Burgum confirms the administration is reviewing national monument boundaries

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum confirmed on Friday that the administration is reviewing the boundaries of several national monuments — meaning the administration could eventually move to shrink them. 

“When we’re taking a look, we have an executive order from President Trump to review these, to say ‘are they the appropriate size?’” Burgum told Semafor during a Friday event.

“We’ll go through a thorough review,” he said, but added, “this is not a top priority for the administration.”

His comments come after The Washington Post reported that department aides are considering shrinking at least six national monuments: Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon, Ironwood Forest, Chuckwalla, Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante.

These monuments are located in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Utah.

Burgum did not explicitly say which monuments were under review. But, his comments came in response to a question about whether the department was considering removing protections for six monuments, as reported by The Post.

A spokesperson for the Interior Department said the review is ongoing but declined to provide additional details. 

The last Trump administration also targeted two of the monuments in question – shrinking Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante by 85 percent and in half.