Multi-platform digital ads engage Arizonans to urge Flake to protect our public lands and waters, including Grand Canyon-Parashant, Sonoran Desert and Ironwood Forest

Phoenix, AZ – With just days left until the Interior Department closes the public comment period for its unprecedented and misguided “review” of national monuments, the League of Conservation Voters launched a multi-platform digital ad campaign to engage Arizonans to urge Sen. Jeff Flake to protect our public lands and waters. The ads are part of a $75,000 digital push aimed at four senators who support the review.

Flake has been a vocal supporter of the administration’s monument review, which includes Grand Canyon-Parashant, Sonoran Desert and Ironwood Forest national monuments. Arizonans strongly support existing national monuments, with 86 percent wanting to keep existing protections in place.

“By supporting the monument review, Senator Flake is putting corporate polluters ahead of protecting Arizona’s heritage and critical access to lands,” said Masavi Perea, director of Chispa Arizona, a Latino community organizing program of the League of Conservation Voters. “Grand Canyon-Parashant, Sonoran Desert and Ironwood Forest national monuments contribute to our state’s growing outdoor recreation economy, but Flake is gambling with the future of these monuments and all our public lands. We have just days left to tell Senator Flake and the Trump administration how much these special places mean to our state, our culture and our communities, and urge them to keep these crucial monument protections in place so they’re protected for future generations.”

Part of LCV’s “Our Lands, Our Vote” initiative, the ads include animated videos on Facebook and Instagram, geo-targeted Snapchat filters featuring public lands throughout the state, Spanish-language ads, and display ads on The Arizona Republic’s website.

LCV members have already submitted more than 250,000 comments opposing the monument review and calling for current protections for national monuments to remain in place. The Interior Department’s public comment period closes on July 10 and Secretary Zinke’s final recommendation for each monuments’ future is due to Trump on August 24.