The challenges posed by unemployment and climate change create a powerful opportunity to revitalize our economy while restoring the backbone of our wellbeing: our natural heritage. Safeguarding our natural resources — our forests, rivers, prairies and other wildlands — in a warming world will protect and create jobs across the country today, while investing in our country's future.
The degree to which human intervention has modified fire frequency, intensity, and severity varies greatly among different ecosystems, and must be considered when planning to alter fuel loads or implement restorative treatments.
Since Congress passed the Antiquities Act in 1906, presidents — Republicans and Democrats alike — have used the Act more than 100 times to preserve some of our most spectacular and historically important public lands. Although its title suggests a focus on archaeology (ruins, petroglyphs, etc.), the Antiquities Act gives the president the power to protect all forms of American history – natural, scientific, and archaeological – by designating National Monuments.