COLORADO SPRINGS – A new poll from Colorado College’s Conservation in the West shows that 52 percent of those surveyed disapprove of President Trump’s handling of issues related to public land, including water and wildlife. 38 percent of respondents approved of the Administration’s handling of public land.

This poll was taken after the Trump Administration announced that it would be reducing the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument by 85 percent and reducing the 1.3 million-acre Bears Ears National Monument by nearly 50 percent.

The poll was based on the results of a questionnaire that was sent to 3,200 registered voters through the eight Intermountain states, including residents of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.

The survey also pressed voters on their opinions on the Trump Administration’s policies regarding the Department of Interior.

Some of these policies as laid out by Interior Department Ryan Zinke include increasing entrance fees at some of the region’s national parks, privatizing park services, easing restrictions on methane emissions from oil and gas operations, and opening the Grand Canyon National Park for uranium mining, and encouraging more oil and gas development on public land. While most respondents approved of many of these initiatives, most disapproved of the initiative to raise national park admission fees, as these are one of the region’s main attractions. The only state that showed approval for raising admission fees was Nevada.

Additionally, 60 percent of respondents opposed expanding the gas and oil operations on public lands, showing that there’s still strong support for keeping public lands in the hands of the federal government.