Despite abandoning his campaign for a second term in the White House, President Joe Biden could still make progress on his pledge to dramatically expand conservation of public lands in his remaining time in office — potentially even creating new national monuments before Election Day.
Biden already has progressed toward this goal, deploying the Antiquities Act of 1906 more than any other first-term president since Jimmy Carter.
Now, with the clock ticking down Biden’s final months in office, both environmentalists and opponents of more monuments predicted the president is unlikely to slow down his pace and instead could seek to secure his record alongside not just Carter but even the likes of President Theodore Roosevelt, the renowned conservationist.
“You now have a White House with nothing to think about other than President Biden’s legacy, and they have six months to define that,” said Aaron Weiss, deputy director of the Center for Western Priorities.
