US Interior Chief to Visit Maine Monument Under Review

U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is heading to Maine on Wednesday to see Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument as part of a tour of national monuments that are under review.

President Donald Trump has ordered the review of more than two dozen national monuments, including Katahdin. Zinke is slated to visit the 87,500 acre (35410 hectare) property, which is adjacent to Baxter State Park, the home of Mount Katahdin, the state's highest peak.

Zinke will be touring the site, which then-President Barack Obama designated as a national monument in August. He's scheduled to spend the day driving, hiking and canoeing through the monument grounds and waters.

Maine's Republican Gov. Paul LePage has been a vocal critic of the monument, and testified against its creation before Congress last month. But on Monday, Democratic Attorney General Janet Mills said she would challenge attempts by Trump's administration to abolish it.

Mills said Zinke's Interior Department "should instead terminate its review of the Katahdin Woods and Waters designation and reaffirm the agency's commitment to making the monument work well for all people, particularly the residents of the Katahdin region who are now counting on it for their economic future."

Zinke visited the new Bears Ears National Monument in Utah on Monday. He is recommending to downsize that monument. Zinke is a former Republican congressman from Montana and his statements on Bears Ears were cheered by Utah's Republican leaders and decried by environmentalists and Western tribes that want the lands protected.

Trump has made the review of federal monuments a priority early in his first year in office. He has accused previous administrations of using the federal Antiquities Act to facilitate a "massive federal land grab" by creating monuments.

Another Obama-created New England monument, Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, is also facing review under Trump.