Antiquities Act
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- See also: Presidential proclamation
The Antiquities Act is a federal law regulating historic landmarks and giving the President the power to create national monuments. In contrast to a national park, which must be created by an act of Congress, the Antiquities Act empowers the President to create a national monument through a presidential proclamation.[1]
Presidential proclamations are official announcements of policy from the president. Many proclamations are honorary or ceremonial, but some do carry the weight of law if they fall within the scope of presidential authority.[2]
Background
The Antiquities Act was passed in 1906 and signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt. It came as part of the rise of the conservation movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a period that saw the establishment of the first national parks, national forests, and wildlife refuges. For a detailed timeline of early environmental and conservation laws, read this article on conservation.
The act was written in large part by anthropologist Edgar Lee Hewett and Iowa Congressman John F. Lacey, the latter of whom sponsored several other early conservation laws. The authors of the Antiquities Act believed that development was threatening the country's natural sites and resources. Rep. Lacey had earlier played a part in empowering federal officials to punish poachers in national parks.[3]
National park vs. national monument
National parks are created by an act of Congress "for the use of the people of the United States generally, because of some outstanding scenic feature or natural phenomena," according to the National Park Service (NPS). National parks must be large enough to offer natural diversity, provide opportunities for public recreation, and allow for effective administration by the NPS.[4][5]
National monuments are most often created through presidential proclamations, but may also be established through acts of Congress. National monuments are created in order to reserve areas that feature "objects of historic, prehistoric, or scientific interest," according to the NPS. Unlike national parks, size is not an important consideration for the designation of national monuments. The NPS manages the majority of national monuments. However, national monuments located on national forest lands or with military significance may be managed by the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of Defense, or the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.[4]
Provisions
Section 1
| " | Any person who shall appropriate, excavate, injure, or destroy any historic or prehistoric ruin or monument, or any object of antiquity, situated on lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States, without the permission of the Secretary of the Department of the Government having jurisdiction over the lands on which said antiquities are situated, shall, upon conviction, be fined in a sum of not more than five hundred dollars or be imprisoned for a period of not more than ninety days, or shall suffer both fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.[1][6] | ” |
As of 2018, the Federal Government owns millions of acres of land, especially in the Western United States. These lands are managed by multiple different agencies and other entities. For a detailed discussion of these agencies and their activities, see Federal land policy. A national monument may be managed by one of seven agencies, or two agencies working in tandem. The four principal agencies are the NPS, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.[7]
Section 2
| " | The President of the United States is authorized, in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States to be national monuments, and may reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which in all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be protected. When such objects are situated upon a tract covered by a bona fide unperfected claim or held in private ownership, the tract, or so much thereof as may be necessary for the proper care and management of the object, may be relinquished to the Government, and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to accept the relinquishment of such tracts in [sic] behalf of the Government of the United States.
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In contrast to national parks, which must be created by an act of Congress, the President can create a national monument through a presidential proclamation. As a result, Presidents have sometimes used this power to set aside land against the wishes of Congress, as Jimmy Carter did during the negotiations to pass the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act in 1980.[8] That law amended the Antiquities Act to require Congressional approval for any future national monuments over 5,000 acres created within the state of Alaska. [9] [10]
The final clause in Section 2, which requires Congressional approval for any future monuments created or enlarged in Wyoming, came in response to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's creation of the Jackson Hole National Monument in 1943, which state lawmakers unsuccessfully challenged. In 1950, Congress integrated the monument into Grand Teton National Park. The enabling act for the enlarged park included the amendment to the Antiquities Act that became the final clause in Section 2.[11]
The Antiquities Act does not mention the President's potential power to abolish an existing national monument and no President has ever attempted to do so. There have been no court cases establishing the existence or nonexistence of this power.[12] Several presidents have reduced the size of existing national monuments, including Trump, Eisenhower, Truman, Taft, Wilson, and Coolidge.[13][14][15]
Section 3
| " | Permits for the examination of ruins, the excavation of archaeological sites, and the gathering of objects of antiquity upon the lands under their respective jurisdictions may be granted by the Secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, and Army to institutions which they may deem properly qualified to conduct such examination, excavation, or gathering, subject to such rules and regulation as they may prescribe: Provided, That the examinations, excavations, and gatherings are undertaken for the benefit of reputable museums, universities, colleges, or other recognized scientific or educational institutions, with a view to increasing the knowledge of such objects, and that the gatherings shall be made for permanent preservation in public museums.[1][6] | ” |
Many national monuments in the Western United States contain Native American cultural and archaeological sites or other places of historical interest. This section gives the government oversight of any efforts to study those sites, with a mandate to balance the needs of education and preservation.[16]
Section 4
| " | The Secretaries of the departments aforesaid shall make and publish from time to time uniform rules and regulations for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act.[1][6] | ” |
Rules and regulations issued by federal executive departments are codified and entered into the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Additions to the CFR are published daily in the Federal Register. For more information on the promulgation of rules and regulations by administrative agencies, see the article on rulemaking.
Amending statutes
Below is a partial list of subsequent laws that amended provisions of the Antiquities Act of 1906:
- Grand Teton National Park Act, which abolished Jackson Hole National Monument and made the land part of the Grand Teton National Park, amended the Antiquities Act to require Congressional approval for any establishment or extension of national monuments within the state of Wyoming.[11]
- Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act amended the Antiquities Act to require Congressional approval for any future national monuments over 5,000 acres created within the state of Alaska.[9]
Noteworthy events
In April 2017, President Donald Trump (R) ordered the U.S. Department of the Interior to "review the size and scope of national monuments larger than 100,000 acres created since 1996." His objective, according to the New York Times, was "recommendations on whether any of those large tracts should be scaled back by presidential authority or by Congress."[17]
Trump later reduced the size of the following national monuments in December 2017:[15]
- Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument - decreased from 1,700,000 acres to 1,000,000 acres.
- Bears Ears National Monument - decreased from 1,350,000 acres to 228,784 acres.
In October 2018, Trump designated 340 acres in Kentucky as Camp Nelson National Monument.[15]
See also
- U.S. Department of the Interior
- U.S. National Park Service
- Federal land policy
- Glossary of environmental terms
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 NPS.gov, Antiquities Act of 1906 AS AMENDED, accessed December 18, 2017
- ↑ Georgetown Law Library, "Presidential Proclamations," accessed May 3, 2017
- ↑ NPS.gov, The Lacey Act of 1894, accessed December 20, 2017
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 National Park Service, "DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A NATIONAL PARK AND A NATIONAL MONUMENT," accessed December 5, 2018
- ↑ Outside Online, "What’s the Difference between National Parks and National Monuments?" April 22, 2014
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ National Parks Conservation Association, What Is a National Monument?, accessed December 20, 2017
- ↑ NPS.gov, The National Park Service and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980: Administrative History, accessed December 20, 2017
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 FWS.gov, Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, accessed December 20, 2017
- ↑ USCode.House.gov, §3213. Future executive branch actions, accessed December 20, 2017
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 NPS.gov, GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK ACT, accessed December 20, 2017
- ↑ Congressional Research Service, National Monuments and the Antiquities Act, accessed December 20, 2017
- ↑ NPR, Trump Orders Largest National Monument Reduction In U.S. History, accessed December 24, 2017
- ↑ Business Insider, "Trump has shrunk the amount of protected land in the US more than any other president — here are the presidents who preserved the most," April 25, 2018
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 National Park Service, "Antiquities Act," accessed December 5, 2018
- ↑ NPS.gov, NPS Archeology Program - Antiquities Act of 1906, accessed December 24, 2017
- ↑ New York Times, "What Is the Antiquities Act and Why Does President Trump Want to Change It?," April 26, 2017
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