CRS Report for Congress: RS20647 Authority of a President to Modify or Eliminate a National Monument

Both the President and the Congress currently can create "national monuments," a type of conservation unit created from federal lands. Since 1933 and until recently, monuments were managed by the National Park Service in the Department of the Interior. President Clinton has created a number of new national monuments and has charged agencies other than the National Park Service with the management of several of them. The President exercised the authority given the President under the Antiquities Act of 1906, but the creation of the new monuments proved controversial, both with respect to particular areas designated and with respect to the process by which the monuments were created.