TERMINATED: Trump Administration has disbanded San Juan Islands Monument Advisory Committee

“Public input from the San Juan Islands… could be more efficiently accomplished through other means“

Sunday, March 2, 2025
By Jeff Noedel

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum has terminated the San Juan Islands National Monument Advisory Committee (MAC). It had been operated by the Bureau of Land Management, which is part of the Interior Department.

The termination will save American taxpayers up to $50,000 a year, and will reduce or eliminate the influence on federal policy related to the San Juans National Monument by citizen-advisors who prioritize environmental and cultural preservation.

The San Juan Islands National Monument protects archaeological sites of the Coast Salish peoples, lighthouses and relics of early European American settlers in the Pacific Northwest, and biodiversity of the island life in the region. The local national monument includes 75 separate protected sites totaling approximately 1,000 acres in the San Juans, including parts of Lummi Island in Whatcom County and most of Cypress Island in Skagit County. Sites include individual reefs, rocks, capes, bays, points, and very small islands.

On Friday, at least one member of the local MAC received an email from Steve Small, District Manager of the Spokane District of the Bureau of Land Management. Small wrote:

On February 19, 2025, President Donald J. Trump issued Executive Order (EO) 14217, “Commencing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy,” which set forth the Trump Administration’s policy of reducing the size of the Federal Government in order to minimize waste, fraud, abuse, and inflation, and to promote American freedom and innovation.

The Department of the Interior’s implementation of President Trump’s EO is part of its commitment to reform and improve the government bureaucracy to work for the American people.  After careful review and evaluation, the Department has determined that public input from the San Juan Islands National Monument Advisory Committee could be more efficiently accomplished through other means.  In accordance with the EO’s criteria, the Department has terminated the Committee effective February 27, 2025.

We appreciate and thank you for your service on the Committee.

Small’s message did not specify what the “other means” would be that would more efficiently accomplish public input. Presumably, it will be left to the local level to find ways to offer expert advice to the Interior Department, even though it has stopped asking for it.

According to the 2024 charter of the San Juan Islands MAC, the local committee operated on a budget of $50,000 a year.

A national monument is a protected area created on any land owned or controlled by the federal government by proclamation of the president or Congress. National monuments protect a wide variety of natural and historic resources, including sites of geologic, marine, archaeological, and cultural importance. The power of a president to designate national monuments dates back to 1906, when the Antiquities Act was signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt. The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the constitutionality of presidential-declared national monuments.

The local MAC was chartered to provide information, advice, and guidance regarding the implementation of the National Monument’s resource management plan. Members represented a wide array of stakeholder interests in the land and resources from within the region. Members offered expert advice, ideas, and diverse opinions on land use planning, cultural resources, environmental issues, fire management, and more.

MAC members were not paid for their time. The $50,000 covered travel and other incidental expenses.

The MAC was composed of 12 members, each elected to three-year terms. They served without monetary compensation.

• one member represented archeological, cultural, and heritage interests
• one member represented wildlife and ecological interests
• one member represented the interests of a nonprofit organization whose mission was conservation and/or management of natural resources, land, or water,
• one member represented natural resource management or natural sciences interests
• one member represented recreation and tourism interests
• one member represented local youth, education, and interpretation
• two members who had significant cultural or historic connections to, and knowledge about, the landscape, archeological sites, or cultural sites connected to the Monument
• one member who held state, county, or local elected office
• one member represented conservation and/or management of natural resources, land, or water interests
• one member represented local interests who is a resident of Lopez Island
• and one member of the public-at-large.

The San Juan Islands advisory committee was one of six advisory committees in the BLM’s Washington-Oregon region. The others are:

• Eastern Washington RAC
• John Day-Snake RAC
• Southeast Oregon RAC
• Steens Mountain Advisory Council
• Western Oregon RAC

At the time of publication of this article, it was not clear if the Interior Department closed other MACs and RACs.

San Juan Islands Monument Advisory Committee had closed in 2023

In late 2023, the San Juan Islands National Monument Advisory Committee (MAC) was terminated by the Department of Interior, when Department lawyers determined that development of the Resource Management Plan (RMP) was completed.

But by February 2024, a new MAC was formed under the Bureau of Land Management, and its new charge was implementing (as opposed to creating) the RMP.

For some historical context, an excellent December 2023 Salish Current article written by Nancy DeVaux is here.