SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Utah Gov. Gary Herbert made a last-minute trip to Washington this week, where he urged Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to visit Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument.
Herbert told reporters a conference call from Washington that he did not speak one-on-one with President Donald Trump about a push from Utah GOP officials to repeal the southern Utah monument.
President Barack Obama named the monument in December, but Herbert and other locals want Trump to rescind it.
Herbert says Zinke seems to agree with Utah officials that the sacred tribal lands at Bears Ears need protections.
The governor wants to see Congress designation protections, not a president. He says he’ll make that case to Zinke when he visits.
Herbert says Trump invited him to Washington to watch the president sign legislation Monday repealing some land management and education rules.
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