Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt suggested yesterday that he will recommend that President Clinton create two more national monuments — one at Soda Mountain in southern Oregon and another at a southwestern Colorado area containing Indian ruins. Under the 1906 Antiquities Act, a president can designate national monuments without congressional approval. Clinton has created five monuments and expanded another during his term of office, protecting more than 3 million acres of federal land and, in doing so, irritating many Western Republicans. In other federal land news, 65 university scientists recently petitioned Babbitt to protect roadless areas under the control of the Bureau of Land Management. They are urging him to follow the lead of Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck, who is working to protect roadless areas in national forests.
