Bears Ears National Monument is a tapestry of landscapes, identities, and histories of Indigenous peoples in the Southwest. No matter the season, visitors from far and wide bustle through to see for themselves the stories and mysteries held within Bears Ears — the cliff dwellings, kivas, village sites, pilgrimage trails, petroglyphs, pictographs, and canyons that hold truths we don’t often learn about in American history textbooks.
For Indigenous people, cultural landscapes are sacred spaces. It is important that visitors show reverence for the land and honor and protect cultural sites throughout the region. With its boundaries restored, Bears Ears National Monument finally puts tribes at the forefront of stewardship of their ancestral lands.
Here, tribal elders and leaders share tips with visitors about how to visit cultural landscapes like Bears Ears respectfully.
Greet the landscape
TIM PETERSON
“For me when I go to sacred places the first thing I do is greet the landscape. Always remember to show respect and give offerings like cornmeal. Bears Ears is powerful. We come here for ceremonies, guidance, and inspiration. Acknowledge all life within the landscape, this is their home. Wherever you are, whoever you are, make sure you show respect. We must never abuse our privileges. It’s important to understand that this is our home and will continue to be so long as we take care of it.” — Gary Keene (Acoma Pueblo/Diné)
Look but don’t touch
ED MOSS
“My elders always told us to stay away from those structures and to leave the artifacts where they are. Out of respect, we were always told not to go climbing into the structures, and to leave everything that belonged to our ancestors. That's our history on the walls…That's our history for our future generations to know about Bears Ears and learn about how our ancestors lived and what their culture was like, which we still carry on to this day. We need to respect those structures and just leave them alone. We can look but don't touch them. They’re there for our history and tell people that we were there.” — Mary Benally (Hopi/Diné)
Leave all artifacts
Vandalized petroglyph panel. TIM PETERSON.
“These places are still very much part of our homelands. And when we hear about petroglyphs being damaged, or archaeological sites being damaged, it is in a sense like taking a chapter out of a book. So when parts of those are disturbed or missing, then we’re not able to connect the dots as effectively as we ought to be allowed to.” — Jim Enote (Zuni)
Enter sacred spaces with good intent
TIM PETERSON
“The energy you bring effects sacred spaces. You have a continuum of positive and negative energies within you, so you have to be in conscious control of how you want to be present. If your intent is good, then take it in that way, and thank whatever is in your presence. If you have to lean against a tree, say, "Thank you tree for allowing me to lean my back on you. Thank you for taking the stress or the pain out of me and grounding me back again." So when we talk about being in a sacred space, it's actually any space that you have around you. Wherever you find yourself to be, that's a sacred space and it should be addressed as such, even though others might not perceive it as that. But you are who you are, and so you project that goodness around you.” — Kathy Sanchez (San Ildefonso Pueblo)
See archaeological sites as living landscapes
BLAKE MCCORD
"What you see out there archaeologically are our footprints. The evidence that we see out there — the pottery sherds, the burials, everything that was a part of their community — that’s the footprints of our ancestral people. The Hopi don’t see ruins as being “abandoned” because the spiritual people still reside there. They’re still in our memory, still in our ceremonies. So we don’t see the ruins as being just cultural resources. They were a part of our lives. Grandmothers were there, kids were there, everything was very vibrant. Perhaps harsh, but people lived there.” — Leigh Kuwanwisiwma (Hopi)
Last week, during the infamous “Friday news dump,” the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a management plan for the unlawfully reduced Bears Ears National Monument. The plan was drafted in a relative hurry after the president unlawfully reduced the monument by 85 percent just a year and a half ago. For context, the well-researched and scientifically justified original management plan for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument took four years to develop.
The new plan for Bears Ears flips the idea of what national monuments are supposed to be on its head by “applying fewer land and resource use restrictions and allowing for more discretion for multiple uses” of monument lands.
Wait. What?!
That’s right. Believe it or not, the plan actually proposes weaker protections for the majority of the 15 percent of what’s left of Bears Ears National Monument than if no monument had been designated at all.
In this way, the proposed Bears Ears management plan is unlike any other yet — it does what it can to set a new paradigm where destructive activities like new off-road vehicle routes and pinyon and juniper deforestation projects take precedence over protection of monument objects and values. This isn’t just wrong, it’s contrary to policy and the law for monument management which states that “the conservation of natural values is of primary concern.”
When does the mayhem begin?
The new plan isn’t yet a done deal. Last Friday’s release triggers a 30-day protest period and a 60-day governor’s consistency review. After that, the BLM can issue a formal record of decision approving the plan, and the plan would then take effect. If you noticed that that’s well before the next presidential election, you’re not alone.
The 30-day protest period is one during which those who commented on specific issues earlier in the planning process can protest the proposed plan by detailing how their concerns haven’t been alleviated by the proposed plan. The Grand Canyon Trust and our conservation partners intend to file a protest.
The governor’s 60-day consistency review is a period during which the state of Utah can determine if the proposed plan aligns with the state’s goals for Bears Ears. You can probably count on Utah’s anti-public lands administration to try to make the proposed plan even worse.
What, specifically, is wrong with the plan?
Glad you asked. Here are a few of the most egregious elements of the proposed plan:
Fails to adequately plan for increased visitation of cultural sites;
Waits at least two years to implement a cultural resources management plan;
Fails to limit group sizes in much of the shrunken monument;
Allows recreational target shooting without adequate safeguards;
Manages “lands with wilderness character for multiple use,” instead of preserving wilderness values;
Allows the development of new off-road vehicle routes in highly scenic and culturally important areas;
Calls for “increased” pinyon-and-juniper forest clearcutting, potentially threatening the exposure and destruction of undocumented cultural sites (the majority of the monument has not been surveyed for cultural resources);
Names a handful of cultural sites as “public sites” to promote and develop, at least two of which are now little-known, lightly visited, and wildly inappropriate to advertise for visitors; and
Was developed wholly without the input of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and without the benefit of the traditional knowledge and Indigenous science that represent the very foundation of the Bears Ears movement.
Oh, that’s lousy
Yes, dear reader, it is. National monuments are meant to protect our shared history and heritage while leaving a legacy for future generations. The Trump administration not only defiled our shared history by unlawfully reducing Bears Ears, now it’s showing contempt for our legacy by choosing at nearly every turn in the proposed plan to give protection short-shrift. The way in which the administration has added the insult of this detestable plan to the injury of slashing Bears Ears is deeply disturbing, and it cannot stand.
Ultimately, the courts or Congress will settle this issue. Litigation remains pending in federal court in Washington, D.C. In the words of Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition Co-Chair and Ute Indian Tribe Business Committee Member Shaun Chapoose: “The BLM and Forest Service monument management plans are more of the same. Tribes weren’t consulted during Trump's bogus review of the Bears Ears National Monument. We weren’t consulted when Trump illegally revoked and replaced the monument. And, now the BLM and Forest Service rushed to complete these management plans. The truth is, the monument is in litigation. The administration is wasting tax dollars on these plans. This will be settled in the courts.”
So, what can I do?
Urge your member of Congress to co-sponsor the BEARS Act (H.R. 871), which would restore and expand Bears Ears National Monument.
on
July 16 2019
Amy S. Martin
by Amber Reimondo, Energy Director
Supporters of the Grand Canyon and Bears Ears enjoyed a victory late last week. To the disappointment of two uranium mining companies — one with a significant stake in mining claims around the Grand Canyon and Bears Ears — President Trump announced that he would not implement import quotas on uranium. Quotas could have substantially increased domestic uranium prices, incentivizing uranium mines to throttle forward from the Grand Canyon to Bears Ears and elsewhere on the Colorado Plateau. Without them, the uranium mining industry’s dreams of an artificial market boost won’t be coming, at least not yet. Stock prices for the two mining companies that requested the quotas plummeted precipitously in response to the president’s decision. But that’s not the end of the story.
Between a yellow rock and a hard place
The proposed quotas put President Trump in the position of choosing between two industries he’s made promises to: the mining industry and the nuclear power industry. The latter strongly advocated against the mining companies’ proposed import quotas, estimating that forced domestic sourcing of uranium for nuclear power would drive up the industry’s costs by $500 to $800 million per year and result in the closure of nuclear power plants already struggling to compete with cheaper natural gas and increasingly cost-effective renewables like wind and solar power.
The majority of uranium imported to the United States comes from mines in Canada and Australia, where high quality ore makes uranium far cheaper than what U.S. mines can produce. In a recent interview with Utah Public Radio, a spokesman for the Ad Hoc Utilities Group, which includes the majority of nuclear energy generators in the U.S., stated “the only beneficiaries [of import quotas] would be the profit seekers at the two mining companies.” This collision of opinions may have led President Trump to temper his quota decision by establishing a new United States Nuclear Fuel Working Group.
Another avenue for uranium mining on U.S. soil?
The newly formed working group has until mid-October “to develop recommendations for reviving and expanding domestic nuclear fuel production.” It is co-chaired by the president’s national security and economic policy advisors and includes Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt, among others. So while, for the time being, uranium mining companies won’t see restrictions on imports of uranium, including from allied countries like Canada and Australia, recommendations for “reviving and expanding” domestic nuclear fuel production could come with any number of implications for our treasured public lands around the Grand Canyon and Bears Ears. For a clue about what those implications might be, we need look no further than the newly released strategy to enhance access to uranium and other “critical minerals” as defined by the Trump administration.
Through the lens of the critical minerals strategy
While we don’t know for sure what will come out of this 90-day review by the working group, we’d be remiss not to view the possibilities through the administration’s already-stated priorities and strategies. In the beginning of June, the White House released its critical minerals strategy, which, among other things, recommends streamlining America’s most foundational environmental laws to allow uranium and other mines to go forward with less scrutiny. The critical minerals strategy also suggests reviewing and revising mining bans and other land designations, including national parks, wildlife refuges, and national monuments to allow for critical mineral mining. The administration has already slashed Bears Ears by 85 percent, at least in part due to lobbying efforts by one of the companies that requested quotas. The administration could also attempt to reverse a ban on new uranium claims around the Grand Canyon.
Help us fight back
You can help us battle attempts by the uranium industry to mine our most treasured public lands by urging your representatives to support the Uranium Classification Act of 2019, which would remove uranium from the critical minerals list, something experts say is needed. You can urge your congressional representatives to support a permanent ban on mining near the Grand Canyon, including asking your senators for a companion bill in the Senate. You can also urge your member of Congress to co-sponsor the BEARS Act of 2019, which would restore and expand the boundaries of Bears Ears.
After ample snow and a wet spring, it's a record wildflower year in the Bears Ears cultural landscape! It’s a marked change from last spring, when long-term exceptional drought gave us dusty winds and dry stalks. Now, the desert has sprung back to life with healing and life-giving moisture, and this year, just about everything that can produce a flower is blooming. The sights and smells are overwhelming.
Someday, you might be able to smell the flowers through the internet, but until then, you'll have to imagine the sweet, heavenly perfume of sand verbena and cliffrose. With continuing rain and cool temperatures, the plants bloom on, and we're thrilled to be able to chase the flowers up in elevation all summer!
Now is a great time to visit. If you’d like to identify species named in President Obama’s proclamation designating Bears Ears National Monument, download and carry this guide with you on your explorations.
Here are some examples of what you might see, captured during the last week of May.
Bananna Yucca (Yucca baccata). TIM PETERSON.
Mountain pepperweed (Lepidium montanum). TIM PETERSON.
Smallflower fishhook cactus (Sclerocactus parviflorus). TIM PETERSON.
Badlands mule-ears (Scabrethia scabra). TIM PETERSON.
Prickly pear (Opuntia sp.). TIM PETERSON.
Colorado four o’clock (Mirabilis multiflora). TIM PETERSON.
Americans just love their national monuments. They protect history, culture, and are vital to promoting public understanding of science and heritage. According to polling, 90 percent of Western voters consider national monuments important places to be preserved for future generations. And two-thirds of Western voters consider actions to remove national monument protections a bad policy change.
We agree. The president’s decision to revoke and replace Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in 2017 was not only unpopular, it was unlawful. Congress, not the president, has the exclusive authority to alter national monument boundaries. That’s why we challenged the president’s proclamations in court. As we wait for the courts to decide, Congress could act to settle the matter once and for all.
A bill to restore Grand Staircase, restore and expand Bears Ears, and cement the boundaries of 50 other national monuments designated since 1996, including those threatened by President Trump’s 2017 national monuments review order, has been introduced in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Please ask your members of Congress to co-sponsor the ANTIQUITIES Act of 2019. Sign now ›
A bill that pays monuments back
Introduced by Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., in the House and Tom Udall, D-N.M., in the Senate, the America’s Natural Treasures of Immeasurable Quality Unite, Inspire, and Together Improve the Economies of States (ANTIQUITIES) Act of 2019 would not only protect the 52 monuments under threat, it would also establish a fund to manage and enhance the monuments. The bill also designates new wilderness areas inside national monuments in New Mexico and Nevada. You can read a summary of the bill here and the full text here. The bill had 122 cosponsors and counting in the Senate and House at press time, and the bill deserves your support.
Check the list to see if your members of Congress are already co-sponsors. If they are, please thank them. If not, please ask for their co-sponsorship. Take action now ›
Rep. Haaland introduced the ANTIQUITIES Act of 2019 as her first piece of legislation in the new Congress. In 2019, she and Sharice Davids, D-Kan., became the first two Native American women ever elected to Congress.
“We love our public lands, we love our open spaces, and we care about the future we’re going to leave for our children, but this administration has been illegally attacking our nation’s treasures so it can sell them off to oil companies and developers,” Haaland said.
Said Sen. Udall of his bill, “One of the United States of America’s greatest traditions is the preservation of our iconic landscapes and the protection of our natural history…our national monuments are the product of years of collaboration at the local level, and they provide unmatched value to small businesses, outdoor enthusiasts, and communities that depend on a thriving outdoor recreation economy.”
Intertribal support
Tribal leaders with Reps. Haaland, Davids, and Gallego in a House Natural Resources Committee hearing room in March 2019.TIM PETERSON
The ANTIQUITIES Act of 2019 is supported by the five tribes of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition (Hopi, Navajo, Ute, Ute Mountain Ute, and Zuni). In fact, Sen. Udall and Rep. Haaland worked with the five tribes to craft the language of the bill, a necessary step not taken by members of the Utah delegation when they introduced their bill to make the president’s monument cuts permanent in the last session of Congress.
At a March 2019 oversight hearing, Tony Small, vice chairman of the Ute Indian Tribe Business Committee said in written testimony, “Congress should pass legislation affirming and expanding the Bears Ears National Monument. The Ute Indian Tribe strongly supports [the ANTIQUITIES Act of 2019]. Each of these bills would reaffirm and expand the Monument to include the entire 1.9 million acres originally proposed by the Coalition. These bills …were developed in consultation with the Coalition Tribes.”
Pueblo of Zuni Lieutenant Governor and Coalition Co-Chair Carleton Bowekaty said of the bill: “We welcome Congresswoman Haaland’s involvement in this vitally important issue and look forward to working with her on this bill in her capacity as the new Chair of the House Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands.”
Hopi Tribe Vice-Chairman Clark Tenakhongva echoed that Haaland and Udall’s continued leadership “encourages us to keep fighting to protect our most cherished landscapes.”
Your support of these bills, and the action you take to gain the support of your members of Congress, is important. We thank you. With your help, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante can be restored.
Lawsuits take time. When they involve issues you care deeply about, it seems like they take an extra-long time. As we wait for the courts to advance to the next stage of our litigation challenging the president’s unlawful actions in 2017 revoking and replacing Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, positive signs in other court cases with similar fact patterns, new research, and a poor record of success for the administration are giving us hope for encouraging outcomes.
Withdraw a withdrawal? Not so fast, says judge
On Friday, March 29, 2019, in Alaska, U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason ruled that an executive order signed by President Trump opening the Arctic Ocean to oil and gas leasing was “unlawful and invalid.” President Trump’s April 2017 order would have reversed bans on new oil and gas leasing put in place in 2015 and 2016 by former President Obama for about 125 million acres under the Arctic Ocean and certain parts of the Atlantic Ocean. President Obama prohibited new oil and gas drilling using his authority under a 1953 law called the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. Restoring the bans, the judge ruled that Trump’s orders “…exceeded the President’s authority” when he tried to open the protected waters to new drilling.
Just like the Antiquities Act of 1906 (the law that was used to create Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments), the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act grants limited and one-way protection authority to presidents, but it does not grant the authority to undo protections. Just as we hope the judge in our monuments cases will rule, Judge Gleason ruled that the law does not give presidents the authority to revoke withdrawals made by their predecessors.
Staff for House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Raúl Grijalva said of the ruling: “…only Congress can remove presidentially established protective features - a bad sign for Trump’s order shrinking Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, which is itself being challenged in multiple federal cases." This was indeed good news, but more news was just around the corner.
“I do think, by the way, that the supporters of Bears Ears National Monument will win in court.”
- Former Interior Secretary Sally Jewell
Log trucks trump wildlife? Nope
On April 2, 2019, a magistrate judge in Oregon ruled that President Obama did not exceed his authority under the Antiquities Act when, in 2017, he expanded Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, known for its astounding diversity of wildlife and plants. The challenge was brought by a timber and land speculation company, claiming the expansion was invalid because some of the trees there were previously set aside for logging under the Oregon and California Lands Act. The court upheld the legitimacy of the monument, confirming that the Oregon and California Lands Act does not conflict with the Antiquities Act of 1906, which grants presidents the authority to designate national monuments on public lands. Two other lawsuits challenging Cascade-Siskiyou are still pending, but this ruling affirming the legitimacy of President Obama’s protective action is an encouraging first step.
Research reveals the courts should restore Utah monuments
During the first week of April, the Harvard University Environmental Law Review published “the first and only comprehensive review of every prior national monument reduction that occurred as a result of presidential action.” University of Utah law research professor John Ruple said that his research “demonstrates that there is no historical precedent for Trump’s reductions…there is little evidence indicating that Congress intended to endow the president with the power to dramatically reduce national monuments. Instead, Congress appeared intent on retaining those powers for itself.”
Ruple further concludes that those who dislike presidential national monument designations are “not without a remedy, but that remedy resides in the halls of Congress, which unquestionably has the power to create, modify, or even revoke national monument designations. There is no reason to expand the power of the president by creating implied powers that are supported neither by history nor by law.” Powerful words.
Checking the president’s scorecard
Much ink has been spilled on the administration’s no-holds-barred push to undo policy and regulation, and the attack has indeed been swift and comprehensive. But, so far, cutting out public involvement, lack of due diligence, downright sloppiness, and failure to back up policy changes with facts and evidence have had a dismal effect on the staying power of the Trump administration’s policy pronouncements. The current administration’s success rate defending its deregulatory agenda in court? About 6 percent.
The week of March 11, 2019, was “Sunshine Week,” an initiative of the American Society of News Editors to educate the public about the dangers of unnecessary secrecy in government. So it was fitting that on March 13, 2019, the House Committee on Natural Resources held a hearing to get to the bottom of how and why Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments were revoked and replaced in 2017.
It didn’t take long for the real reasons to become clear: mining for uranium and coal.
National Monuments oversight hearing, March 13, 2019, House Committee on Natural Resources.TIM PETERSON
Eyeing uranium deposits in Bears Ears
Before the hearing, new details regarding the influence of uranium company Energy Fuels Resources emerged, including how newly confirmed EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler (then a lobbyist for the uranium firm) sought and took a meeting with Bureau of Land Management (BLM) officials to urge that the boundaries of Bears Ears be shrunk before the 2017 national monuments review even began.
Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif., referenced recent media reports on Wheeler's lobbying efforts in the hearing:
Valuing coal over dinosaur fossils in Grand Staircase-Escalante
During the hearing, Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., exposed previously unreleased evidence from an internal report by the Department of the Interior’s inspector general wherein a specialist tasked with drawing smaller boundaries for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was told to exclude lands previously leased for coal extraction before the monument was designated in 1996.
According to the report, the expert said, "These coal areas are all pretty high dinosaur resources areas. We were told they're out [of the reduced monuments] regardless. …It’s one of the areas that they found several species of dinosaurs that aren’t found anywhere else in the world.” Rep. Huffman added, “The value in that shale was not a little bit of coal, which you can find anywhere, it wasn't some incidental oil and gas, it was these dinosaur fossils that are unique on the planet…”
Watch the exchange:
San Juan County changes position on Bears Ears
When seeking to diminish the monuments in 2017, the current administration often cited local government support to cut or eliminate the monuments. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., addressed this issue when questioning Utah State BLM Director Ed Roberson, saying, “Recently, the new …San Juan County Commission has passed a resolution supporting [the expansion of Bears Ears] …Given the administration’s commitment to local concerns…will you then recommend that the administration not only reverse its decision to shrink Bears Ears, but also initiate a new review in order to expand the national monument consistent with local opinion that we have just seen [expressed with] San Juan County’s resolution?”
“I can’t answer for the department’s position on that,” replied Roberson.
The Utah delegation told a series of half-truths, leaving out important details that would eradicate the credibility of its arguments in favor of slashing Bears Ears.
“Mr. Curtis …is there any oil and gas in that area?” asked Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah.
“No,” answered Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah., instead referring to uranium. “As a matter fact, Energy Fuels [a uranium company] endorsed my mineral withdrawal for 1.35 million acres. …There’s no uranium.”
Rep. Curtis was referring to his failed bill, H.R. 4532, introduced in the last session of Congress to codify the president’s revocation and replacement of Bears Ears. That bill did contain a mineral withdrawal, but the withdrawal only applied to new uranium claims. Why would a uranium company endorse such a withdrawal? Simple — a withdrawal erases potential future competition. Energy Fuels is the largest shareholder in another company whose subsidiary owns more than 100 active mining claims within the original Bears Ears boundaries.
As for oil and gas, the Bureau of Land Management’s own 2008 resource management plan shows most of the Bears Ears region has either “high” or “moderate” oil and gas potential.
Obfuscation aside, the most moving moments of the hearing were found in testimony from tribal leaders and questions directed to them about the significance of Bears Ears.
For example, take the words of vice chairman of the Hopi Tribe, Clark W. Tenakhongva:
Poignantly, Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., said, “We have heard that this illegal elimination of our national monuments…was for the sake of traditional uses. But I ask, how do we draw the lines around those traditions? Why is grazing considered traditional use, but not subsistence? Why coal and gas extraction, but not tribal religious practices?”
Did President Trump’s monuments review listen to tribes? According to written testimony from Tony Small, vice chairman of the Ute Indian Tribe Business Committee, “There was no back and forth discussion, no further exchange of proposals, no deliberative process as required by Interior’s Tribal Consultation Policy. Interior simply turned its back on the Federal government’s treaty and trust responsibilities and on Coalition Tribes themselves.”
Who did listen to the tribes? Reps. Gallego, Haaland, Sen.Tom Udall, D-N.M., and others in introducing two bills that deserve your support.
New legislation would protect Bears Ears and Grand Staircase
In the House and the Senate, the ANTIQUITIES Act of 2019 would codify the boundaries of 52 national monuments (including Grand Staircase-Escalante) to protect them from unlawful attacks, and expand the boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument to the 1.9 million acres originally requested by the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition.
As a blanket of snow covers Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, we’re grateful that some relief from prolonged drought is in store in 2019. While the landscapes rest and the bears and snakes sleep, there’s no repose for the issues surrounding our national monuments.
Ryan Zinke taps out, David Bernhardt steps up
Facing a threat that he must resign or be fired by the end of 2018, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke’s ceremonial flag has been lowered, and he has left the building. Zinke leaves behind a legacy of scandal and monumental disrespect for Native American tribes and the public lands he oversaw. What’s next for the Interior Department could actually be worse. The president has nominated Deputy Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, a former dirty energy lobbyist, to fill Zinke’s shoes. We’re remaining vigilant for what could be a tough couple years ahead.
Elections have consequences
For the first time in history, a majority Native American county commission has been seated in San Juan County, Utah, home of Bears Ears National Monument. The new commission has already passed resolutions rescinding the county’s previous opposition to Bears Ears and supporting the restoration of monument boundaries. The county will also promptly withdraw from the president’s side of the litigation that tribes and the Trust filed to restore Bears Ears. These are historic developments.
Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., and Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., along with more than 100 original co-sponsors, introduced HR 1050/S 367, America’s Natural Treasures of Immeasurable Quality Unite, Inspire, and Together Improve the Economies of States Act, or the ANTIQUITIES Act of 2019. The bill would restore the boundaries of Grand Staircase-Escalante, expand Bears Ears to the full 1.9 million-acre footprint proposed by the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition in 2015, and codify the boundaries of the 25 other monuments threatened by the administration’s national monuments review executive order.
Haaland and Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., also re-introduced HR 871, the Bears Ears Expansion and Respect for Sovereignty Act, or BEARS Act, in the House. That bill would also expand Bears Ears to match the tribes’ proposal. Both bills should pass the House. Please urge your members of Congress to sponsor both bills.
State lands department relents, then advances
Each Western state operates their allotment of state lands differently, and in Utah, a body known as the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) exists exclusively to maximize revenue for the school trust fund. This usually means development without public oversight or accountability, so it was surprising, when in January, it sold, then clawed back, oil and gas leases within the original boundaries of Bears Ears. SITLA is now proposing a 1,000-acre solar farm inside Bears Ears’ original boundaries. While solar energy can be positive, industrial development near or on top of important cultural sites in Bears Ears must be off the table until litigation resolves the legality of Trump’s actions shrinking the monument.
Canadian company abandons plans to mine Grand Staircase-Escalante
Colt Mesa mine shaft, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. COLTER HOYT
Faithful readers of our blog may recall the alarming news last summer that a Canadian company called Glacier Lake Resources had announced plans to mine for copper, cobalt, and other minerals in lands cut from Grand Staircase-Escalante. In very good news, the company quietly abandoned its plans amid public outrage and slumping financials late last year. We’re keeping an eye out for new claims and plans, but we’re hopeful that heightened citizen attention (along with their remote locations and the marginal economics of mining) will keep our monuments safe until the court rules.
New year, new vision
The bold vision of Bears Ears has made real (if temporarily set back) concepts of intercultural sharing and increased authority for Indigenous peoples and tribal governments over the management of ancestral lands. In response, we’ve created a new focus here at the Trust on cultural landscapes.
Our goal is not only to defend and restore our national monuments, but to advance the debate of how public lands can be more inclusive and their protection more meaningful.
Indigenous peoples have millennia of direct experience with land management. They should be leading the way. We must acknowledge traditional knowledge of land management and how cultural landscapes interact as a whole. More than a collection of disconnected “archaeological sites,” these lands are tied inextricably to people as well as to the past, the present, and the future.
Most importantly, to engage Indigenous communities authentically, we need to weave together public lands protection and the social justice movement and have difficult conversations. Without acknowledging the past, we cannot grow into the future.
The holiday season reminds us to draw near to family, close to the hearth and to all the good things given to us. For many, the good things include a special anniversary today — the designation of Bears Ears National Monument on December 28, 2016.
Standing with Bears Ears in court
Though opponents have done their best to belittle and threaten Bears Ears National Monument, the land itself remains a powerful testament to healing and unity, despite the president’s attempt to shrink the monument by 85 percent just over a year ago, the same day he slashed Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by nearly half. His actions were unlawful, and our lawsuits to restore the monument remain in court.
Watchdogging new mining claims
Since the attempted reductions, we’ve remained vigilant to safeguard these remarkable lands. Thankfully, overwhelming public support for continued protection has kept the most dire threats at bay. A planned copper and cobalt mine at Grand Staircase has not broken ground, and a handful of new mining claims filed at Bears Ears remain threats only on paper.
Pushing back on bad management
The Bureau of Land Management has drafted appalling management plans for the shrunken monuments, and we’ll need your help in 2019 to make sure the final plans don’t succeed in eroding protections for Utah’s national monuments.
Still, there is much to be inspired by in the continuing battle to restore Bears Ears and Grand Staircase.
New secretary of the interior
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has resigned under a towering cloud of scandal. Zinke led President Trump’s efforts to review and rescind Utah’s national monuments, and Zinke’s potential replacement may not be much better. Though a formal nomination has not yet been made, former Nevada Senator Dean Heller, outgoing Idaho Representative Raúl Labrador, Utah Representative Rob Bishop, and Deputy Interior Secretary David Bernhardt top the list of possibilities.
The new secretary must still be confirmed by the Senate. Until then, the man at the helm of the Department of Interior is Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt. Bernhardt’s long history of advocating for the interests of the fossil fuel industry makes him particularly ill-suited to act as a steward of our nation’s public lands.
But the public loves national monuments
TIM PETERSON
Back on the sunny side, public support for national monuments has been truly inspiring. More than half a million people recently called for necessary protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase. Thank you!
Support from elected officials has been uplifting too. More than 100 members of Congress filed a friend of the court brief in support of our lawsuits challenging the president’s actions. Alarmingly, and in an unusual step, the Department of Justice has asked the court to reject the brief and to disregard the views of lawmakers. Why, exactly, is Trump’s Department of Justice seeking to silence elected officials?
According to a recent op-ed by Senator Tom Udall and Representative Raúl Grijalva, “…national monuments enjoy overwhelming public support, and presidents have no power to revoke or shrink them with the flick of a pen. That power is simply not found anywhere in the law. The Trump administration does themselves no favors by claiming otherwise.”
Newly elected officials are offering their support for Bears Ears too. In 2019, for the first time in history, a majority Native American county commission will be seated in San Juan County, Utah, home of Bears Ears National Monument. New Commissioner Willie Grayeyes and returning Commissioner Kenneth Maryboy (both Diné) are both ardent Bears Ears defenders.
New Mexico’s Congressional Representative-elect Deb Haaland, (one of the first two Native women ever elected to Congress) said of Bears Ears, “We should protect lands like that. We should care that our history is embedded in those rocks and on the sides of all of those cliffs. We shouldn’t just decide that it’s time to start drilling and fracking — because some things are more important than money.”
Utah also elected a public lands defender to Congress for the first time in a generation: Representative-elect Ben McAdams. "I grew up hiking those lands, and they definitely need to be preserved,” McAdams has said. We couldn’t agree more. It’s past time to finally lay to rest the falsehood that “locals” don’t support our national monuments.
The last two years have been agonizing for public lands defenders, but the ups and downs have only strengthened our resolve to see Bears Ears and Grand Staircase restored to their original boundaries. Our field staff and our legal team are working hard to defend Utah’s national monuments, and your generosity now will help power our advocacy. Please dig deep for Utah’s endangered national monuments, and make a special year-end gift to the Grand Canyon Trust today.
More monument news
There’s so much to say, and we couldn’t fit it all in this blog post. For more on where things stand now, check out these recent news stories.
Boulder Weekly: This is our land. A year after Trump reduced the boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument, Native voices are louder than ever
November 15, 2018 is the deadline for the public to weigh in on how the Trump administration plans to manage what remains inside the reduced boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument, a monument President Trump slashed by 85 percent late last year.
Protect cultural resources before it's too late
While the administration's management plan contains many worrisome elements, one of the most distressing is the fact that it abandons protecting irreplaceable cultural resources — including rock art, cliff dwellings, ancient road systems, and other archaeological sites. Instead, it proposes waiting for harm to fragile cultural resources to occur and then reacting. But once the damage is done, it may be too late.
Cultural resources, like the dwellings and rock art found at House of Fire, in Mule Canyon, an area that remains inside the Trump monument boundaries — and that Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke visited in May 2017 — need protections now, not later.
A small glimpse of what's at stake
Dwellings at House of Fire in Mule Canyon, Bears Ears National Monument.MARC COLES-RITCHIE
A closer look at House of Fire, Mule Canyon, Bears Ears National Monument.MARC COLES-RITCHIE
A handprint on stone, House of Fire.MARC COLES-RITCHIE
Cultural resources like these are the visible traces of the complex civilizations that have called the Bears Ears region home since time immemorial. Once destroyed, these resources are gone forever.
Please urge the Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency proposing the management plan, to work with Native American tribes to develop and implement a plan to better manage cultural resources and avoid irreversible harm now.