In 2015, I attended a ceremony at the White House celebrating the Obama Administration’s designation of Berryessa Snow Mountain Conservation Area as a national monument.

Over the previous several years, Congressman Mike Thompson and I, together with my fellow members of Congress, worked to shepherd this along.

But this designation was the culmination of many years of effort by local officials, as well as conservationists and recreation enthusiasts – all of whom pulled together to make it happen.

We thought we had permanently set aside this federal land for recreation, tourism, hunting and fishing, and had preserved its unique habitats, rare plants, diverse wildlife and expansive trails for future generations.

Unfortunately, under an executive order signed by President Trump, all the progress we made protecting Berryessa Snow Mountain might be lost.

The administration plans to reconsider the national monument designation for a number of national monuments, including Berryessa Snow Mountain.

That would be a terrible mistake. Our national monuments preserve natural, cultural and historic public spaces throughout the United States and provide valuable recreational opportunities for all Americans to enjoy.

Under the 1906 Antiquities Act, presidents have the ability to protect federal lands with historic, environmental, or cultural significance from new development like mining, logging and oil extraction.

Berryessa Snow Mountain has unique biodiversity and a rich Native American cultural heritage, making it an ideal national monument. It’s home to a number of hard-to-find species, including an icon familiar to every American: the bald eagle.

To ensure the broadest local support, we struck a careful balance in our planning of the national monument.

We made sure that all existing private property rights were respected, and that no private lands were included in the designation. Pre-existing firefighting protections were left unchanged, as were the grazing rights of nearby ranchers.

Motorized recreation remains at Lake Berryessa (the lake itself is not included in the national monument), and no new regulations impacting hunting, fishing, or firearm use were imposed.

Existing water rights were protected, and the national monument protects water quality in vital watersheds, including drinking water sources.

Far from impeding on development and business growth, we’ve found that the national monument designation has enhanced the local economy. Many local businesses in the Berryessa area depend heavily on tourism.

While the land is unchanged and remains as beautiful as ever, the official national monument designation adds prestige, familiarity and reputation – increasing the number of visitors who can sustain the local tourism business.

Indeed, a study by the Winters Chamber of Commerce found that protected public lands are major contributors to our country’s $646 billion outdoor recreation economy.

In California alone, more than half of all residents participate in outdoor recreation each year, supporting more than 700,000 jobs and generating more than $6 billion for our state’s economy.

The study also found that local economies surrounding national monuments expand following the creation of a new national monument. Employment, personal income, and per capita income either continued or improved in each of the regions surrounding the national monuments studied.

Under President Trump’s executive order, all of this potential for our region could be abruptly reversed. Berryessa Snow Mountain could fall victim to rapacious and destructive resource exploitation, and no tourism economy flourishes on that.

Over the years, we’ve lost a lot of pristine and unblemished lands to short-sighted development. With its national monument designation, we thought Berryessa Snow Mountain had avoided that fate.

If the Trump Administration tries to strip Berryessa Snow Mountain of its protections, they can expect a fight.

Congressman John Garamendi (D-Davis, Fairfield, Yuba City) represents California’s Third Congressional District, which includes Lake County.