So long, Kaibab!

[Bean Counter]

World class mule deer country under assault once again. I feel for the chumps with 15+ NR points waiting to draw a coveted 13B muley tag. This charge naturally being led by three tirds who don't even represent the geography in question and spend the rest of their time rolling out the welcome mat for illegal aliens and other left wing, flag burning causes. 

http://kdminer.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=65105&SectionID=74&SubSectionID=604&S=1

In a move that caught most Arizona sportsmen off guard, three Arizona Congressional representatives have written to President Obama asking that he create yet another national monument in Arizona.

Reps. Raul Grijalva, D-District 3, Rep. Rueben Gallego, D-District 7 and Ann Kirkpatrick, D-District 1, were asked by four environmental groups to contact President Obama and have him designate 1.7 million acres of public land north of the Grand Canyon, known as the Kaibab (Unit 12A) and Arizona Strip (Unit 13A), and part of Unit 9 as the Grand Canyon Watershed National Monument.

The groups are the Sierra Club, Center For Biological Diversity, Grand Canyon Wildlands Council and Environment Arizona.
...
Unmacht noted that the Arizona Game and Fish Commission in 2012 voted against any support for this monument designation for these lands. This agency is charged with managing wildlife in Arizona, and they too see that there is no reason to support this action.

[grundy53]

Hopefully it doesn't go through.

[JimmyHoffa]

I don't know that being a monument would necessarily mean it is off limits to hunting.  I seem to remember the proposal for the area in Idaho to become a monument.  Hunting would still be allowed, but certain 'development' uses would be prohibited. 

[Bean Counter]

The less we smell of the feds, the better. 

[bigtex]

The less we smell of the feds, the better. 

It's already federal lands and the current activities would remain. When monuments are established only new activities are prohibited.

"Formal designation and permanent protection for the Grand Canyon Watershed allows for continued public access, rights of way, sightseeing, hiking, wildlife observation, birding, hunting, fishing, and many other activities, including traditional tribal access and uses." https://utah.sierraclub.org/content/grand-canyon-watershed-national-monument

National Monuments created by the President can only be a) current federal lands or b) non-federal lands where the landowner has an agreement with the federal government that once the area is declared a monument they will donate/sell the lands to the federal government.

Congress has a third option in that they can declare a monument or a park in an area with no federal lands simply hoping that landowners will at sometime sell/donate the land to the federal government. These areas are known as monuments/parks that are authorized but not yet established.

[elkboy]

Another casualty could be the loss of forest restoration activities (forest stand thinning, prescribed fire, fuels reduction, etc.), such as in the Four Forest Restoration Initiative.  Some of these environmental groups understand  but are philosophically opposed to active management, even when the objective is to reverse impacts of 100 years of fire suppression. 

[rim_runner]

The Agua Fria National Monument in central Arizona allows hunting. There may be others also.
 

[bigtex]

The Agua Fria National Monument in central Arizona allows hunting. There may be others also.

Basically the way it works is this:
NPS National Monuments = closed to hunting
BLM, USFS, USFWS National Monuments = Open to hunting. Some occasional closures may occur.

But as the Sierra Club has stated, hunting will continue with this proposal.