

The Trump/Zinke team is quite a pair to be making decisions about reducing the size of national monuments. Trump’s background is business, TV celebrity and playing golf. He does not appear to be worldly or a well-read person.An example of Trump’s reality with nature is living in his gold invested penthouse in New York. He wants to live like a king, not a president who leads. Unfortunately, Zinke has a geology degree and that means his main interest is coal, oil and gas, not petroglyphs and artifacts. Zinke is an avid fisherman and hunter of wildlife. Maybe in the future he will propose hunting in Yellowstone National Park.The sad part of evaluating the 27 national monuments is that it is all politically driven and not for the protection of the resources for future generations. Sen. Orrin Hatch and the Utah delegation approached and persuaded Donald Trump to re-evaluate to reduce Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. Hatch probably had the most influence on President Trump concerning the monuments in Utah.Trump has said he has done more for this country in a shorter amount of time than any other president. But I think he has done more damage than good for this country.Frank J. SmithMillville