The Arizona Republic
www.arizonarepublic.com

New monument urged for Arizona

Kathleen Ingley
January 09, 2001

A sweeping arc of peaks and valleys an hour south of Phoenix will become the state's latest national monument, if President Clinton approves the recommendation of Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt.

With barely a week left in the Clinton administration, Babbitt on Monday recommended creating the Sonoran Desert National Monument on 486,000 acres of federal land between Casa Grande and Gila Bend.

The area has a rich mix of animal and plant life, with junipers on high mountain slopes and vast stretches of saguaros. It includes part of the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range that the government no longer needs.

Babbitt also proposed a new monument near Santa Fe: Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks.

The two proposed monuments are both "breathtaking landscapes," Babbitt said in a statement.

This would make the fifth monument Clinton has created in Arizona under the Antiquities Act. Although Babbitt made a point of meeting with affected communities, critics say there was too little local input. They also worry about disrupting access to private property and traditional land uses.

But Les Corey, executive director of the Nature Conservancy of Arizona, called the monument "good news for Valley residents," who will see broad areas of Sonoran Desert shielded from the relentless march of homes.

Some opponents of the new monuments are lobbying President-elect George W. Bush to reverse them.

That would be unprecedented, and Sandy Bahr, spokeswoman for the Arizona arm of the Sierra Club, said, "We're optimistic that President-elect Bush will respect the protection of these lands."

On the broader issue of overturning environmental protections adopted by the Clinton administration, Babbitt told the Associated Press that such attempts "are going to be very costly, because there's an enormous amount of public support."