Editorial: One final plea for Castner Range monument
As the clock winds down on the Obama administration, the chances for the creation of a Castner Range National Monument are getting bleak. We hope the president and his team will agree to create one more national monument before he leaves office on Friday.
One of the president’s chief legacies will be his use of the Antiquities Act of 1906 to create national monuments that preserve our national heritage. Obama so far has created 34 national monuments, more than any other president.
The president also has reshaped the view of national monuments. Where other presidents have designated battlefields and remote landscapes as monuments, Obama has designated sites that show a broader view of our national legacy. That was demonstrated in his executive order last week designating three new monuments in the South at sites that played significant roles in expansion of African-American rights.
