Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is set to make a recommendation this month about the future of the Bears Ears National Monument. Utah’s congressional delegation has repeated its desire to repeal the monument, and Zinke is now working through a list of about 55,000 public comments submitted about the monument.
President Trump released his executive order directing Zinke to "review" the Bears Ears and a list of other national monuments in late April. After he gave the order, journalist Jonathan Thompson wrote an article in High Country News. The article fact-checked criticisms of the monument from President Trump and from Utah Senator Orrin Hatch. To learn more about his article and what has happened since he wrote it, KSJD's Austin Cope talked to Jonathan Thompson via Skype.