Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt recommended yesterday that President Clinton declare four new national monuments that would protect more than 500,000 acres of federal land in the West, and Clinton is expected to heed his advice. The proposed monuments include the Hanford Reach along the Columbia River in Washington; the Soda Mountain area of Oregon; canyons in Colorado that contain more than 20,000 remains from ancient civilizations; and a stretch of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona with stands of ironwood trees that can live more than 800 years. Under the 1906 Antiquities Act, Clinton can create national monuments without congressional approval, and he has designated or expanded five already this year, much to the annoyance of many Western Republicans in Congress. GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush criticized Clinton yesterday for his recent designations of national monuments, accusing the president of disregarding the concerns of locals.
