The Antiquities Act of 1906 Preserves National Treasures
This law is over 100 years old and it allows United States Presidents to establish landmarks and preserve U.S. lands and history.
I was curious about early preservation efforts in the United States and wanted to see if an older law would still be meaningful today. The Antiquities Act of 1906 ((16 U.S.C. 431–433) seems to have a remarkable legacy. It laid down the foundation for preservation in the United States and is still going strong. Considered America’s bedrock conservation law, it has provided 116 years of preservation protections and establishment of beloved national landmarks and parks, but along with its positive impacts on preservation come a lot of controversies.
An interesting aspect of this law is that it was developed to give sitting presidents the sole discretion and authority to declare national landmarks and protections for federal lands, and to officially “set aside certain valuable public natural areas as park and conservation land.” [1] As of November 28, 2022, seventeen presidents of both parties have proclaimed 159 monuments, and they “have also enlarged, diminished or changed the terms of monuments proclaimed by previous presidents.” [2]
It seems a bit challenging to put politics aside with this act, as it has become a bit of a hot potato in recent times, but this law was crafted to protect national treasures. “The Antiquities Act is the first law to establish that archeological sites on public lands are important public resources,” according to the National Parks Service. “It obligates federal agencies that manage the public lands to preserve for present and future generations the historic, scientific, commemorative, and cultural values of the archaeological and historic sites and structures on these lands. It also authorizes the President to protect landmarks, structures, and objects of historic or scientific interest by designating them as national monuments.” [3]
Overview of the Act
The National Park National Parks Department, which administers most of these treasured lands under the auspices of the U.S. Department of the Interior, offers an outline of the highlights of this act:
- Requirement to secure permission from federal land managers to conduct archeological investigations and remove objects from federal lands.
- Penalties upon conviction for unauthorized activities, such as excavation and removal of objects.
- Authority to the President of the United States to establish national monuments from existing federal lands.
- Authority to the Secretaries of Agriculture, Interior, and War to review and grant permits to qualified institutions.
- Requirement that excavated materials be permanently preserved in public museums.
- Authority to develop uniform rules and regulations to carry out the Act. [4]
How it Began and How It’s Been Used
Efforts to get this law into place are said to have taken a “generation-long” effort, but President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act on June 8, 1906.
“After signing it into law, President Roosevelt used the Antiquities Act eighteen times to establish national monuments,” says a statement from the United States Department of Interior. “Those first monuments included what are now known as Grand Canyon National Park, Petrified Forest National Park, Chaco Culture National Historical Park, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Tumacacori National Historical Park, and Olympic National Park.” [5]
The Pew Charitable Trusts published an insightful fact sheet to highlight some of the ways presidents have used the act. Here are a few: [6]
- 1908 — President Theodore Roosevelt established the 808,120-acre Grand
Canyon National Monument, AZ. - 1936 — President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the 825,340-acre Joshua Tree National Monument, CA.
- 1933- President Herbert Hoover designated the 1,601,800-acre Death Valley National Monument, CA.
- 1978 — President Jimmy Carter used the Antiquities Act to create 17 national monuments, providing interim protection for 56 million acres of public land in Alaska.
- 2016 — President Obama designated the 1,600,000-acre Mojave Trails National Monument, CA.
- 2017 — President Donald Trump announced significant reductions to Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah.
- 2022 — President Joe Biden’s first use of the Antiquities Act to create a new national monument was the designation of Camp Hale — Continental Divide and he used it to “restore protections for three national monuments that the previous administration attempted to reduce or eliminate,” according to the White House. [7]
The Antiquities Act of 1906, As Amended
The original act (16 U.S.C. 431–433) is outlined in just a few paragraphs that explain what it is and what it does. For an elder law, the act itself has only been amended twice (1950 and 198). Below is the text from the fourth edition of Federal Historic Preservation Laws, published in 2006 by the National Center for Cultural Resources, National Park Service, Department of the Interior. [8]
This book refers to the law in sections 1 to 4, but I have also seen these lists as segments 431, 431a, 432, and 433 in the earlier reprints of the law.
Section 1: Penalties for damage, destruction of antiquities: Any person who shall appropriate, excavate, injure, or destroy any historic or prehistoric ruin or monument, or any object of antiquity, situated on lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States, without the permission of the Secretary of the Department of the Government having jurisdiction over the lands on which said antiquities are situated, shall, upon conviction, be fined in a sum of not more than five hundred dollars or be imprisoned for a period of not more than ninety days, or shall suffer both fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.
Section 2: Proclamation of national monuments, reservation of lands: The President of the United States is authorized, in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States to be national monuments, and may reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which in all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be protected. When such objects are situated upon a tract covered by a bona fide unperfected claim or held in private ownership, the tract, or so much thereof as may be necessary for the proper care and management of the object, may be relinquished to the Government, and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to accept the relinquishment of such tracts in [sic] behalf of the Government of the United States.
Section 2a: Limitation on more national monuments in Wyoming: No further extension or establishment of national monuments in Wyoming may be undertaken except by express authorization of Congress.
Section 3: Permits for excavation: Permits for the examination of ruins, the excavation of archaeological sites, and the gathering of objects of antiquity upon the lands under their respective jurisdictions may be granted by the Secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, and Army to institutions which they may deem properly qualified to conduct such examination, excavation, or gathering, subject to such rules and regulation as they may prescribe: Provided, That the examinations, excavations, and gatherings are undertaken for the benefit of reputable museums, universities, colleges, or other recognized scientific or educational institutions, with a view to increasing the knowledge of such objects, and that the gatherings shall be made for permanent preservation in public museums.
Section 4: Rules and regulations: The Secretaries of the departments aforesaid shall make and publish from time to time uniform rules and regulations for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act.
I have seen documents that outline rules and regulations more fully but too much to include here.
Also, the specifics on the amendments are: In 1950 it was amended to enable legislation to incorporate Jackson Hole National Monument into Grand Teton National Park (and also amended the Act to require Congressional approval for any future national monuments created or enlarged in Wyoming (Public Law 81–787, 64 Stat 849). In 1980, the Act was amended by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act to require Congressional approval for any future national monument over 5,000 acres created within the state of Alaska (Pub. L. 96–487, 94 Stat. 2441). [9
Related Laws, Congress, and Governmental Agencies
In 1976, Congress passed the Federal Land Policy Management Act (FLPMA) and left the Antiquities Act untouched. [10] A 2014 online book, The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended, describes this act as “ the Bureau of Land Management’s “organic act” that establishes the agency’s multiple-use and sustained yield mandate to serve present and future generations.”
Congress passed the original Antiquities Action of 1906 during very different times and it was meant in part as an emergency action to protect US lands. Congress apparently can also pass its own legislation designating national monuments. [11]
It takes a village to manage these lands. A 2017 statement from the US Department of Interior said that at that time the National Park Service managed eighty-three national monuments. The Bureau of Land Management administers twenty-five national monuments. And the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service administers six national monuments.[12]
Controversies and Opinions
Oy, there are many. Rather than try to explain them all, suffice to say, there are a lot of people who do not like the idea of a president being able to wave a magic wand and declare, “poof, you are a landmark.” By the same token, many people don’t like presidents undoing the protections set forth by other presidents. There are people who do not want so many US lands protected from commercial use, and then there are preservationists and activists who want more done to protect and respect indigenous peoples and historical sites.
Here are a few articles of note:
-The Houston Law Review published an article called, “Ending the Monuments Men: Should Congress Restrict Presidential Discretion Under the Antiquities Act?”
Supreme Court Justice Roberts Weighed in on his legal opinion.
West Priorities published a piece called, “The Antiquities Act Can Help President Biden Fight Congressional Gridlock, Slow Climate Change, And Honor Indigenous Communities.”
-Laurie Sue Brockway, posted Feb 17, 2023
Sources
[1] The United States Department of Justice, “General Antiquities Act,” www.justice.gov, April 13, 2015.
[2] CRS Reports, “National Monuments and the Antiquities Act: Updated November 28, 2022” (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service), accessed February 16, 2023.
[3] “American Antiquities Act of 1906: Overview (U.S. National Park Service),” www.nps.gov, accessed February 16, 2023.
[4] “Antiquities Act of 1906 — Archeology (U.S. National Park Service),” www.nps.gov, accessed February 16, 2023.
[5] U.S. Department of the Interior, “Statement for the Record United States Department of the Interior before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources United States Senate Concerning the Designation of Monuments pursuant to the Authority Provided by the Antiquities Act July 27, 2016,” Antiquities Act, July 27, 2016.
[6] The Pew Charitable Trusts, “The Antiquities Act and America’s National Monuments a Timeline of Milestones,” 2019.
[7] The White House, “FACT SHEET: President Biden Designates Camp Hale — Continental Divide National Monument,” The White House, October 12, 2022.
[8] Federal Historic Preservation Laws: The Official Compilation of United State Cultural Heritage Statutes, 2006 Edition (The National Center for Cultural Resources, National Park Service, Department of the Interior).
[9] “American Antiquities Act of 1906: Overview (U.S. National Park Service).”
[10] The Pew Charitable Trusts
[11] The White House, “FACT SHEET: President Biden Designates Camp Hale — Continental Divide National Monument,” The White House, October 12, 2022.
[12] U.S. Department of the Interior.
