WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama stepped into a swirling land-use controversy in Nevada on Wednesday and declared a swath of desert known as Gold Butte a national monument.
The declaration places 300,000 acres of land under the protection of the Bureau of Land Management. Obama used the Antiquities Act to shelter land between Lake Mead and the Grand Canyon.
“I am designating two new national monuments in the desert landscapes of southeastern Utah and southern Nevada to protect some of our country’s most important cultural treasures,” Obama said in a statement released by the White House.
The president said his “actions will help protect this cultural legacy and will ensure that future generations are able to enjoy and appreciate these scenic and historic landscapes.”
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., had urged the president to designate the Gold Butte land in Nevada as a monument. The area is known for rock formations and Native American artifacts. 
Reid said Gold Butte “is quintessential Nevada.”
He thanked Obama and said the designation is a critical link to our state’s culture and history. “Gold Butte is a glimpse of what Nevada once was.”
Titus attended a news conference in Las Vegas following the president’s announcement. She said it was a culmination of a network of Nevadans that began in 1998.
“President Obama heard our cry and took the necessary action to save this natural treasure,” Titus said in an earlier statement.
Gold Butte is near the ranch of Cliven Bundy, who along with local farmers and ranchers has sought to keep the property available for agricultural use.
Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., urged Obama not to designate the land as a national monument out of concerns by local constituents.
Heller said he was “disappointed” by the president’s action.
The senator said he has urged “all new land designations, especially ones in Nevada, to be considered in an open a public Congressional process.”
Conservatives have voiced concern about the lack of input in designations.
Those concerns resulted in an armed standoff with Bundy, his sons and their supporters, including militia and patriot groups that had gathered on the family’s Bunkerville ranch in April 2014.
Bureau of Land Management officials left the property following the standoff and did not return until 2016. A White House official downplayed any safety concerns and said there is no elevated enforcement status at Gold Butte.
Bundy faces criminal charges in federal court over the confrontation. He has claimed ancestral rights to the Gold Butte property.
Obama used the Antiquities Act, a law passed by Congress in 1906, to declare the BLM land a national monument, which carries greater protection and restrictions on land use.
The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld previous use of the act by presidents, despite controversy over its use to set aside public lands, most notably in the Southwest, for conservation and to save artifacts.
No national monument declaration has been overturned by another president. Any repeal would take congressional action.
Conservationists and Native American tribes have long sought the protection of the Gold Butte area.
Gold Butte is filled with ancient rock art, sweeping desert vistas and twisted pastel-colored sandstone formations.
The area has suffered a great deal of damage from vandals and off-road vehicles since 2014, according to the Friends of Gold Butte, a local nonprofit group whose members monitor the area and advocate on its behalf.
The monument will serve as a connection between Lake Mead National Recreation Area and the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, protecting a wildlife corridor for desert bighorn sheep, mountain lions and the threatened Mojave Desert tortoise, said Christy Goldfuss, managing director at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
According to the White House, the designation also will protect early 20th century ranching heritage and sites associated with Spanish explorers from the late 18th century.
Since the Antiquities Act was passed, 16 presidents have designated 152 national monuments using the legislative authority, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.
The conservative Heritage Foundation has urged Congress to repeal the law, citing Obama’s use to set aside land in Colorado, Hawaii and Illinois as abuse of legislation originally passed to protect against the looting of archeological sites.
The Heritage Foundation said recent declarations have thwarted economic opportunity and removes states and private citizens from decisions made on land use.
Contact Gary Martin at [email protected]. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.
