Reflecting on the First Decade of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

A Talk with Manager Dave Hunsaker, Charles Wilkinson, and Patricia Limerick

The first nine years of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah was discussed with monument manager Dave Hunsaker in a public event at the University of Colorado at Boulder on Sept. 28. Hunsaker’s talk was followed by a conversation with CU-Boulder history and environmental studies Professor Patricia Nelson Limerick and Distinguished Professor Charles Wilkinson of the Law School.

Hunsaker was named Public Lands Manager of the Year in 2004 by the Public Lands Foundation. He will talk about the Bureau of Land Management’s efforts to protect the land while also collaborating with community members with sometimes hostile attitudes toward the new monument.

President Bill Clinton and Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt used the President’s Antiquities Act authority to establish the 1.7-million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in south-central Utah in a controversial 1996 decision.

“The new national monuments of the Clinton era have been illuminating and consequential experiments in the practice of conservation,” Limerick said. “David Hunsaker’s experiences and observations are rich resources for everyone interested in the well-being of the West’s public lands.”

Hunsaker has participated in the early stages of several major public land programs, including the monument. He also has worked on important projects and initiatives such as the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, the Friends of Red Rock Canyon, and other partnerships.