SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Republican attorney general of Utah says he's going to sue over President Barack Obama's designation of the Bears Ears National Monument that spans 1.35 million acres in the state.

Attorney General Sean Reyes said in a statement Wednesday that he's working with local officials to file a lawsuit. He said Utah also will look to work with President-elect Donald Trump to try to curtail the monument. It comes after the White House announced the protection of land considered sacred to Native American tribes and home to archaeological sites, including ancient cliff dwellings.

It's a victory for tribes and conservationists who pushed for the Bears Ears area to be folded into a monument. Critics called it another layer of unnecessary federal control that they feared would close the area to development and recreation.

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