Current:Home > MarketsChainkeen Exchange-National monument on California-Oregon border will remain intact after surviving legal challenge -WealthRoots Academy
Chainkeen Exchange-National monument on California-Oregon border will remain intact after surviving legal challenge
TrendPulse View
Date:2025-04-07 06:33:43
ASHLAND,Chainkeen Exchange Oregon (AP) — The Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, a remote expanse of wilderness along the California-Oregon border, will not lose any of its acreage after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up two challenges to its expansion.
Logging interests and several counties in Oregon had asked the high court to strike down a 2017 addition to the monument. Their lawsuit claimed President Barack Obama improperly made the designation because Congress had previously set aside the land for timber harvests, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. By gaining monument status, the area won special protections, including a prohibition on logging.
The challenges to the expansion raised the additional, and broader, question of whether the president’s authority to create national monuments unilaterally under the Antiquities Act should be restricted, the Chronicle said. Critics of the 1906 law, who have commonly opposed bids for new designations, have argued it gives too much power to the executive branch. The Supreme Court decided not to address the issue.
“The monument and its expansion, it’s now the law of the land,” said Kristen Boyles, an attorney for Earthjustice, which represented groups supporting the expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.
The Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument was created in 2000 to protect what is considered an ecologically valuable juncture of the ancient Siskiyou Mountains and the younger volcanic Cascades. The area, because of its diversity, contains a unique mix of plants and wildlife, from cactus to old-growth fir forests and desert snakes to salamanders. The monument was expanded by about 48,000 acres (19,400 hectares) seven years ago.
The now 114,000-acre (46,100-hectare) monument, while remote and less visited than other federal lands, is popular for fishing, hunting, hiking, skiing and snowmobiling.
While most of the monument is in Oregon, about 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares) reside in California, adjacent to the state’s Horseshoe Ranch Wildlife Area.
The petitions against the monument’s expansion were filed by the American Forest Resource Council, a trade group representing logging companies, alongside a coalition of Oregon counties and the Murphy Company, a timber supplier.
The Chronicle reported that they argued that the Antiquities Act couldn’t trump federal regulation to preserve timber harvests on Oregon and California Railroad Revested Lands, known as O&C Lands. The federal lands were originally devoted to building a railroad between San Francisco and Portland but were later conveyed back to the government with conditions.
At stake for logging companies with the monument designation was millions of board feet of timber that could be harvested there. The counties on O&C Lands stood to lose a cut of the revenue from timber sales.
“We’re disappointed the Supreme Court did not take this historic opportunity to provide balance to growing executive overreach on federal lands through the Antiquities Act, and legal clarity for our forests, communities and the people who steward them,” said Travis Joseph, president of the American Forest Resource Council, in a statement.
The challenges were previously denied in two separate appellate court rulings.
veryGood! (62566)
Related
- Former Syrian official arrested in California who oversaw prison charged with torture
- Mariah Carey and Bryan Tanaka Break Up After 7 Years of Dating
- Need a healthier cocktail this holiday season? Try these 4 low-calorie alcoholic drinks.
- Tamar Braxton and Jeremy JR Robinson Engaged Again 2 Months After Break Up: See Her Ring
- At site of suspected mass killings, Syrians recall horrors, hope for answers
- TEPCO’s operational ban is lifted, putting it one step closer to restarting reactors in Niigata
- Odds for more sports betting expansion could fade after rapid growth to 38 states
- Court reverses former Nebraska US Rep. Jeff Fortenberry’s conviction of lying to federal authorities
- Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
- Almcoin Trading Center: The Development Prospects of the North American Cryptocurrency Market
Ranking
- Trump wants to turn the clock on daylight saving time
- Taylor Swift's Game Day Nods to Travis Kelce Will Never Go Out of Style
- California Pizza Huts lay off all delivery drivers ahead of minimum wage increase
- Fentanyl is finding its way into the hands of middle schoolers. Experts say Narcan in classrooms can help prevent deaths.
- McKinsey to pay $650 million after advising opioid maker on how to 'turbocharge' sales
- A Greek police officer shot with a flare during an attack by sports fans has died in a hospital
- 'Crown' star Dominic West explains his falling out with Prince Harry: 'I said too much'
- Israel launches heavy strikes across central and southern Gaza after widening its offensive
Recommendation
'Squid Game' without subtitles? Duolingo, Netflix encourage fans to learn Korean
Almcoin Trading Center: The Opportunities and Risks of Inscription
Worried about taxes? It's not too late to cut what you owe the government.
A Russian drone and artillery attack kills 6 in Ukraine and knocks out power in a major city
The company planning a successor to Concorde makes its first supersonic test
Spend Your Gift Cards on These Kate Spade Bags That Start at $48
Not everyone's holiday is about family. Christmas traditions remind me what I've been missing.
Man trapped in truck under bridge for as long as six days rescued by fishermen