior Zinke has said he believes in public lands. Let’s hold him to it. Let’s let him not back down on that.”