Welcome back to Bears Ears in the News. We’ve returned from our summer hiatus to recap the year’s most significant development on the Bears Ears beat: the restoration of Bears Ears National Monument by President Joseph R. Biden.

Restoration Follows Recommendation

Biden’s decision comes after years of advocacy by the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and their allies, including a high-profile ad campaign in recent months that urged Biden to act on Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s recommendation that Biden fully restore the monument.

Haaland issued her recommendation following an executive order signed by Biden on his first day in office directing the Interior Secretary to conduct a review of former President Donald J. Trump’s 2017 move to reduce by 85 percent the original Bears Ears National Monument established by the Obama administration the year before. (You read that right: the Bears Ears saga has now stretched across three presidential administrations.)

“Supporting a brighter future” for Tribal Nations

It’s worth noting that Biden chose to restore the first national monument created at the request of Federally Recognized Tribes on the same day he became the first U.S. President to formally mark Indigenous Peoples’ Day. In his statement, Biden notes that the day “recognize[s] Indigenous peoples’ resilience and strength as well as the immeasurable positive impact that they have made on every aspect of American society.”

“We also recommit to supporting a new, brighter future of promise and equity for Tribal Nations – a future grounded in Tribal sovereignty and respect for the human rights of Indigenous people in the Americas and around the world.”

“Honoring his Commitment”

In a statement, the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, whose members in 2015 submitted to Obama the original national monument proposal said that “By taking this action, President Biden will be recognizing the deep and enduring ancestral and cultural connections that Tribes have to this landscape and taking a step toward honoring his commitment to Indigenous People by acknowledging their original place in this country that is now our shared home.”

Biden’s official proclamation also emphasizes the significance of “[honoring] the special relationship between the Federal Government and Tribal Nations” - a nod to Tribes’ status as sovereign entities that engage in a nation-to-nation dialogue with the Federal Government - and “correcting the exclusion of lands and resources profoundly sacred to Tribal Nations, and ensuring the long-term protection of, and respect for, this remarkable and revered region.”

Return of the Bears Ears Commission

One of the core components of the Bears Ears Coalition monument proposal was a vision for co-management, in which Tribes and the Federal Government would work together as sovereigns to set and implement the management plan for the monument. The Obama proclamation did not call for full co-management, but it did call for the establishment of a Bears Ears Commission comprised of representatives from each of the Coalition’s five Tribes - the Hopi, Navajo, Ute Mountain Ute, Ute Indian Tribe, and Zuni - that would provide guidance and recommendations on development and implementation of management plans.

Biden’s proclamation reestablishes that Commission. It’s expected that the Commission will work with the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service to revamp the management plan put into place by the Trump administration, which opened up formerly protected lands to uranium mining and oil and gas drilling.

Supporters Celebrate on Cedar Mesa

The Salt Lake Tribune joined longtime advocates for Bears Ears as they gathered to celebrate their victory on Cedar Mesa, a sacred place for the region’s Indigenous peoples and a beloved place for people who know and are connected to the Bears Ears landscape. The gathering was organized by Utah Dine Bikeyah, an Indigenous-led nonprofit whose efforts to document Native peoples’ connection to the Bears Ears region in order to advocate for the area’s protection paved the way for the Bears Ears Coalition’s proposal, and the eventual establishment of the monument. From the Tribune article:

“We worked so hard for this,” said Leonard Lee, a founding board member of UDB. “It was an uphill battle. A lot of people thought that it was never going to become a reality. … But we had faith, we had prayers, we had songs done up here on the mesa. Today, the Holy People answered our prayer.”

Ida Yellowman of the Women of Bears Ears also referred to the landscape as a “healing place.”

“If there is anything you go away with today,” she said, “I hope you take with you the beauty of the land, the peacefulness … wherever it is you go — back to your city life, your office. In your mind, in your heart, when you want to get away, come back to this moment and it’s going to heal you.”

Utah Politicians: Restoration “a devastating blow”

True to form, Utah’s Congressional delegation slammed Biden’s move to restore the monument.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, tweeted, “The decision to re-expand the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante is a devastating blow to our state, local, and tribal leaders and our delegation.” 

Romney was joined by fellow Senator, Mike Lee (R-UT), and other monument opponents in penning an op-ed in the Deseret News titled “A Monumental Insult.” (Side note: We haven’t kept track of every Bears Ears article with a headline that incorporates the word “monumental,” but our best educated guess is that there are roughly 10,328 at this point.)

In it, they characterize Biden’s proclamation as perpetuating “a cycle of abuse under the Antiquities Act” - the Act that U.S. presidents use to create national monuments - “which ignores the rights and wills of Utahns,” whom they claim do not support the monument. (Some might take issue with this assessment, in particular the 55 percent of Utah voters who voiced their support for Bears Ears in a 2016 poll.) Moreover, they take Biden to task for not working with the Utah delegation and others in Congress to hammer out a legislative solution, which they believe would have been less controversial among their constituents than a unilateral decision made by a President (see “abuse under the Antiquities Act” above).

About that legislative solution…

Here’s the thing: Utah’s politicians have been attempting, and failing, to craft a legislative solution on Bears Ears for nearly a decade. In 2013, Congressman Rob Bishop attempted an ambitious process to create legislation that would have provided “certainty” on public lands in eight Utah counties, including San Juan County, where Bears Ears is located. Bishop’s efforts went down in flames after Tribes felt disrespected in discussions about legislation and withdrew from the process, paving the way for the Bears Ears Coalition’s proposal.

Fast forward five years. Congressman John Curtis (R-UT) introduced a bill in 2018 that sought to accomplish similar goals, but his decision to include language in the bill that would codify the boundaries of Trump’s much-reduced monument alienated the tribes. Nonetheless, he persisted in engaging Tribal leaders in conversations about how to “get to yes” on legislation. Those efforts failed to bear fruit before Biden made his move.

“Don’t celebrate just yet”

As millions of people in the U.S. and around the world celebrate the restoration of Bears Ears and what many view as a landmark victory for Indigenous self-determination, one of the Bears Ears Coalition’s first co-chairs expressed her skepticism that the federal government would truly honor its commitment to Tribes. In a remarkably frank interview with High Country News, Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe (who figures prominently in our book, Voices from Bears Ears: Seeking Common Ground on Sacred Land) explains how the history of the federal government’s consultation with Tribes informs her reservations about attempts to shape the future of Bears Ears, as well as her disappointment with some aspects of the Biden administration’s decision-making process regarding the monument.

In the end, Lopez-Whiteskunk returns to the importance of Bears Ears to Indigenous people, and why it is so important that the land be protected today and for future generations.

“We’re not saying we’re entitled to these lands. We’re saying we want these places protected because this is where life has always occurred for our people.”

***

Read more about the years-long effort to determine the future of Bears Ears on our blog:

• Setting the Stage: A wayback-machine piece from 2017 that gives a brief overview of the historical and cultural elements of the Bears Ears debate

• Trump’s Executive Order: Context for Trump’s December 2017 move to slash Bears Ears National Monument by 85 percent. Things get spicy.

• Separating Fact from Fiction: Breaking down - and in some cases, debunking - soundbites and catch phrases deployed by politicians and advocates on both sides of the Bears Ears issue.

• There’s Oil in Them Thar Hills: This one’s a hat tip to some stellar reporting by New York Times journalists showing that the oil and gas industry lobbied heavily to shrink the boundaries of Bears Ears - and succeeded.

• Conflict and Change in San Juan County: A look at the demographic and cultural shifts in San Juan County, home to Bears Ears, and what those changes portend for the future of the monument and the communities that surround it.

• Biden’s Executive Order: A closer look at Biden’s first move to determine a new future for Bears Ears - and how protecting and preserving public lands is a key component of his plans to address the climate crisis and promote environmental justice and equity.

• Interior Secretary Haaland at the Helm: Deb Haaland of Laguna Pueblo is the first Indigenous Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior. This piece explores the significance of her appointment, and how her leadership influenced the eventual restoration of Bears Ears.

Explore our Bears Ears series for Terrain.org:

You can find our series of stories and essays chronicling the Bears Ears saga in the renowned online environmental magazine, Terrain.org. With its focus on “the built and natural environments that might be called the soul of place,” Terrain.org is an ideal place to explore the economic, cultural, and spiritual connections to the Bears Ears landscape that inform the debate over its future.

And, oh yeah, we wrote a book all about Bears Ears. Check it out.

Voices from Bears Ears: Seeking Common Ground on Sacred Land was published by the University of Arizona Press in 2018 and was a finalist for the 2020 Oregon Book Award in the General Nonfiction category. From the official description: “Through voices of individuals and photographs of the landscape, Voices from Bears Ears shares the rich history of the Bears Ears region in southeastern Utah. By giving voice to a growing movement by Indigenous peoples to protect ancestral lands and culture and also to descendants of Mormon pioneers and the deeply held religious beliefs that connect them to the land, common ground becomes clear, along with the possibility for respectful compromise that lies beyond the politics of the moment, within the people and the land they cherish.”

Read an excerpt and purchase your copy today!

Welcome back to Bears Ears in the News. It’s been a whirlwind few weeks, and we’re getting ever closer to learning the fate of Bears Ears National Monument. Let’s dive in, shall we?

Haaland Confirmed as Interior Secretary

On March 15, 2021, New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM) was confirmed as Interior Secretary, making her the first-ever Indigenous Cabinet secretary in U.S. history, and only the third woman to hold the position. Indian Country Today has the story.

Haaland, a citizen of Laguna Pueblo, will oversee the many programs and activities of the Department of the Interior (DOI), including managing the U.S.’s National Park system and all activities on the country’s millions of acres of public lands, including recreation, conservation initiatives, and mineral and energy leasing. Perhaps most crucially, she will be the government’s top liaison with tribal nations.

Per the DOI mission, Haaland will be responsible for ensuring the Department “Uphold[s] trust and related responsibilities, recognizing the importance of government-to-government relationships with Indian tribes, Alaska Natives, and insular areas, and respecting self-determination and sovereignty.”

Haaland “represents a beautiful truth and promise of real change”

Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk is a member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, the former co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, and one of the 20 individuals profiled in-depth in our book, "Voices from Bears Ears." In this piece for the The Salt Lake Tribune, she writes about the significance of Deb Haaland's appointment as the U.S.'s first Indigenous Interior Secretary.

“It will be easier and more relatable to engage with her because we need not spend so much time re-educating her about who we are as Indigenous people, what our beliefs are, and why, for our survival as a people, we need sacred landscapes like Bears Ears protected,” Lopez-Whiteskunk writes. “She will intuitively understand the importance of this place to our people, as opposed to many years of tribal consultation that has often felt superficial and relegated to a procedural check-off.

"As Indigenous women, we have teachings, values and many stories that make our societies who they are. Haaland represents a beautiful truth and promise of real change to make a better future for all."

A Monumental Visit to Southern Utah

Soon after came news that Haaland planned to visit Utah and speak with residents of the areas around Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. She did so this week. While the full details of her visit are not yet public, and a decision on the monuments’ fate is still weeks away, she is widely expected to reverse former President Trump’s 2017 order to reduce the original monument by 85% and restore its original boundaries established by former President Barack Obama in 2016.

Utah’s paper of record, the Salt Lake Tribune, urged Haaland to do just that, noting that "[restoring the monument] is an action that has the support not only of the Indigenous peoples but also elected leaders in San Juan and Grand counties and the cities of Moab and Bluff."

We’ve Been Here Before, Haven’t We?

For those of you keeping score at home, Haaland is the third Interior Secretary in five years to make a trip to the state to determine the fate of Bears Ears. In July 2016, Sally Jewell visited San Juan County to hear from residents on both sides of the Bears Ears debate; following her trip, then-President Barack Obama designated the original 1.35-million-acre Bears Ears National Monument. Less than a year later, Jewell’s successor, Ryan Zinke, made a similar visit and was criticized for only meeting with monument opponents. In his report to former President Donald Trump, he recommended reducing the monument boundaries of both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante; in December 2017, Trump did made the cut, as it were.

Utah’s GOP Leaders Want Legislation

Given Haaland’s prior statements and actions in support of restoring and even expanding Bears Ears, and the Biden administration’s apparent desire to reverse all of Trump’s executive decisions pertaining to public lands (see his January 27, 2021 executive actions to address the climate crisis), the outcome of Haaland’s visit would seem to be foreordained. Even so, Utah’s Congressional delegation expressed appreciation for Haaland’s decision to visit the state before making a recommendation to President Biden.

““Her trip to Utah will allow her the opportunity to speak with the people who live and work on the lands, whose voices may otherwise go unheard, before making any recommendations to the president,” Utah GOP leaders, including Gov. Spencer Cox and the state’s congressional delegation, said in a statement on March 17. The end goal for Utah politicians, however, is not the restoration of the monument via executive order - in other words, with Biden’s signature - but rather the coveted “legislative solution” that would codify monument boundaries in a statute passed by Congress. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) tweeted, “We must have a permanent legislative solution—with input from Utah's stakeholders.”

Stay Tuned

The fate of Bears Ears lies in Haaland’s hands, and a decision could come as soon as next month. We’ll be watching. Like and follow us on Facebook for (almost) daily updates on the Bears Ears saga. We’re also on Instagram @bearsearscountry, where we share images and voices from Bears Ears country.

Welcome back! Here’s a roundup of the latest news from the Bears Ears beat:

“The Stunning and Sacred Lands of Utah’s Bears Ears Could Soon Be Protected,” Discover, 1/31/21

https://www.discovermagazine.com/environment/the-stunning-and-sacred-lands-of-utahs-bears-ears-could-soon-be-protected

This piece by Tom Yulsman features insights from his colleague, Charles Wilkinson, an expert in federal Indian law and a key source for our book, Voices from Bears Ears. The article also features some fantastic aerial images that underscore just how extraordinary the landscape is - and why so many care so deeply about protecting it.

"Now that Biden has taken the first steps to restore the monument, Utah’s new governor, Spencer Cox, is pushing for "local management" and is opposing any expansion of Bears Ears,” Yulsman reports. “If "local management" is really what the Utah governor wants, then he should be listening to the tribes. No people living in the region have a closer connection to the land than the Native peoples."

”Utah leadership and Biden administration at odds over oil and gas leases,” KPCW, 1/30/21

Shortly after taking office, the Biden Administration announced a 60-day moratorium on new oil and gas leases on federal land, drawing the ire of Utah lawmakers. Republican Senators, including Utah’s Mike Lee and Mitt Romney, responded by introducing the Protecting our Wealth of Energy Resources, or POWER, Act. If passed into law, the POWER Act would prohibit the President and cabinet secretaries from blocking energy or mineral leasing on federal lands and waters without Congressional approval.

Why the opposition to the new moratorium? Senator Lee said in a statement that the order was a “job killer,” while Utah Governor Spencer Cox released a statement of his own saying the Biden administration acted without soliciting any input from the state and did not take into account how a moratorium would impact rural Utah, where many energy-sector jobs are.

The future of oil and gas leases in Bears Ears country was central to former President Donald J. Trump’s decision to shrink Bears Ears National Monument. Check out our 2018 blog post on this issue.

“Bears Ears supporter, opponent team up for bill to benefit community,” Fox 13 Salt Lake City, 2/6/21

Bipartisanship on Bears Ears? Led by notorious monument opponent, Utah State Representative and former San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman? File under "expect the unexpected." As Fox 13 reports, “Rep. Lyman, R-Blanding, is teaming up with a strong supporter of the monument, Rep. Doug Owens, D-Millcreek, on a bipartisan bill that would help to create a visitors center outside Bears Ears National Monument "as a means to enhance the area’s cultural and historical significance and to better manage increasing visitation and the growing impact of outdoor recreation and tourism in and around Bears Ears National Monument."

“The memo makes it clear that neither Reps. Lyman or Owens are retreating from their views on Bears Ears National Monument. Still, it's an acknowledgment that Bears Ears National Monument is here to stay — in some form. The memo states that tourism in that area of southeastern Utah has shot up nearly 73% since the monument was created in 2016. San Juan County has experienced increases in tourism activity.”

For more background on Phil Lyman, San Juan County, and the many-years-long Bears Ears saga, read our 2016 feature in Terrain.org.

Welcome back to Bears Ears in the News, where we’re following the reaction to President Joe Biden’s executive order issued last week that, as the Salt Lake Tribune put it, “starts [the] process to restore national monuments.” Here’s more from crackerjack reporters Brian Maffly, Zak Podmore, and Taylor Stevens:

"Within the first few hours of taking the oath of office on January 20, the White House said the new president signed an executive order calling for...a review of the boundaries set for Bears Ears, designated by President Barack Obama in 2016, and Grand Staircase-Escalante, designated by President Bill Clinton in 1996.” Notably, “Biden’s order highlights the impermanence and perhaps futility of Trump’s gesture that severely shrunk those boundaries."

Reviewing Trump’s Reduction

You can read the full text of Biden’s executive order here.

It’s an expansive document, covering everything from establishing robust fuel-economy standards to calculating the “social costs of greenhouse gases,” and, in Section 3, “restoring national monuments.” Instead of recommending the immediate restoration of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, another Utah monument that was slashed in half on the same day Bears Ears was reduced, the order calls for the Interior Secretary to conduct a 60-day review of Trump’s monument reductions and recommend actions Biden can take. In the meantime, the Attorney General can call for the judge presiding over the the court cases challenging Trump’s order (one for Bears Ears, one for Grand Staircase-Escalante) to stay the cases until Biden acts.

“Expansion Almost Certain”

The review period leaves open the possibility of negotiating some sort of legislative compromise on Bears Ears through a vote in Congress, which some think would be less controversial than Biden reversing Trump’s actions via presidential proclamation. But as another recent Salt Lake Tribune piece illustrated, a number of past and present stakeholders and key players in the Bears Ears saga think Biden’s mind is made up. And with Rep. Deb Haaland (D-New Mexico) poised to become the new Secretary of the Interior, an Indigenous woman who has advocated for the restoration of Bears Ears will play a central role in deciding its fate.

“A Review in Name Only”?

If you thought Utah’s political establishment might not be jazzed about the prospect of Biden undoing Trump’s actions, you won’t be surprised by this headline: “Utah politicians oppose Biden’s executive order on Bears Ears and Grand Staircase.”

In an official statement released the same day as Biden signed the executive order, Republican elected leaders including Utah Governor Spencer Cox and U.S. Senators Mike Lee and Mitt Romney noted that "Roughly two-thirds of our backyard belongs to the federal government, which has meant land management actions have often been done to us rather than with us. A review in name only with predetermined results, which ultimately leads to a unilateral executive order enlarging the monuments’ boundaries, will not solve the root of the problem and will only deepen divisions in this country."

(Interestingly, some of these same politicians in 2017 praised President Trump’s unilateral executive order to drastically reduce the monument’s boundaries following what many saw as a review in name only with predetermined results.)

Here Comes the Opposition…

Fast forward a week. Having voiced their dissatisfaction with Biden’s executive order, Sens. Lee and Romney took the next step, introducing legislation that would prohibit the President from establishing or expanding a national monument in Utah without approval from Congress and state lawmakers. It’s clear that they are expecting President Biden to use the Antiquities Act of 1906, which gives the President the authority to unilaterally declare national monuments. President Barack Obama used the Act to establish the original Bears Ears National Monument in 2016 at the behest of five Native American tribes, who advocated for the protection of the landscape for its ecological and cultural significance. At the time, his decision to do so was criticized by many conservatives in Utah and across the U.S. as a prime example of “federal overreach,” major decisions about the fate of Western lands being made by D.C. politicians thousands of miles away.

The Legacy of “The Grand Staircase”

Twenty years earlier, rural Utahns voiced similar sentiments when President Bill Clinton used the Act to establish Grand Staircase-Escalante. Some locals were thrilled that the wild landscapes in their backyard were at last receiving federal protection. They also saw the opportunity to promote the monument to tourists who would spend their money locally and bolster the local economy. (Judging from data documenting the growth of the local economy after the monument was designated, it seems they were onto something.)

Others seethed at the federal government’s move to protect mineral-rich land from coal mining; a similar situation played out at Bears Ears with uranium mining and oil and gas extraction. The desire of local and national politicians to placate locals in both places who opposed the monuments’ designation informed the Trump administration’s decisions to reduce Grand Staircase and Bears Ears simultaneously.

What About a Legislative Solution?

Tellingly, Lee and Romney left the door open for compromise on Bears Ears, saying they would entertain discussions about the monument’s boundaries with the president and his cabinet if offered "a seat at the table” during the review process. This may be a nod to the work of their Congressional colleague, Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah), who since early 2018 has been meeting with stakeholders in San Juan County as well as members of each tribe in the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition to explore a legislative solution to the Bears Ears battle. Ideally, such legislation would balance landscape protection with the need for economic development, including drilling and mining, in Utah’s poorest county. Most importantly, at least in the eyes of Utah politicians, a decision made by Congress would be less controversial among their constituents than a unilateral decision made by a President.

Curtis introduced a bill in 2018 that sought to accomplish these goals, but his decision to include language in the bill that would codify the boundaries of Trump’s much-reduced monument alienated the tribes. The bill disappeared without fanfare, but, as this Salt Lake Tribune piece details, Curtis continued to build relationships with the tribes in the hopes that together, they might find a way to “yes” on Bears Ears.

“Tossed Back and Forth Every Election”

The same Tribune article notes that some Indigenous groups and members of the Obama administration involved in negotiations over Bears Ears think the time for compromise has long since passed. Yet some monument proponents concede that a legislative solution would allow for more certainty and lead to less politicking.

Friends of Cedar Mesa Executive Director Josh Ewing was involved in the failed multi-year effort by then-Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) to craft a legislative solution that would have brought certainty on land-use issues for residents of San Juan County. Ewing, whose organization supported the creation of the monument, recently told KSL that “this landscape is far too important to be used as a political tool that gets tossed back and forth every election.”

And What About Those Lawsuits?

As mentioned earlier, there are lawsuits pending in federal court positing that Trump’s move to invalidate national monuments established by his predecessors was illegal. The central question all parties seek to answer: Was it? Does the Antiquities Act give a sitting U.S. president the authority to undo a past president’s monument designation(s)? Legal scholars have been debating this for years; stakeholders on both sides of the issue are eager to resolve it and have certainty moving forward.

One Thing’s for Certain: “Bears Ears is Just the Beginning”

President Biden has made racial justice and equity a key priority in his administration’s early days. This extends to Indian Country: Just over a week after taking office, he signed a Presidential Memorandum stating his commitment to “reinvigorat[ing] the tribal consultation process,” in which the federal government consults with tribal nations on a government-to-government basis concerning policies and priorities for tribes. This includes policies pertaining to public lands included in the original Bears Ears National Monument.

In this story from High Country News, "Tribal leaders say that returning millions of acres should be only the beginning of Biden’s commitment to protect more public lands — and that tribal nations should be leading the charge. It’s more than just the threat of degradation, they say; Indigenous voices are long overdue in public-land management."

After a lengthy hiatus, we're back with a new edition of Bears Ears in the News. It's been four years since former President Barack Obama established Bears Ears National Monument, and a new chapter in the ongoing saga is about to begin.

Will Biden Restore Bears Ears?

With less than two weeks until President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration, proponents of restoring Bears Ears National Monument are urging the Biden administration to do so, and quickly. In a welcome turn of events for advocates who have fought the current administration in the courts and elsewhere over what they view as near-constant assaults on public lands, they now appear to have friends in high places.

As Zak Podmore of the Salt Lake Tribune reported shortly after Biden's victory, "On the campaign trail, Biden promised to take “immediate steps to reverse the Trump administration’s assaults on America’s natural treasures,” including Trump's move to rescind Bears Ears in December 2017. (Multiple lawsuits challenging Trump's executive order are ongoing.)

A “Fierce” Indigenous Leader for Interior Department

The appointment of Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM) to lead the Interior Department - who, if confirmed by the Senate, would become the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary - drew widespread praise from conservationists and Indigenous leaders alike. Her appointment would seem to bode well for Bears Ears.

Significantly, Haaland in 2019 reintroduced a bill to not merely restore Bears Ears but to expand it from 1.35 million acres to the original 1.9 million acres proposed by the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition in their 2015 proposal to the Obama administration. By doing so, she sent a clear message that she is and will continue to be a strong advocate for Native-led efforts to protect and steward public lands.

Haaland, who is from the Pueblos of Laguna and Jemez, has indicated she will use her position of power to be a strong advocate for Indian Country.

"A voice like mine has never been a Cabinet secretary or at the head of the Department of Interior," Haaland tweeted shortly after her appointment was announced on December 17, 2020. "Growing up in my mother’s Pueblo household made me fierce. I’ll be fierce for all of us, our planet, and all of our protected land. I am honored and ready to serve."

“A Monumental Moment for Indian Country”

In its latest newsletter, the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition underscored the significance of Haaland's appointment, particularly against the backdrop of the U.S. government's many efforts to disenfranchise, displace, and degrade Native Americans.

"Historically, the [Interior Department] has maintained a tumultuous and painful relationship with Native peoples carrying out such policies as those that removed Native people from their ancestral homelands, while opening protected areas to mining and drilling," the Coalition wrote. "As such, uplifting an Indigenous Pueblo woman to lead in this role is a monumental moment for Indian Country."

What’s Next?

The next few months will prove eventful and likely consequential for Bears Ears advocates, and for those in San Juan County, Utah, who live next door to the monument. We'll be following the latest developments as they unfold. Stay tuned.

Host and Producer Brenden W. Rensink , Associate Director of the Redd Center, Associate Professor of History at BYU, and General Editor of the Intermountain Histories project interviews Rebecca Robinson and Stephen Strom about their books: Voices from Bears Ears: Seeking Common Ground on Sacred Land and Bears Ears: Views from a Sacred Land.

“The media failed to capture the diversity of local opinion and the complexity of the various party’s views. Very few took the time to listen and instead drove dialogue where opposing sides largely talked past one another.

Rebecca Robinson and Stephen Strom have done us a great service by publishing their two volumes.  They listened with empathy and allowed their subjects to express their views.  

There is value in understanding people on their own terms.”

CLICK HERE to listen to the podcast.

Before we dive in to the latest Bears Ears news, here’s a brief refresher that places the current controversies surrounding the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in context:

The BLM is tasked with managing millions of acres of public lands across the country, the vast majority of which are in the Western half of the U.S. This mandate also includes managing the minerals on public lands.

The agency oversees parcels within both incarnations of Bears Ears National Monument: the 1.35-million acre monument declared by Barack Obama in December 2016, and the much-reduced version created by President Trump in December 2017. A diverse coalition of Native American tribes, outdoor recreation groups, conservationists, and the outdoor retailer Patagonia are suing the Trump administration, arguing that a president does not have the authority to reduce a monument created by their predecessor.

In the original proclamation for Bears Ears National Monument, management of the land within the monument’s borders fell to the BLM and U.S. Forest Service. The BLM was to work in conjunction with residents of the Bears Ears region as well as representatives from the five tribes of the Inter-Tribal Coalition that advocated for the monument to develop a plan that included recommendations for motorized and non-motorized recreation; protection for archaeological and cultural resources; and other uses, such as hunting and wood gathering. When Trump reduced the monument, he also scrubbed the original monument management plan.

Which brings us to this:

Environmentalists, tribes blast Utah national monument plan - KUTV, 7/27/19

The Trump-era BLM’s monument management plan has been released, and many individuals and groups are displeased with both the results and the process. Perhaps the most controversial component of the plan is its opening large swaths of archaeologically significant land to off-road vehicle use - something both conservationists and Native peoples see as insulting to tribes and dangerous for fragile landscapes.

But this isn’t the only story keeping the BLM in the headlines. The Washington Post has a doozy of a story on the agency’s just-named acting director, William Perry Pendley:

Trump’s pick for managing federal lands doesn’t believe the federal government should have any - The Washington Post, 7/31/19

Pendley is making headlines because he believes the federal government - his new employer - should not be in the business of owning and managing public land. If you think this might be a problematic situation, you’re not alone.

Meanwhile, the inquiries into malfeasance at the Department of the Interior continue apace.

New Documents Reveal More About Alleged Ethics Violations at the Department of the Interior - Pacific Standard, 8/6/19

This in-depth piece uses documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act that show the connection between Interior officials, the Koch brothers, and the campaign to “rein in” Bears Ears National Monument.

When we were working on our books, we became avid readers of The Salt Lake Tribune. The reporters at Utah's paper of record did exemplary work placing the Bears Ears saga in context of the state's and region's complex history.

Today, Report for America fellow Zak Podmore is continuing the Trib's thoughtful and incisive coverage of "conflict and change in San Juan County." Here are his most recent articles:

Here’s how San Juan County reached this historic moment - and why the tension in southeast Utah won’t end anytime soon - July 7, 2019

Podmore explores the historic shift in power in San Juan County government from majority-white leadership to majority Native and what it portends for a county that has long been racially divided.

The San Juan County Commission held its first meeting in the Navajo Nation. Local residents were grateful for the chance to have a voice - July 3

One of the central themes of our books is the belief held by nearly everyone in San Juan County that their voices had not been heard - most of all the voices of Native Americans, who despite comprising the majority of San Juan County’s population have long been underrepresented everywhere from the ballot box to history books. Amazingly, the county commission has never held a meeting in the predominantly Native southern half of the county, let alone on a reservation. That changed earlier this month.

Trump rejects import quotas on uranium, but creates group to find ways to boost domestic production - July 13

For months, U.S. uranium producers have been encouraged by President Trump’s statements about boosting domestic production by establishing quotas for uranium imports. Their hopes were at least partially dashed last week when Trump dropped the plan, but the president left the door open for industry representatives to shape energy policy in the near future.

Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase remain in limbo as lawsuits move slowly and legislation stalls - Salt Lake Tribune, 6/3/2019

For nearly four years, the Salt Lake Tribune has consistently provided the most consistent and comprehensive coverage of the Bears Ears saga. Reporters Brian Maffly and Thomas Burr, with key assists from other Tribune staff writers, have followed the legal battle that ensued after President Trump drastically reduced Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in December 2017. Here, Burr examines the status of the lawsuits filed by tribes and conservationists against the federal government as well as attempts by members of Congress to find a legislative solution to the Bears Ears controversy - and why all remain stalled.

Federal Lands Protections See Historic Slashes Under Trump Administration, Study Finds - KUER, 6/4/2019

Surprising no one who has been paying attention to conservation issues in the Trump era, a study published in the journal Science shows the Trump administration has rolled back more federal land protections than any other administration in the history of the United States. Read more here.

US rollback of protected areas risks emboldening others, scientists warn - The Guardian, 5/30/19

In a more in-depth piece on the Science study, The Guardian quotes the study’s primary author: “[The US government’s rollbacks] send a dangerous message to the rest of the world.”

Starting in the 1970s, when he worked for the Native American Rights Fund, Wilkinson has devoted his professional life to helping tribes use their rights as sovereign nations to regain what has been denied or wrested from them. Given his reputation, the five Native American tribes that in 2015 formed a coalition to lobby then-President Obama to create Bears Ears National Monument called on Wilkinson to serve as a special adviser as they prepared to advocate for protection of nearly 2 million acres of land in southeast Utah.

Wilkinson called the Obama proclamation declaring Bears Ears “one of the finest statements the federal government has ever made regarding Indian affairs. Far more than any earlier proclamation, this one, because of the tribes’ deep involvement in its development, is truly an Indian national monument. It was a real honor to the tribes to be spoken of this way.”

The tribes’ ultimately successful campaign to protect the Bears Ears region was the result of an unprecedented movement to protect landscapes that are profoundly sacred to the area’s Native peoples. Key to their campaign was gathering knowledge gleaned from years of interviews with Native elders who lived in and around Bears Ears: where medicinal herbs are gathered; where traditional hunting grounds are located; which religious shrines are the most significant; and where other sites of cultural or historical significance were located.

This work, begun in 2010 by the grassroots Native organization Utah Dine Bikeyah, provided the template for the Bears Ears National Monument proposal advanced by the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition. Comprised of tribes that live in and/or trace their ancestry to the Bears Ears region - the Hopi, Navajo, Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute, and Zuni - the Coalition is the first-of-its-kind group of sovereign nations working to collaborate with the federal government on land management.

Wilkinson emphasizes “a unique aspect of the proclamation: establishing a tribal Commission to ensure that the land is managed collaboratively in a way that reflects tribal expertise and historical knowledge.”

He recites from memory a key section from the proclamation:

“The traditional ecological knowledge amassed by the Native Americans whose ancestors inhabited this region, passed down from generation to generation, offers critical insight into the historic and scientific significance of the area. Such knowledge is, itself, a resource to be protected and used in understanding and managing this landscape sustainably for generations to come.”

Prior efforts to protect the lands surrounding Bears Ears dating back to the 1930s have been led not by tribes, but by the federal government and conservation organizations. What these efforts have in common with the successful Bears Ears campaign is the evocation of fierce opposition to the proposals faced from some local Utahns and the state’s congressional delegation. Their opposition arose in part because ranchers and miners -- once the drivers of the local economy -- feared a threat to their livelihood,  and as well because, in some cases, the mechanism for effecting protection was a presidential executive order: to many of the locals, a symbol of federal overreach.

The executive order in question is the Antiquities Act, which allows the president to protect “historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest” as national monuments. The Act provides the President with the ability to declare a national monument unilaterally, and by so doing, to bypass Congress if s/he assesses that legislative protection of an area is deemed impossible.  

With monument protection, livestock grazing and mining, while still permitted, can be significantly restricted and regulated. Nevertheless, the additional levels of regulation are anathema to those (relatively small number of) ranchers and miners affected by a monument declaration.

In addition to Bears Ears, another monument whose establishment triggered outrage from some southern Utahns is Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Established in 1996 by then-President Bill Clinton, Grand Staircase protected 1.7 million acres in southern Utah. Wilkinson was involved in the back-room conversations that led to the monument’s creation.

The long-simmering resentment from the creation of Grand Staircase further inflamed the battle over Bears Ears and ultimately led to President Trump’s reducing the area protected in the Obama declaration by 85 percent, and replacing the original Bears Ears Monument by two far smaller parcels. At the same time, Trump reduced  Grand Staircase monument by 50 percent.

The tribes, along with conservation groups and representative of the outdoor industry immediately challenged the Trump reduction. The case is now in the hands of US District Judge Tanya Chutkan.

During 2017, prior to the Trump executive order reducing the size of Bears Ears, Wilkinson notes that the Coalition along with their counterparts in the federal agencies charged with managing the new Monument collaboratively with the tribes — the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management — met a number of times with federal officials to begin sorting out working definitions for collaborative management.

“These were spectacular discussions,” Wilkinson recalls. “Collaborative management had never been done with tribes. They were working together, the way it should happen. It was a search on both sides to understand one another...what each side wanted, and what each side could do in light of the directives of the Obama Proclamation. Talk about people working in good faith!”

“Then President Trump came down with the proclamation that blasted the monument. After that, the Coalition and the agencies knew that they couldn’t continue in the same way. The Coalition, of course, respected that.”

While the discussions between the federal agencies and the tribes are curtailed pending resolution of litigation challenging the Trump rescission of the monument, Wilkinson believes it important that the tribes continue efforts to develop a framework for management policies for Bears Ears informed by traditional knowledge.

“Traditional Knowledge flows from the Indian worldview with its profound and intricate relationship between indigenous peoples and the natural world. Incorporating traditional knowledge into land management is enormously complicated to imagine no less implement. You need first to get the traditional knowledge data together.”

To do this, Wilkinson advocates for the early creation of a Traditional Knowledge Institute, originally part of the Inter-Tribal Coalition’s plan for Bears Ears, but placed on the back burner in light of the challenges posed by the Trump rescission.

“I’m imagining a vibrant, world-class Traditional Knowledge Institute, that could work not just locally, but globally. There would be local and national gatherings of western scientists and traditional knowledge experts, and occasional international meetings held there at Bears Ears. The Institute could begin to gather traditional knowledge,” as Utah Dine Bikeyah did to create the first proposal for protecting the Bears Ears region. “Then the tribes can move the traditional knowledge to the agencies so that the tribes and agencies can work collaboratively to make it a part of day- to-day monument management.”

In Wilkinson’s mind, “The target [opening] date is January 20, 2021” - Trump’s last day in office. “You can’t get much done with the federal agencies before then. So establish the Institute. Get a conceptual management plan drafted and ready to go. Have a fabulous document that is rich with ideas. Show that it’s a new world in land management.”

A challenge is, of course, to fund and staff the Institute. Wilkinson believes that sufficient private funds can be raised, and hopes to see its work begin post-haste.

Our conversation next turned to his thoughts regarding the challenges to Trump’s reduction of the monument.

“I believe the law is on our side and that we should win this case,” Wilkinson says. The judge is a good one, but she moves slowly and carefully, and has a good deal on her plate.”

“I think the objection to the monument on the grounds that it protects far too much land will fail. In that respect, there is a controlling Supreme Court decision (Cameron v United States). The Court affirmed President Theodore Roosevelt’s declaration of an 800,000 acre Grand Canyon national monument. [The monument] was opposed by ranching and mining interests on the grounds that the area protected was not the smallest compatible with protection of articles of scientific and cultural interest. The complainants lost that case.”

However, “The Supreme Court has never considered whether a president could rescind or dramatically reduce the size of a monument. No one ever thought something like that could have happened. Can a president ‘yank’ a monument? Can a President attempt to tear apart the national monument system — a foundation stone of American conservation law and policy? All the cases suggest the right result, but there is no directly controlling law.”

In musing about next steps in the Court cases, Wilkinson offered a prediction: “I think Judge Chutkan will rule in our favor. I expect Trump’s folks to then appeal to the DC Court of Appeals and then to the Supreme Court. That means that we’re a ways away from final resolution. Still, what a great moment Bears Ears will be. I’m confident that the tribes will be ready.”

A small sampling of the latest Bears Ears news for your reading pleasure.

Southern Utah Uranium Producers Hope Trump’s Trade Decision Will Benefit Them - Salt Lake Tribune

President Trump’s interest in jumpstarting domestic uranium production may breathe new life into an industry that once was central to San Juan County’s economy but has been in decades-long decline. Brian Maffly reports.

New Advisory Panel for Bears Ears National Monument Becomes Latest Flashpoint in Debate - St. George News

After much ado and significant stalling, the Trump administration released the names of the individuals selected for the advisory committee that will work with federal land management agencies to draft a management plan for the much-reduced Bears Ears National Monument. The committee is chock full of individuals who spoke out publicly against Obama’s declaration of the monument. By contrast, no monument proponents were selected, and there is not a single representative from the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, the Native-led group which led the movement to establish the monument Obama created in late 2016. Read more here.

Tensions high as residents comment at meeting - San Juan Record

The venerable San Juan Record continues to cover the fallout from the November 2018 election that shifted the balance of power in the county to Native Americans (who, it should be noted, comprise more than 50% of the county population). This story exemplifies the tensions between some local Anglos and Natives, tensions that threaten to tear the county apart.

Residents of San Juan County, Utah — home to Bears Ears National Monument — have long held conflicting views regarding efforts to protect public lands within county borders. During the battle to have the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service lands surrounding the eponymous twin buttes protected as a national monument, in October 2016 the three-member San Juan County Commission voted unanimously to oppose the monument. Rebecca Benally, who is Navajo, joined Commissioners Phil Lyman and Bruce Adams, both Anglo, in opposing the monument, arguing that her vote captured the views of a majority of the Native population in the County. (Members of the Native-led nonprofit Utah Dine Bikeyah and the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition begged to differ.) 

The commission’s action, along with the opposition of Utah’s Republican governor and congressional representatives, played a decisive role in President Trump’s December 2017 executive order reducing by 85 percent the area protected by President Obama’s late 2016 declaration of the original Bears Ears National Monument. Trump’s action, while welcomed warmly by many residents of the county, was received as a slap in the face by many Navajo and Ute Mountain Ute residents of San Juan County, as well as by tribes outside Utah who supported the monument and trace their ancestry to the Bears Ears region. 

In 2018, San Juan County elected two new commissioners following US District Judge Richard Shelby's order to adjust the boundaries of the three commission districts. According to the new federally-mandated boundaries in the majority Native American population County,  Commission District 1 will have a Native population of 11.1 percent; District 2 will have a Native population of 65.6 percent; and District 3 will have a Native population of 79.9 percent. Following a watershed election in November 2018, the commission now comprises two Navajo members — Willie Grayeyes and Kenneth Maryboy — along with long-serving commissioner Bruce Adams.

In February 2019, the new commission passed a resolution condemning President Trump for reducing the size of the monument, arguing that in doing so, he violated the Antiquities Act. Not surprisingly, given the divisions in San Juan County, the vote was met with both celebration and strong denunciation.

At the end of March, we reached Blanding resident Kay Shumway, whose family's ties to the region date back six generations. 

Shumway, who is an Anglo Mormon, feels strongly that the court-imposed redistricting was intended "to punish the people of Blanding, pure and simple." He argues that the new Commission district boundaries in San Juan County have diluted the voices of Blanding residents, as the city population is now divided among three districts. Prior to the 2018 election, the predominantly conservative  population of the town of 3700 (the largest in San Juan County) had the dominant voice in electing a string of Anglo Commissioners. The federally-mandated change in district boundaries was particularly searing to Anglo residents of Blanding who remain deeply wounded by the 2009 FBI raid of city residents accused of looting Native archaeological sites. 

Despite his negative reaction to the redistricting decision, Kay had hoped that the new commission might take steps to heal some of the divisions that have made politics in San Juan County fraught for generations. Instead, “the first thing that Kenneth and Willie did was to rescind some of the county’s earlier resolutions. That was their first jump out of the starting gate.” He noted as well that “there have been many 2-1 votes along the Native/Anglo divide. The commission has proven to be quite narrow in interpretation of what they are doing. The two Navajos seem to represent Navajo interests. That’s what we’re seeing on a regular basis.”

Kay is unsure about the new commission’s attitudes regarding oil and gas development in the eastern part of the county, much of it on reservation land. “On the reservation, oil wells are the lifeblood of the communities. [They] create jobs and opportunities. If they didn’t have oil and gas development, they’d be a lot worse off than they are.” He lamented the role of "outside" groups in opposing such development. “The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the Grand Canyon Trust have no limits on their desire to stop any energy production in San Juan County. They are hell bent on stopping development. How are we going to pay for education, for the best schools, the best teachers, computers, without income from oil wells, uranium mines, copper mines and so on. Without income from energy, what will happen to needed support for Navajo education?” 

In the same vein, Kay was critical of the opposition of Bluff, Utah-based nonprofit Friends of Cedar Mesa and the town of Bluff to a project aimed at placing a photo-voltaic solar farm on Bluff Bench, a series of mesas above Cow Canyon. Kay finds it ironic that environmentalists who oppose oil and gas exploration in the region are also arrayed against the solar farm.

Turning to the current state of discussions regarding management of public lands in San Juan County, Kay again felt that the voices of local citizens living closest to the land were not being heard by the BLM and US Forest Service. “We’re not being contacted by [the agencies] as people, and talked to about our concerns. Now they have these open houses — they are swamped by people with different views than the locals have.  I felt like I was among the few representing local folks.” [NB: It should be noted that not all locals share Kay's views regarding public land uses].

Representatives and acolytes of outdoor outfitters such as REI, North Face and Patagonia were, in Kay’s view, dominating the meetings and advocating views that he thought would lead to “industrial tourism. They want to make sure that they can sell the right shoes, the right pants, the right jacket to visit these places. They want more people buying more of the equipment to go out there.” He expressed a view held by many, including some in the environmental community, that advertising the area would bring crowds of people — something that was anathema to him and other people in San Juan County. 

Even more concerning than having his voice overwhelmed by outsiders, Shumway believes that the BLM and the Forest Service continue to make decisions without adequate input. As one example, he cited a recent change to the rules regarding camping near Elk Mountain, “an area that is sacred to me. I go out there to pray, take photographs, enjoy the land. [In years past], you and your family found your own spot under a ponderosa or an Aspen grove, and camped out for two or three days or a week. Now the BLM says there will be no more open camping.”

Instead, the BLM is building a formal campground where Kay anticipates that, rather than freedom to find peace away from it all, there will be folks crowding together and diminishing what President Obama’s monument proclamation called ‘the rare and arresting quality of deafening silence’.

Kay’s comments reflect the three themes that emerged from discussions with more than 70 sources in the course of our assembling the material for Voices from Bears Ears: (1) the land around Bears Ears is of great cultural and spiritual significance to those on both sides of the debate regarding its future status; (2) there is deep concern about the economic future of San Juan County — the poorest in Utah — and the role of public lands in that future; and (3) that voices — both Anglo and Native — are either not heard or are disrespected.

Until people like Kay believe that their voices and views are heard, that there is a clear path to a viable economic future, and that cultural and spiritual attachment to the land is respected and embraced, discussions regarding Bears Ears — and, indeed, all public lands — will continue to be fraught and contentious.

We caught up with Josh Ewing, Executive Director of Friends of Cedar Mesa (FCM) on a day when he was acting as “sole parent in charge” of the Bears Ears Education Center in Bluff, Utah. The newly-established Center opened in fall 2018 following a grassroots funding effort that elicited donations from 3000 individuals from around the world. The outpouring of support and money served as testimony to the widespread resonance of the ongoing efforts to protect Bears Ears. The Center’s main goal is to provide tourists with the information they need to carefully and respectfully visit the archaeological sites and natural wonders within the boundaries of the Bears Ears National Monument established by President Obama in 2016 (and reduced by President Trump in 2017).

During the eight weeks the Center was open during September and October, more than 1500 visitors stopped at the Center prior to visiting Bears Ears. “Our goal for 2019 — perhaps a bit optimistic — is to reach 10,000 of the increasing number of visitors coming to Bears Ears, and to add to the number of volunteers contributing to the Center’s effort,” said Ewing whose voice and cadence reflected the relentless optimism that has enabled him, with the help of dedicated staff and volunteers, to build the Center and attract supporters for its Visit with Respect program. “We’re focusing our efforts on folks visiting the major archaeological sites in and around Cedar Mesa, and in the southern part of Bears Ears,” he said.

Ewing and FCM are committed to working with the five tribes - the Zuni, Hopi, Ute Mountain Ute, Ute Indian Tribe, and the Navajo Nation - that in their support of monument designation advocated for the importance of developing approaches to visitation and site protection that reflect the tribes’ historical, cultural, and spiritual connections to the land. “During the past year, we have been working with the tribes, mainly through the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition," said Ewing. "We’ve taken their leaders to sites, listened their biggest concerns about threats to the area, and have begun incorporating their knowledge into what we do at the Education Center." 

Ewing has continued to hold low-key conversations with local BLM and U.S. Forest service staff. The two agencies currently manage the land comprising Trump's reduced Bears Ears National Monument. “At present, they are only open to discussions regarding the two Trump parcels. But I hope that once the legal status of the monument is resolved, we can begin to share our thoughts regarding protection on the broader landscape.”

Among the many things that are taking Ewing's time time, his most immediate concern is with an effort by the State of Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, colloquially known as SITLA, who have proposed a solar array farm on Bluff Bench. "The area selected by SITLA for the array lies within the Obama monument boundaries, and we think it would be a mistake to allow a project like that to proceed before the legal status of the monument has been resolved by the courts," Ewing said.

We caught up with Mark Maryboy several weeks before the fourth anniversary of the inaugural gathering of Hopi, Zuni and 19 other tribes in Bluff, Utah. It was Maryboy who invited tribal representatives from Arizona, New Mexico, and the land around Bears Ears in southeastern Utah: lands their ancestors called home. And it was Maryboy who, on April 10, 2015, opened the gathering with two profoundly meaningful words: “Welcome home.” The tribes, some of which had painful history between them, made a strategic decision to look past their differences and unite to protect a land that was essential to their cultural and spiritual survival.

Their efforts led to the formation in July 2015 of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, which subsequently entered into a nation-to-nation dialogue with the Obama Administration that led eventually to the declaration of the Bears Ears National Monument in December 2016.

The tribes represented in the Coalition, alongside a number of different parties across the conservation, recreation, and outdoor industries, are leading a legal effort to reverse President Trump’s December 2017 decision to slash the monument boundaries by 85 percent. While that effort is ongoing, Maryboy and others are taking a long-range view of how protection of Bears Ears might influence the future of San Juan County, where the monument is located.

“Protection of the land and [Native cultural] sites in the area will provide the basis for a durable economic backbone in the future," Maryboy told us. His brother, Kenneth, now chairs the three-member San Juan County Commission, which for the first time has majority Native membership. This seismic political shift, a result of the 2018 midterm elections, reflects county demographics - more than half the county's population is Native - and is the result of court-ordered redistricting to correct long-gerrymandered district boundaries that disenfranchised the county's Native residents. 

Maryboy notes that the newly constituted commission will need to lead discussions that “will make people work together on a meaningful economic solution in the future. There is very little opportunity to make a living from mining and ranching in the area. We need to look to other areas like tourism.”  As a co-founder of Utah Dine Bikeyah, the Native-led nonprofit whose advocacy for protection of the Bears Ears landscape led to the establishment of the monument, Maryboy supports the organization's efforts to engage the county in discussions regarding its economic future and hopes that it can work successfully with the new County Commission.

“It was sad to see that some of these important conversations were derailed by the fight over the residence of a Commission member [Utah Navajo Willie Grayeyes]”, Maryboy said, referring to the unsuccessful effort by county officials to disqualify Grayeyes by claiming, falsely, that he did not live in Utah. “And it upsets me that some white people want to secede from the county now that it has two Navajo commissioners. These things don’t help.”

He expressed cautious optimism regarding the ongoing dialogue among the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and the US Forest Service and BLM: the two agencies overseeing management of most of Bears Ears as litigation over the monument proceeds. “It is important to have tribal voices now. I hope that the Coalition devotes time to [building on] the cultural mapping we did at Utah Dine Bikeyah," which created a comprehensive list of sites considered culturally significant and sacred to the area's Native peoples. "The other tribes need to do this so that we come up with well-informed management plans.”

Maryboy ended our conversation on a philosophical note. “ I am happy to have been there during the critical stages at the beginning of UDB and the Bears Ears Coalition. Now we wait for the court decision to restore the monument. After a decision is made, good or bad, i will decide if i should stay engaged or let the young people carry on the work”. 

It’s been a busy month for lawmakers and conservation advocates on Capitol Hill. Here, we take a look at the most significant developments and what they portend for Bears Ears and public lands across the U.S.

In an unprecedented show of bipartisanship, the Senate last week passed a mammoth public lands bill that enjoys broad support from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. The bill has something for everyone: 1.3 million acres of new wilderness; five new national monuments in the West and the South; expansion of five existing national parks in California and Georgia; new rules around mining leases that permanently protect land around certain national parks; and permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. At a time when the Trump administration continues to roll back protections for public lands and do away with environmental regulations, the bill provides conservation groups a major victory with far-reaching effects.

Utah Representative Rob Bishop, who spent much of his tenure as the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee opposing conservation bills, has become an unlikely supporter of the aforementioned lands bill. Can environmentalists count on him to turn over a new leaf in the long term? In the words of one conservation leader, “Hope springs eternal.”

Finally, legislation to expand the Obama-era Bears Ears National Monument from 1.35 million acres to 1.9 million acres has been re-introduced in the House by Democrats Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Deb Haaland of New Mexico. The Bears Ears Expansion and Respect for Sovereignty Act would not only protect the land previously designated under the Obama administration but expand the monument to the full 1.9 million acres identified by the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition in its 2015 monument proposal.

As of this writing, a hearing for the bill has not yet been scheduled. The legislation may not prove anything more than symbolic; nevertheless, its reintroduction signals a continued commitment on the part of some lawmakers to keep the Bears Ears issue top of mind and to honor the tribes’ original vision for Bears Ears.

Much of the opposition to Bears Ears National Monument among residents of San Juan County, Utah — home to the disputed monument — derives from the belief that a national monument would negatively impact the potential for economic growth. Opponents believe that a monument would preclude the expansion of ranching and extractive industries - mining, oil and gas development - which in the past served as engines of the economy but today contribute less than 10 percent of the county’s tax revenue.

Supporters counter that a monument could serve as a focal point for increasing jobs and revenue in the tourism and outdoor recreation sectors and stimulate the growth of small businesses, thereby helping to broaden the economic base of the only county in Utah described as a "persistent poverty" area. 

While the fate of Bears Ears awaits the outcome of litigation, one of the proponents of the monument designation — the nonprofit Utah Dine Bikeyah (UDB), whose Native-led efforts to preserve land and culture helped secure protection of Bears Ears — has initiated efforts aimed at working with San Juan County officials to identify potential paths toward a more robust economic future. 

In an interview earlier this month, UDB Executive Director Gavin Noyes, discussed the organization’s efforts. 

Noyes spoke first to the importance of county-wide infrastructure improvements, with emphasis on improving high-speed broadband. 

“Lack of broadband is a real barrier to economic growth," Noyes said. "Better broadband would allow people and businesses to work remotely and allow many young people who would otherwise leave the county to remain closer to home”. 

Noyes also emphasized the potential benefits of starting a tribal electrical cooperative that would bring solar-powered electrical service to homes on the Utah strip of the Navajo Reservation, 40 percent of which still lack connection to the electrical grid. Moreover, he noted, “Many areas, particularly in the southern part of the county, lack quality roads, making access to and from emerging businesses challenging."

Noyes sees opportunities for Navajo and Ute Mountain Ute tribes to establish outlets for the many talented Native artists in the county. One possibility is developing a cultural center, where artists could display their works and host gatherings that would attract visitors and potential clients.

“To make this work will require cooperation among county residents, the County Commission, tribes, and the state of Utah," Noyes noted. UDB has volunteered to work across the county and to share their expertise in service of promoting economic growth. 

“We have already worked with aspiring tribal entrepreneurs — mostly artists at this stage — and see the need for more training as well as capital to incubate nascent businesses.”

Noyes is optimistic that there is support for UDB’s efforts at the Utah congressional and state levels, within the tribes, and within some parts of the San Juan County political establishment.  He sees a county-wide discussion of economic opportunity as a way to bring together factions that have been at odds over the fate of Bears Ears. 

“Everyone will benefit from a plan to diversify the economy of San Juan County," Noyes said. "It will take time to bring people together. But UDB is eager to help and play a role.”

The policies and actions of the Trump administration on a number of fronts have struck many as beyond the pale. Normally apolitical parties have come out of the woodwork and onto the front lines of battles over pollution, extractive-industry activity, and scientific research, to name a few.

In December 2017, the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology joined Native American tribes, conservation organizations, outdoor recreation companies, and others in suing the Trump administration over its reduction of Bears Ears National Monument. The Bears Ears region, it turns out, is a treasure trove of fossils dating back to the Triassic period, more than 200 million years ago. The scientists at SVP had hoped to gain both protection for the landscape and crucial funding for research, which scientists working in other regions have reaped after monument designation.

This Science piece piece takes an in-depth look at how paleontologists are racing against time to find, document, and protect fossils in areas cut from the original monument by President Trump before mining companies and off-road vehicles further endanger them. Well worth a read.

The biggest story on the Bears Ears beat is the departure of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, aka That Guy Who Rode A Horse to His First Day on the Job. Zinke stepped down from his post at the end of 2018; it is rumored that the White House issued him an ultimatum: resign or be fired.

Besides being the subject of numerous ethics investigations (and a potential criminal investigation to boot), Zinke’s most enduring legacy will be his rollback of environmental regulations, his embrace of President Trump’s “America First” energy policy, and his role in the reduction of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments.

Here’s how national and Utah-based media outlets covered the news:

The New York Times: Ryan Zinke, Face of Trump Environmental Rollbacks, Is Out

The Washington Post: Interior Zinke resigns amid investigations

The Salt Lake Tribune: The Interior secretary who pushed Trump to shrink Utah’s Bears Ears resigns, blames ‘vicious and politically motivated attacks’

Deseret News (Salt Lake City): Utah leaders, environmentalists react to Interior Secretary Zinke’s resignation

“This is Our Land,” Boulder Weekly: This excellent piece by Emma Murray, nearly a year in the making, takes an in-depth look at the movement by Native American tribes in the Southwest to protect Bears Ears country for future generations - and the opposing forces threatening their historic homeland. Rebecca Robinson is quoted extensively in the article. Here’s her take on the work of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition to protect their sacred lands in southeast Utah in the face of opposition from the Trump administration:

“I think they may have set a really good precedent and created a template for other tribes to protect their ancestral lands. Out of all of this mess, what’s most promising is that we see a real ripple effect [that can] change the conservation movement and elevate the voices of historically underrepresented groups who really are the First Peoples of the planet.”

Radio 1190, Boulder/Denver: The student radio station at the University of Colorado-Boulder hosted Rebecca Robinson and Steve Strom, Voices’ photographer, for an in-depth discussion of the current status and potential future of Bears Ears National Monument. Kudos to Radio 1190 News Director, Lucy Haggard, for posing thought-provoking questions.

“The Battle Over Bears Ears,” KUED: This is a must-watch. Producer Nancy Green and her production crew have done a masterful job of presenting the core issues and nuances of the multi-year debate over the future of Bears Ears. We were pleased to be interviewed for the film and to receive a "Special Thanks" in the credits.

Stay tuned for more information about upcoming events and readings in Berkeley, CA; Denver, Boulder, and Durango, CO; Portland, Bend, and Newberg, OR; Salt Lake City and Moab, UT; and Seattle and Olympia, WA.