The U.S. Department of Interior added Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve to its list of monuments being reviewed under a presidential executive order.
President Trump’s executive order issued April 26th looks at redesignating acreage of national monuments that were expanded under the Antiquities Act. Craters of the Moon wasn’t on the original order, but a Friday release listed it among 27 national monuments being reviewed.
Craters of the Moon covers more than 700,000 acres of of lava rock formations, sagebrush grasslands and hunting and grazing areas southwest of Arco. The area was originally comprised of 54,000 acres proclaimed as a national monument in 1924. The rest was added by President Bill Clinton in 2000.
The Idaho Statesman reports, the President’s order could only review the expanded area of Craters, but the order has the potential to upend protections on the land possibly expanding use for grazing, hunting and resource extraction.
