Southern Oregon's Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument is one of three federally protected areas that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke says should be scaled back in size.

The recommendation, first reported Thursday by The Washington Post, follows a 120-day review that sent the former Montana congressman on a cross-country tour. It also affects Utah's Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments.

Zinke had been expected to release a detailed report Thursday outlining his recommendations for the roughly two dozen federal monuments included in the review, but a report never materialized. Instead, the agency issued an eight-paragraph statement that contained no specifics about what the recommendations meant for the protected areas.

Earlier in the day, The Associated Press reported that Zinke would not recommend eliminating any monument altogether. The review included monuments of more than 100,000 acres that were approved or expanded under the Obama, Clinton and second Bush administrations.

The Post reported that Zinke had set his sights on reducing the size of the 113,000-acre Cascades-Siskiyou monument. The others -- Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante – take up more than 3.2 million acres.

The Post cited multiple unnamed sources who'd been briefed on the report, but The Oregonian/OregonLive was unable to independently confirm the story.

U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, who opposed the Cascade-Siskiyou expansion and is a leader in the Republican Party, released a statement saying he appreciated that Zinke "spent quality time listening to Oregonians on every side of this issue" and traveled to the state.

"From elected county commissioners and tribal leaders to private landowners, environmentalists and outdoor recreational enthusiasts, finally all sides got a fair opportunity to have their views considered," Walden said in a statement. "I look forward to getting more specific details when they are available." Walden's spokesman did not immediately answer whether the congressman had been briefed on the recommendations for Cascade-Siskiyou.

Just before leaving office in January, President Barack Obama added 48,000 acres to the Oregon monument, which encompasses an area where the Cascade, Klamath and Siskiyou Mountains converge. Then-President Bill Clinton first designated the region, which is known for its rich biodiversity, as a protected area in 2000.

Democratic leaders in Oregon, including Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, were prepared for the bad news but not included in briefings.

Bryan Hockaday, Gov. Kate Brown's spokesman, said the Interior Department had not shared the report with Oregon's top officials. "It seems like the DC media is the best source of information for us," Hockaday said in an interview.

Zinke visited Oregon's Rogue Valley earlier this summer and toured the monument. During that visit, he also met with Brown privately.

But despite the efforts to make a personal connection, Brown was not surprised by Zinke's recommendation.

"It just reaffirms the governor's concern that the federal administration is prone to significantly scale back the protections of the Cascade-Siskiyou monument," Hockaday said.

"Any change, be it a boundary change or a change to the management of those lands could have pretty significant impacts to the lands," he said.

Sara Hottman, a spokeswoman for Merkley, said the senator had not been briefed on the report. "We have not heard anything from the administration." she said.

Wyden tweeted Thursday that by keeping the report private the administration was "ignoring" Oregonians.

Environmental groups say more than 2.7 million comments opposing any changes to federal monuments were submitted to the government during Zinke's review process.

The eight-paragraph summary released by the federal agency seemed to corroborate that sentiment. "Comments received were overwhelmingly in favor of maintaining existing monuments and demonstrated a well-orchestrated national campaign organized by multiple organizations," the summary states.

Monument supporters worry the Trump administration is trying to open up more federal land to drilling, timber harvest and other resource extraction that would fundamentally alter the landscape.

According to the Zinke summary, those who opposed monument expansions were concerned about "reduced public access, road closures, hunting and fishing restrictions, multiple and confusing management plans, reduced grazing allotments and timber production, and pressure applied to private land owners encompassed by or adjacent to a monument to sell."

Zinke's review was billed by White House officials as the first detailed examination of the Antiquities Act, the 1906 legislation approved by Congress that gives the president authority to establish federal monuments.

On a conference call with reporters Thursday, U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, said Zinke's review was about "how we protect our land" not whether the monuments should exist in the first place. The Utah Republican said Zinke was trying to restore the Antiquities Act to its original intent.



That intent didn't include setting aside hundreds of thousands of acres, or in some cases millions of acres, for preservation."

Environmental groups, such as the Center for Biological Diversity, blasted the review as "a lawless, secretive sham."

"Now Trump and Zinke are hiding the report so they don't have to face public backlash for trying to sell out America's public lands to fossil fuel development and logging," said Randi Spivak, the nonprofit's public lands director. "They're asking for a court battle. And they'll get one."

Opponents to the Trump administration-led review have said the government does not have the legal authority to unwind monument protections.

Ellen Rosenblum, Oregon's Attorney General, said she was "disappointed" in the apparent recommendation to scale back the monument.

"As I wrote to the Secretary in July, neither the President nor Secretary Zinke has the power to unilaterally revoke or reduce a monument of this nature," she said in a statement.



-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen