[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 38 (Monday, September 23, 1996)]
[Pages 1785-1788]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
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

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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 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

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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.
    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

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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 former Utah Gov. Scott Matheson; 
and Gov. Michael O. Leavitt of Utah.