    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
    [September 18, 1996]
    [Pages 1600-1602]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Announcing the Establishment of the Grand Staircase-Escalante
    National Monument at Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
    September 18, 1996

        Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for being here
    and for being in such good spirits. Thank you, God, for letting the Sun
    come out. This is a sunny day--we ought to have a sunny day for a sunny
    day.
        Thank you, Rob Arnberger, for the work you do here at Grand Canyon
    National Park and for your participation; to all of our distinguished
    guests. I want to say a special word of thanks to my good friend
    Governor Roy Romer from Colorado. And thank you, Secretary Bruce
    Babbitt, for your long, consistent, devoted efforts on behalf of
    America's natural heritage.
        I also want to thank the Harvey High School choir and the students
    and the faculty from the Grand Canyon Unified School who are here. Where
    are you all? Thank you. I think this ought to qualify as an excused
    absence--[laughter]--or maybe even a field trip.
        I want to thank all of our tribal leaders who are here and, indeed,
    all of the Native Americans who are here. We are following in your
    footsteps and honoring your ethic today.
        I want to say a special word of thanks to my longtime friend Norma
    Matheson. Norma and her late husband, Scott, became great friends of
    Hillary's and mine when we served together as Governors. After Scott
    passed away, Norma honored me by asking me to come to Utah to speak at a
    dinner in his honor for a foundation set up in his memory. I never was
    with Scott Matheson, I never even talked to him on the phone that I did
    not feel I was in the presence of a great man. Both of them are truly
    wonderful human beings. And I am very grateful for her presence here
    today and for her commitment.
        And finally, I want to thank, more strongly than I can ever convey
    to you, the Vice President for his passion, his commitment, his vision,
    and his sheer knowledge of environmental and natural heritage issues. It
    has become a treasure for the United States, and I have mined it
    frequently for 4 years.
        I remember when I was trying to decide what sort of person I wanted
    to ask to run with me for Vice President, and I made up my mind I wanted
    somebody who was smarter than I was--that left a large field to pick
    from--[laughter]--someone who was philosophically in tune with me,
    someone who would work like crazy, and someone who knew things I didn't
    know. And I read ``Earth in the Balance,'' and I realized it was a
    profoundly important book by someone who knew things I wanted to learn.
    And we have learned a lot and done a lot together over the last 4 years.
    Very few things we have done will have a more positive, lasting

    [[Page 1601]]

    effect than this, and it will always have Al Gore's signature on it as
    well. And I thank him for what he has done.
        Ladies and gentlemen, the first time I ever came to the Grand Canyon
    was also in 1971 in the summer. And one of the happiest memories of my
    entire life was when, for some fluky reason, even in the summertime, I
    found a place on a rock overlooking the Grand Canyon where I was all
    alone. And for 2 hours I sat, and I lay down on that rock, and I watched
    the sunset. And I watched the colors change layer after layer after
    layer for 2 hours. I could have sat there for 2 days if the Sun had just
    taken a little longer to set. [Laughter] And even today, 25 years later,
    in hectic, crazy times, in lonely, painful times, my mind drifts back to
    those 2 hours that I was alone on that rock watching the sunset over
    this Canyon. And it will be with me till the day I die. I want more of
    those sights to be with all Americans for all time to come.
        As all of you know, today we are keeping faith with the future. I'm
    about to sign a proclamation that will establish the Grand Staircase-
    Escalante National Monument. Why are we doing this? Well, if you look at
    the Grand Canyon behind me, it seems impossible to think that anyone
    would want to touch it. But in the past there have been those who wanted
    to build on the Canyon, to blast it, to dam it. Fortunately, these plans
    were stopped by far-sighted Americans who saw that the Grand Canyon was
    a national treasure, a gift from God that could not be improved upon.
        The fact that we stand here is due, in large part, to the
    Antiquities Act of 1906. The law gives the President the authority to
    protect Federal lands of extraordinary cultural, historic, and
    scientific value, and in 1908 that's just what Theodore Roosevelt did
    when he protected the Grand Canyon. Since then, several Presidents of
    both parties, Republicans and Democrats, have worked to preserve places
    that we now take for granted as part of our own unchanging heritage:
    Bryce Canyon, Zion, Glacier Bay, Olympic, Grand Teton. These places many
    of you have been to, and I've been to many of them myself. I thank
    goodness that the Antiquities Act was on the books and that Presidents,
    without regard to party, used it to protect them for all of us and for
    generations to come.
        Today we add a new name to that list: the Grand Staircase-Escalante
    National Monument. Seventy miles to the north of here in Utah lies some
    of the most remarkable land in the world. We will set aside 1.7 million
    acres of it.
        On this site, on this remarkable site, God's handiwork is everywhere
    in the natural beauty of the Escalante Canyons and in the Kaiparowits
    Plateau, in the rock formations that show layer by layer billions of
    years of geology, in the fossil record of dinosaurs and other
    prehistoric life, in the remains of ancient American civilizations like
    the Anasazi Indians.
        Though the United States has changed and Utah has grown, prospered,
    and diversified, the land in the Utah monument remains much as it did
    when Mormon pioneers made their way through the Red Canyons in the high
    desert in the late 1800's. Its uniquely American landscape is now one of
    the most isolated places in the lower 48 States. In protecting it, we
    live up to our obligation to preserve our natural heritage. We are
    saying very simply, our parents and grandparents saved the Grand Canyon
    for us; today we will save the grand Escalante Canyons and the
    Kaiparowits Plateaus of Utah for our children. Sometimes progress is
    measured in mastering frontiers, but sometimes we must measure progress
    in protecting frontiers for our children and all children to come.
        Let me make a few things about this proclamation clear: First, it
    applies only to Federal lands, lands that belong already to the American
    people. Second, under the proclamation, families will be able to use
    this canyon as they always have: The land will remain open for multiple
    uses including hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, and grazing. Third,
    the proclamation makes no Federal water rights claims. Fourth, while the
    Grand Staircase-Escalante will be open for many activities, I am
    concerned about a large coal mine proposed for the area. Mining jobs are
    good jobs, and mining is important to our national economy and to our
    national security. But we can't have mines everywhere, and we shouldn't
    have mines that threaten our national treasures.
        That is why I am so pleased that PacifiCorp has followed the example
    set by Crown Butte New World Mine in Yellowstone. PacifiCorp has agreed
    to trade its lease to mine coal on these lands for better, more
    appropriate sites outside the monument area. I hope that Andalex, a
    foreign company, will follow PacifiCorp's example and work with us to
    find a way to pursue its mining operations elsewhere.

    [[Page 1602]]

        Now, let me also say a word to the people of Utah. Mining revenues
    from Federal and State lands help to support your schools. I know the
    children of Utah have a big stake in school lands located within the
    boundaries of the monument that I am designating today. In the past
    these scattered school lands have never generated significant revenues
    for the Utah school trust. That's why Governor Scott Matheson, one of
    the greatest public figures in the history of Utah, asked the Congress
    to authorize the exchange of nonrevenue-producing lands for other
    Federal lands that can actually provide revenue for the school trust.
        Finally, I was able to sign legislation to accomplish that goal in
    1993. And I will now use my office to accelerate the exchange process. I
    have directed Secretary Babbitt to consult with Governor Leavitt,
    Congressman Orton, Senators Bennett and Hatch to form an exchange
    working group to respond promptly to all exchange requests and other
    issues submitted by the State and to resolve reasonable differences in
    valuation in favor of the school trust. By taking these steps, we can
    both protect the natural heritage of Utah's children and ensure them a
    quality educational heritage. I will say again, creating this national
    monument should not and will not come at the expense of Utah's children.
        Today is also the beginning of a unique 3-year process during which
    the Bureau of Land Management will work with State and local
    governments, Congressman Orton, and the Senators and other interests to
    set up a land management process that will be good for the people of
    Utah and good for Americans. And I know a lot of you will want to be
    involved in that and to be heard as well.
        Let us always remember, the Grand Staircase-Escalante is for our
    children. For our children we have worked hard to make sure that we have
    a clean and safe environment, as the Vice President said. I appreciate
    what he said about the Yellowstone, the Mojave Desert, the Everglades,
    the work we have done all across this country to try to preserve our
    natural heritage and clean up our environment. I hope that we can once
    again pursue that as an American priority without regard to party or
    politics or election seasons. We all have the same stake in our common
    future.
        If you'll permit me a personal note, another one, it was 63 years
    ago that a great Democrat first proposed that we create a national
    monument in Utah's Canyonlands. His name was Harold Ickes. He was
    Franklin Roosevelt's Interior Secretary. And I'm sorry he never got a
    chance to see that his dream would become a reality, but I'm very glad
    that his son and namesake is my Deputy Chief of Staff and is here today.
        And it was 30 years before that, 93 years ago, that a great
    Republican President, Theodore Roosevelt, said we should make the Grand
    Canyon a national monument. In 1903 Teddy Roosevelt came to this place
    and said a few words from the rim of the Canyon I'd like to share with
    you as we close today: ``Leave the Grand Canyon as it is. You cannot
    improve upon it. What you can do is keep it for your children, your
    children's children, all who come after you. We have gotten past the
    stage when we are pardoned if we treat any part of our country as
    something to be skinned for. The use of the present generation, whether
    it is the forest, the water, the scenery, whatever it is, handle it so
    that your children's children will get the benefit of it.''
        It was President Roosevelt's wisdom and vision that launched the
    progressive era and prepared our Nation for the 20th century. Today we
    must do the same for the 21st century. I have talked a lot about
    building a bridge of possibility to that 21st century, by meeting our
    challenges and protecting our values. Today the Grand Staircase-
    Escalante National Monument becomes a great pillar in our bridge to
    tomorrow.
        Thank you, and God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:10 p.m. outside El Tovar Lodge. In his
    remarks, he referred to Rob Arnberger, Superintendent, Grand Canyon
    National Park; Norma Matheson, widow of Scott Matheson, former Utah
    Governor; and Gov. Michael O. Leavitt of Utah. The proclamation is
    listed in Appendix D at the end of this volume.