Clinton bestows national monument status to land around Grand Canyon

Sonya Ross

Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2000 | 1:08 a.m.

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. - Amid criticisms that he was just polishing his legacy, President Clinton extended national monument status Tuesday to colorful, pristine lands around the Grand Canyon and three other areas. "This is an act of humility for all of us," he said.

Like every president since 1906 except three, Clinton used the Antiquities Act to protect the federally owned scenic areas from harm from activities such as mining or development. The largest area, the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, covers a million acres filled with vegetation, minerals, and Paleozoic rock.

"You know, 10,000 or 20,000 years from now, if the good Lord lets us all survive as a human race, no one will remember who set aside this land on this day," Clinton said. "But the children will still enjoy it."

The Antiquities Act, passed by Congress in 1906, has been used by presidents to safeguard federal lands as, in the words of the act, "objects of historic and scientific interest." Only Presidents Nixon, Reagan and Bush declined to use it; President Carter used the law to preserve large sections of Alaskan wilderness in the 1970s.

Clinton's action does not affect existing water and grazing rights and mining claims, but does bar new ones on the designated lands. Hunting is prohibited on the expanded section of the Pinnacles site and a ban on off-road vehicles at Grand Canyon-Parashant becomes permanent.

The president's order came exactly 92 years after Theodore Roosevelt made the Grand Canyon a national monument on Jan. 11, 1908. The canyon became a national park in 1919. Another area Clinton expanded Tuesday, the Pinnacles south of San Jose, Calif., also received its monument designation from Roosevelt in 1908.

Clinton arose early and watched the sun rise over the Grand Canyon's multicolored ridges and plateaus. Then, under a blue sky streaked with wispy white clouds, he took a helicopter tour and hiked along Tuweep Valley. He made his announcement at Hopi Point on the canyon's South Rim, where the cliffs were awash in crisp, chilly sunlight.

"I know we're doing the right thing, because look at the day we've got," Clinton said. "We've got the good Lord's stamp of approval on this great day."

Clinton signed the declarations at a wooden desk in a dusty valley dotted with sagebrush, with the Shivwitz Plateau rising behind him. Speaking to reporters, he rebuffed critics who said he was taking action in order to build his record on the environment.

"When you come to the end of an eight-year term, and you have one year left, everything you do obviously can be characterized in that way," Clinton said. "But if it's a legacy for the children of America, for hundreds of years into the future, then it's not a bad gift to give."

Although the president's action was praised by environmentalists, some Arizona state and local officials accused him of ignoring local interests. "We think it is totally disrespectful of the local community," said Mohave County Supervisor Carol Anderson, whose district covers the monument area.

"They'll declare this monument. They'll go home, and we'll be left to take care of it," said Joy Jordan, mayor of Fredonia, Ariz., a tiny community about 50 miles from the monument boundary. She said local residents worry that the monument designation could hurt ranching and timber.

Clinton said he regrets that some people oppose his action, but feels most Americans support his decision. "We've tried to be - and we will always be - sensitive to the concerns and legitimate interests of local people, but I think we've done a good job here," he said.

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt recommended last year that Clinton extend protections at the Grand Canyon-Parashant, a jagged 1,500-square-mile desert area dotted with junipers; Agua Fria, 71,000 acres encompassing two mesas filled with Indian ruins, petroglyphs and other prehistoric treasures north of Phoenix; Pinnacles; and hundreds of rocks and small islands that make up the California Coastal National Monument.

"If there is one thing that unites our fractious, argumentative country across generations and parties and across time, it is the love we have for our land," Clinton said. "We cannot improve upon this landscape. The only thing we can add to it is our protection."