National Parks

Democratic Presidents used their purported authority under the Antiquities Act to lock-up millions of acres of land of dubious historical or environmental value. President Trump’s revision of the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments strikes the right balance between protection and development.

Cong. leaders tucked an expansion of nat'l parks, wilderness areas and drilling programs into a defense bill. The provisions are fiercely opposed by conservatives, who see it as a massive expansion of fed. land holdings that should have been dealt with in a stand-alone bill.

"These measures have no place in a defense authorization bill and serve only to politicize and muddle the debate over the most important constitutional role that the federal government has: providing for the common defense."

We can avoid future Obama shutdowns by privatizing the service that operates and manages parks. Why? Because government employees became unionized, entrenched, and over-extended. 

Taking their lead from the veterans who pushed through the World War II Memorial barricades, Americans nationwide are defying the federal gov't shutdown, tossing aside barriers to get to national parks and other federal lands that Obama has deemed out of bounds.

Rep. John Mica called for the firing of officials who ordered the barricade of the open-air World War II memorial to veterans on Weds., including the Secretary of the Interior and Nat'l Parks Director.