"After receiving nearly 1.5 million public comments, the Department of the Interior’s national monuments review enters its final month. Meanwhile, Secretary Ryan Zinke continues to visit sites under review.

Of the 27 monuments originally highlighted by the order, Bears Ears in Utah has received by far the most attention because of the controversy surrounding it, with Utah’s also controversial Grand Staircase-Escalante trailing close behind. Last week, Zinke announced that he was no longer considering changes to Craters of the Moon in Idaho or Washington’s Hanford Reach.

Zinke’s review ends August 23. (Comments on marine monuments can be submitted through July 26.) In the meantime, here’s a rundown of local responses to some controversial but less-buzzed-about monuments in the West".

Rebecca Worby reports for High Country News July 21, 2017. [2]