It's curious how the German public-TV press jumped on another anti-Trump theme. The newest one? A decision was made to downsize two recent additions to National Park system....affecting Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Parks.....both in Utah. Oddly, as President Obama was walking out of the White House on 28 Dec 2016....Bears Ears was 'appointed' to the status of a National Park (no Congressional review). In the case of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Park? It's been around for 20 years or more (1996).
So to lay out to a German what exactly happened....you have to start with this odd feature of the US government....it owns a massive amount of property. In the case of Nevada, the US government owns 84-percent (tribal lands, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, National Forest Service, and military reservation property). Of the eleven western states....almost fifty percent of the property there is federal government property. Of the 39 'eastern' states....it's less than ten-percent, and in some cases (Rhode Island), it's .4-percent that is federally owned.
In the case of Bears Ears....prior to the 2016 decision...it was a connected area involved the Forest Service, the BLM, and Indian tribes. The move to make it National Park Service? There was limited discussion with the Indian tribes involve. Basically, whatever use the tribes were making of the range area....was erased.
So, with Bears Ears....the Trump order (similar to the Obama order, in that there is Congressional involvement)....removed 85-percent of the size of the National Park, and resettled the leftover land back to the original ownership (namely, the BLM, the Indian tribes, and National Forest Service). No one says much over the 15-percent retained, and if it was mostly Indian tribal land, or just open BLM land.
In the case of Grand Staircase-Escalante? It's size was shifted to 50-percent of what was existing in 1996. The rest? It goes back again to the primary three government 'owners' (Indian tribes, BLM, and National Forest Service).
Any attempt to say it's going to private people....is a joke.
Potential use for cattle grazing or oil production? In the case of BLM land, yes, it can happen.
Most people (at least those who are familiar with both episodes in southern Utah).....say that this whole action to create both sites....was done more so to prevent unauthorized archaeological digs and archaeological theft. The suggestion of massive control over hiking and use? Well, yeah....this is another topic by people who saw the Park Service as more of a strict figure in land use.
In essence, there was X-amount of federal property before, and it's the same amount of property today....nothing changed other than the controller of the property. Tribal groups still upset? Yes. They'd like to have all of their tribal lands back....under their control.
It's a silly topic for Germans to get all hyped upon, and I doubt that most working-class Germans really care. But it's another demonstration of the necessary criticism over the US that has to be made in the interest of intellectual Germans.
This brings me to the 'beef' of this discussion. In an average month....you might have two mentions of anything related to Germany on the US national news. On just one single night in Germany with the two public-TV outlets, there's probably at least six news items of a US-trend that will be discussed. Sometimes, it's just movies and culture. Sometimes, it's crime and the evil-Trump. Sometimes, it's drugs and Wall Street. In a way, it's an obsessive amount of effort to hype some US coverage.
My complaint is that you get some German who wants to authenticate themselves as the "US-expert" and they hand out statistics or info that only tie up one single part of the overall story. Some Germans are smart enough to even analyze the story told, and then wonder.....well....why do you only get 50-percent of the story? Or they might even reach the stage of asking....is this really worth telling?
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