Thanks to the introduction of the Ending Presidential Overreach on Public Lands Act, U.S. presidents may soon have to relinquish the power to create and alter national monuments to Congress.
U.S. national monuments are areas of land that are federally controlled and permanently protected; they are typically established and deemed worth protecting for natural, historical, or scientific purposes.
Three current Salt Lake Community College students shared their opinions on whether U.S. presidents or Congress should have the power to create and alter national monuments. They also discussed their personal sentiments about national monuments and public lands in the United States.
Andres Velasco, a communications major at SLCC, believed that U.S. presidents should have the sole power to create and alter national monuments. Velasco justified his opinion with the belief that U.S. citizens elected the president to represent their interests.
“I feel like we elect the president for a reason … and I feel like the president’s supposed to be kind of representing the people, so I think it is important that the president gets to choose that, because it is the people’s voice, in a way,” Velasco said.
Velasco, who enjoys hiking and camping on public lands, also expressed reverence for the efforts that went into protecting national monuments and public lands.
“I appreciate, like, all the work that goes into protecting them and creating them,” Velasco said. “I don’t think we have enough [national monuments and public lands], and I feel like they’re very important aspects of … our world, I guess.”
Not everyone interviewed for this story believed the fate of public lands should be left in a single person’s hands. Peter Wheeler, a digital media and journalism major at SLCC, believed that Congress should have the sole power to create and alter national monuments.
Wheeler cited the fact that Congress is composed of numerous people with varying perspectives, while the president is one person with an administrative agenda.
“Congress … it’s a bunch of people … it’s [a] pool of ideas, versus one singular person and that administration’s agenda,” Wheeler said. “I think there’s more nuance to Congress.”
When asked about personal sentiments towards public lands, Wheeler cited the need for preservation.
“I’m a big fan for the preservation of nature everywhere, as much public land as possible,” Wheeler said. “And I love national monuments, national parks, everything. I think they’re vital to the preservation of a culture, a cultural landscape.”
Wheeler is not alone in his sentiments about preserving public lands. According to the 2025 State of the Rockies Project – a project conducted by Colorado College that aims to highlight environmental and social issues throughout the Rocky Mountain West – 89% of Western voters across political ideologies were in favor of national monuments that were created in the past 10 years to remain designated as such.
Wayra Bazán, an anthropology major at SLCC, preferred for Congress to have control over the designation and alteration of national monuments. She cited the pendulum-like politics of recent administrations surrounding Bears Ears National Monument as a reason for her preference.
“He [Barack Obama] did [establish] the Bears Ears National Monument. [Donald] Trump came [to] redo it. [Joseph] Biden came [to] try to reinstate it again, and now … again, Trump wants to get rid of that,” Bazán said. “So I feel like it depends on the president, because some presidents don’t care about their national monuments.”
When asked about her personal sentiments towards national monuments and public lands, Bazán, who has volunteered with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and the Bureau of Land Management, said that she was in favor of preserving public lands, particularly from extractive industries.
“We don’t need any more drilling, we don’t need any more uranium,” Bazán said.
Although Velasco, Wheeler and Bazán did not share the same views over who should have control of national monument designation and alteration, they all agreed that national monuments and public lands were important to protect and preserve, regardless of who had control over them.
Editor’s note: Parts of this story have been updated for clarity.
