It?s mobile living for a cause Filmmaker-journalist Brent Rose is finishing up a road trip in his van to raise awareness about national monuments currently at risk of declassification as protected lands.
In April, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review 27 national monuments established since 1996 by Presidents Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama. Preserved under the 1906 Antiquities Act, these monuments are mostly located throughout the American West, in states like Nevada, Utah, California, and New Mexico.
The announcement has reignited a debate over how much control Washington should have over Western lands, and also prompted Rose into action. Two years ago, Rose?star of a popular video series on Wired?gave up his apartment to live full-time in a van he named Ashley the Beast, crisscrossing the United States and documenting his adventures in a project called Connected States. After hearing about monuments at risk of losing their designation as protected lands, Rose embarked on an ambitious plan: To visit as many of the monuments as possible before July 10, the last day for the public to comment on the Department of the Interior's comments page.

A post shared by Brent Rose (@brentdangerrose) on Jun 28, 2017 at 7:02am PDT

Because Rose was already living in his van, he told Curbed in an email that he was ?uniquely set up to make this happen.? His van features solar panels to charge his cameras and ...