Op-ed: Grand Canyon Monument Embodies How Antiquities Act Should Be Used

This piece originally appeared as an op-ed in the on Arizona Daily Sun March 22, 2025.

This year will mark The Antiquities Act’s 119th anniversary. The Antiquities Act grants the president the power to designate important sites and natural areas as monuments for the American people. This designation protects these areas from private interests and ensures access for future generations.

“Although Congress conveyed this unilateral power on presidents, these designations are the most effective when driven by the people who caretake and cherish these places. Nowhere is this truer in recent memory than the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of Grand Canyon National Monument,” wrote Jeronimo Vasquez, Coconino County Supervisor and HECHO Hispanic Conservation Leadership Council member in an op-ed published by the Arizona Daily Sun. Read the full op-ed here.