Commentary: Strong Economies need Protected Public Lands

My wife and I recently ventured from our home in Montana on a two-week road trip to the Southwest. The excursion took us deep into Utah’s majestic canyon country and the West’s ongoing clash over our federal public lands, a conflict most recently inflamed by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s recommendation to shrink a number of our National Monuments.While the environmental, social and political issues around these fights remain contentious, one thing has become abundantly clear: