During the eleven months between Trump’s taking office and his announcement of the vastly reduced Bears Ears monument, the president sent Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on a tour of the area, as he ostensibly sought opinions about how much of Obama’s 1.35 million acres should be preserved. At the same time the department asked for citizens all over the country to express their views online in a massive poll set up by the government. Of the 1.3 million responses available for tally, a remarkable 99 percent voted in favor of retention of the full Obama monument. Zinke also swore that the needs of
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