When President Trump and U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke traveled to Utah to shrink the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase national monuments, Americans elsewhere shuddered at the realization that this administration could attack protected public lands in their communities too.
Six national monuments in California, including Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument north of the Bay Area, were included in Zinke’s politically motivated review that eventually led to the Utah monument reductions in December.
The executive order that triggered the monuments review created a precedent that all national monuments are subject to review and reduction.
The decision — any decision — to undermine our national monuments is economically misguided. Our protected lands act like magnets for business activity, drawing companies and employees alike that seek out these incredible places.
As a longtime venture capital investor, evaluating a company’s potential competitive advantage is critical to my analyses. This can include some factors that the wider public may not realize but surely intuitively understands.
Consider a company’s ability to attract top talent. Touting high quality of life for employees is one way to stand apart. As Americans’ demand for outdoor access continues to rise, nearby protected public land has become a significant selling point for companies.
I am member of the Conservation for Economic Growth Coalition, a group comprised of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists who know that our protected public lands offer an irreplaceable competitive advantage to companies’ ability to recruit and retain top talent.
In the ambitious and fast-moving Silicon Valley investor community, any loss of a company’s competitive advantage can be fatal to its growth and attractiveness to funders.
President Trump has introduced a high degree of political uncertainty to something that should be above politics: Outdoor access for present and future generations of both businesses and visitors. As companies consider where to build new or expand existing facilities, they can no longer depend with any certainty on a particular location’s recreational access.
Trump and Zinke have made it clear that the attack on our Utah monuments may not be the end of their attempts to remove protections from our beloved national monuments across the country. I fear other monuments are at risk, as are the companies that rely on them to attract talent.
Thankfully, some politicians are working to re-introduce certainty to our protected public lands and natural heritage. New legislation, The Antiquities Act of 2018, introduced by U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D- New Mexico, would ensure that existing national monuments continue to be protected for future generations. This bill provides an added layer of insurance to ward off future attacks on national monuments and affirms the nation’s commitment to keeping public lands in public hands.
My senators, Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, are co-sponsors of this important bill. I am grateful for their leadership, as is the entire Conservation for Economic Growth Coalition.
As senators representing the economic powerhouse that is the state of California, they recognize the importance of protecting national monuments. Their leadership on protecting public lands has been unequivocal and consistent with California’s conservation heritage.
So many of California’s most iconic places are or were national monuments at one time. In fact, Death Valley, Lassen Volcanic, Pinnacles and Joshua Tree national parks were national monuments before they were made national parks.
Feinstein and Harris are standing up for our state’s ability to recruit top talent in the shadow of our parks and monuments. If President Trump is to continue to position himself as an economics-focused President, he must re-think any further attacks on our national monuments.
Susan Mason has 28 years of operating, management and venture capital experience. In 2011, she co-founded Aligned Partners in Menlo Park.
