Conservation group launches $1M ad campaign hitting Trump monument decision

A conservation group is launching a $1 million television and radio advertisement campaign targeting three House Republicans over President Trump’s decision to shrink monument protections in Utah.

The Western Values Project’s ads will go after Reps. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) and Martha McSally (R-Ariz.).

The ads tell viewers about Trump’s executive order shrinking the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah, and highlights potential public land policy changes in the three states it is set to air in. 

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The group calls on viewers to tell Walden, Beutler and McSally to “stop the attacks on public lands because your American birthright is not for sale.”

The ads are some of the first to come out since Trump’s Dec. 4 announcement shrinking Utah’s monuments. Trump’s decision, while popular with conservatives, has angered environmentalists and public lands activists who warn it could open the door to more development on land owned by the federal government.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has recommended Trump shrink two more monuments and change land management practices on several others.

Western Values Project polled voters in the three targeted districts, finding majorities of respondents oppose the Utah decisions.

“Public lands are a cornerstone of the way of life in communities across the West. Whether you live in Arizona, Washington, or Oregon, the administration’s plan to gut protections for public lands is wildly unpopular,” Chris Saeger, executive director of the Western Values Project, said in a statement.

“This isn’t about politics or political parties. It’s about supporters of our public lands, from hunters and anglers to conservationists standing shoulder to shoulder with our leaders in Congress and protecting our public lands for future generations.”