Biden adds to the nation’s list of national monuments during his term. There’s an appetite for more

Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — It was 1906 when U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt designated the first national monument — Devils Tower in Wyoming. In the decades since, all but three presidents have used their authority under the Antiquities Act to protect unique landscapes and cultural resources. President Joe Biden has signed off on six monuments and either restored or enlarged boundaries for a handful of others during his term. Native American tribes and conservation groups are asking for more before he leaves office. The proposals stretch from land bordering the Colorado River in the West to a historic Black neighborhood in Oklahoma and the ancestral home in Maine of the nation’s first female cabinet member.