Pima County’s board of supervisors recently elected to uphold the 1906 Antiquities Act in response to a review ordered by the President Donald Trump's administration, preserving the region’s Ironwood Forest National Monument.
The resolution is not the first of its kind. In 1998, a previous board declared its intention to conserve the county’s natural habitats, including the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan; in 2000, President Bill Clinton authorized the Ironwood site under the Antiquities Act, according to a press release.
Trump ordered a review of those national monuments falling under the auspices of that law on April 26 of this year. Spanning over 188,000 acres west of Tucson, the Ironwood site hosts a diverse array of wildlife and continuing research initiatives, as well as recreational camping and hiking; Pima County’s affirmation underscores its commitment to preserving the area’s natural resources.
“Ironwood Forest National Monument and the hundreds of other national monuments our presidents have created under the 1906 Antiquities Act are natural treasures we all enjoy and appreciate,” Pima County Supervisor Richard Elías said in the release. “They provide much-needed protection for special places so people can visit them and so [that] their rare and unique animal and plant species can thrive. We cannot allow them to be sold off to the highest bidders for destructive exploitation of their resources.”