A debate has been spreading around the Verde Valley, and particularly in the Sedona area, as to whether or not to grant national monument status to around 160,000 acres of land in the area around the famous red rocks.
It’s something made possible under the American Antiquities Act of 1906, which allows the president to set aside some federal lands for special protections.
Last week, supporters and opponents of the proposal brought their arguments to Camp Verde where the Town Council listened to both sides Oct. 14.
The Town Council took no action afterward and expressed few immediate opinions about the issue.
Mayor Charlie German said that the issue was important enough to be discussed here where the public and elected leaders could take into account how it might affect the area.
While the issue has brought out some contentious arguments in some settings, no one from the public in Camp Verde had any input to offer at the meeting.
Brigit Lowenstein, a supporter of the Sedona Verde Valley Red Rock National Monument, said that one of the goals of those behind the initiative was to gauge public opinion before laying out more concrete proposals.
That being said, opponents of the plan highlighted a general lack of public local support for it throughout the Verde Valley.
The presentations were given on the heels of a resounding defeat for the plan from the Sedona City Council, which voted the night before 6-1 to oppose the national monument designation. The consensus of the council was that the plans felt rushed and many questions were still unanswered, according to the Sedona Red Rock News.
Both sides in the monument debate insinuated that the other had been disseminating misinformation in an effort to affect public opinion.
Lowenstein said that the movement to have the area declared a national monument had its roots in efforts carried out over the years by Keep Sedona Beautiful, an organization that has promoted environmental stewardship among the red rocks since the early 1970s.
Lowenstein outlined arguments from supporters that the lands in question, currently largely under the management of the U.S. Forest Service were under threat through efforts in Congress to revert control of federal land to state governments throughout the West.
If the lands were to revert to state control, Lowenstein said that monument proponents were afraid some of the lands would be sold and possibly open to development.
“Taking lands out of the public domain means the loss of our public lands,” Lowenstein said. “Also, what about water? What would happen to our resource if we had major development in our area?”
Dwight Kadar, spokesman for the local anti-monument group called American Liberty, said that keeping the land tied up under federal management was keeping revenue out of the coffers of the Arizona state government, funding that could be used to fund education where money has been cut in recent years.
Kadar said that if approved, Sedona and the Village of Oak Creek would be enclosed by the national monument.
Kadar said that he was worried the designation could have an effect on Verde Valley grazing rights.
Even though proponents have argued that many such rights would be grandfathered in, Kadar said he remained skeptical based on what has happened in other areas around the country.
“No city or unincorporated municipality has ever been totally encased in a national monument,” Kadar said. “You could potentially be next.”
The Verde Valley Archaeology Center, which is planning a new facility in Camp Verde, could eventually run into problems, Kadar said, down the road.
Sandra Cosentino, a member of the archaeology center with a background in land management said she supported measures to preserve the area but felt like the national monument proposal was just not the right idea.
“I just can’t buy this plan,” Cosentino said. “I’m more interested in what’s the bigger vision for the Verde Valley the rest of you have.”
Kadar said that the Verde Valley already had a good working relationship with the U.S. Forest Service and there wasn’t a need to change, though Lowenstein argued that if federal lands were reverted to the state that relationship would necessarily change.
Councilwoman Carol German said that the felt particularly stronger about one thing.
“I’d hate to see the state take away federal lands,” German said.
While Kadar said that wasn’t something that would be certain, German said she wasn’t so sure.
As for the idea of establishing a national monument, German said she’d like to see the process work so that there would be management plans in place before lands could receive the declaration.
Lowenstein said that one reason the supporters of the plan wanted public opinion was so that a possible management plan could in fact be drafted.
Mayor Charlie German said he knew from experience, having been a Camp Verde resident since 1951, that the U.S. Forest Service that it has often done its best to work with the Town of Camp Verde.
German also noted that there was still of lot of information to sift through but at least it was now part of the local public record so that local residents could see some different sides of the issue and see how it might have an impact on the local region.
