Why I'm Heart Sick Tonight. -- NY Times Has Sights On Bears Ears

This was part of a New York Times Article published this weekend 8/27/16.  Red dots show National Monuments or Parks already designated by President Obama.  Blue ones show those that Douglas Brinkley recommends he designate next. Bear Ears is one of them.  If you can figure out how to go in to the NYT and comment.  Please do so.  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/28/opinion/sunday/obama-the-monument-maker.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share

 One of the sites recommended for "designation" by the NY Times was Fire House Ruin

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The House on Fire ruins at Cedar Mesa, in Bears Ears, Utah. CreditDavid Schultz/Mint Images, via Getty Images

3. Bears Ears, Utah  This remote, 1.9 million-acre area is sacred to the region’s native tribes. With an estimated 100,000 archaeological sites, it is one of the nation’s most significant cultural and historical landscapes. But looting and desecration are taking their toll.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/28/opinion/sunday/obama-the-monument-maker.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share

Washington Post Aug. 26: Obama Creates World’s Largest Marine Protected Area

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-to-create-the-largest-protected-place-on-the-planet-off-hawaii/2016/08/25/54ecb632-6aec-11e6-99bf-f0cf3a6449a6_story.html

Comment posted on Washington Post:
This excessive expansion of an existing National Park is par for the course for these extreme environmental groups who use scare tactics to manipulate others -- as well dumping in millions of dollars to media. How can lowly fishermen compete with their enticing promises, manpower, money, and manipulation managed by the Conservation Land Foundation and the Pew Foundation? This is just another land/water grab before the president leaves office. They don't care about people, their livelihood, food, or culture. They only use "indigenous people" to get their way, and to make it look like there is a local by-in. They are using the same tactics in Utah, Oregon, Nevada, California, Arizona, and Maine. This Kamikaze coalition makes promises they cannot keep, while confiscating lands and water. At the same time the President has created a $19 Trillion dollar debt and the U.S. cannot even afford to manage existing National Parks and Monuments.

THE FUTURE? BEARS EARS NATIONAL ‘MONEY-MINT’ and More Facts & Opinions…by Jim Stiles

"It’s a question that everyone who loves the lands of Southeast Utah needs to ask.Our ultimate goal in this endeavor should be to protect the lands we cherish and revere, not turn them into a marketing tool.  Because once we commit to this future for the Bears Ears, and Elk Ridge and the Blue Mountains and White Canyon, and Cheese Box Butte and the tablelands at Hatch Point, and Beyond….once we determine that THIS is the future we want for these sacred places, there is no going back."

"So what is the strategy here for monument supporters? First, create the monument, then promote its world-wide appeal for the tourist dollar potential. When visitation increases dramatically, accompanied by dramatic environmental impacts as well, land managers will call for more funding, for more protection and for more regulation. And they’ll demand more funding to educate the public during their brief visits. Look at the Moab/Arches NP area and see what’s happened there.  Establishing monument status for the Bears Ears has a Catch-22 component for sure.

If it sounds as if I’m being too hard on the tourist/recreation crowd, note that I include myself among them when I travel to any place that is foreign and different to me and where I lack knowledge and experience. Wilderness is an unforgiving yet fragile place. It can be deadly, and it can be easily destroyed.

And as this publication noted more than 15 years ago, when we first addressed head-on the impacts from the recreation industry—“It’s the NUMBERS, stupid.” Too many well-meaning people, most with good intentions, can be devastating. It’s not a new idea; ‘loving the place to death’ has been an acknowledged fact for decades. But it seems to be a Truth that is often ignored these days."

Read entire article: http://www.canyoncountryzephyr.com/2016/08/02/another-view-of-the-future-bears-ears-national-money-mint-by-jim-stiles/

Bear Essentials August 10, 2016

Bear Essentials Top Ten for this week

1.     Sign our new petition; read our story: http://www.savebearsears.com/

  (30 days ran out on the first petition before we reached 100,000, so we started over with a longer time period) 

2.     Please continue to help others states: Nevada- http://www.nevadalandscouncil.org/petition?recruiter_id=101

3.     Oregon:  https://www.facebook.com/ourlandourvoice/

4.     Arizona: http://www.arizonaliberty.us/Sedona_Verde_Valley_Red_Rock_National_Monument.html

5.     Read: A Whale of a Story by Nathan Nielson, a 1992 graduate of SJHS https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2016/08/leviathan-in-the-desert

6.     A great article explaining why Western states continue to be treated as territories by the Federal Government.   http://www.nationalreview.com/article/438586/western-states-federal-lands-sovereignty-equal-rights

7.      Visit Protect the Bears Ears on FB.  Lots of great information, and lively discussions. https://www.facebook.com/ProtectTheBearsEars/

8.     Maine Mourns as another one bites the dust: http://www.pressherald.com/2016/08/24/obama-creates-national-monument-in-maines-north-woods/

9.     How did a Cedar Mesa National Monument proposal turn into Bears Ears?
http://reagangirl.com/williams-letter-exposes-environmentalist-gang-behind-bears-ears/

10. Obama Quadruples Hawaiian National Monument https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-to-create-the-largest-protected-place-on-the-planet-off-hawaii/2016/08/25/54ecb632-6aec-11e6-99bf-f0cf3a6449a6_story.html

LEVIATHAN IN THE DESERT . . . By Nathan Nielson

1992 graduate of SJHS and a graduate of the Great Books program of St. John’s College

There’s a whale about to be dropped on the desert of Utah. Not a live animal, but a system, a mindset. Since Thomas Hobbes wrote his famous book in 1651, “leviathan”—the word means “whale” in Hebrew—has come to signify anything large, unwieldy, and dominant. The beast in question here combines government regulation, mass tourism, and modern disenchantment. It is a proposed national monument, bigger than the state of Delaware, and once it plops onto this fragile terrain, people in the surrounding communities fear what the splash may bring . . . .

. . .If Bears Ears must be designated a national monument, then a more natural, manageable size for it would be a quarter of what is proposed. The real jewels of the area are the canyons and ruins of Grand Gulch and Cedar Mesa. If this were the extent of the proposal, more locals could stomach it. But the proposed boundaries violate all sense of proportion, swallowing two whole mountain ranges, huge swaths of rangeland, native land allotments, and watersheds of entire towns. The park service already has a deferred maintenance backlog of 12 million dollars. How can it manage still more?

Read full article:https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2016/08/leviathan-in-the-desert

Protecting Pristine Public Lands

Cartoon created by Tyler Cook, SJHS Alumni and Bluff resident

Who Plays the Chess Game Best, Conservation Lands Foundation or Rep. Bishop?

Letter sent to Park Record 8/18/16 in response to Jay Meehan's article "Bishop’s gambit declined" (http://www.parkrecord.com/opinion/columns/bishops-gambit-declined/)

I challenge the validity of the polls that Jay Meehan referred to recently.  He stated, " In the wake of statewide polls showing a majority of Utahans favoring a National Monument designation for the Bears Ears region. . ." If he thinks Bishop is off target, he should know that the polling of 600 Utahans was even more askew. The attached map shows where those surveyed live. The counties in blue were not surveyed. Also not one Utah Native American was contacted.  Neither was it mentioned that Pew Charitable Trusts conducted the slanted survey and that the person who is the director is Mike Matz, who headed SUWA from 1993-2000 & spent 6 years with the Sierra Club.

So you may question Rob Bishop's motives, but we question the validity of any poll that fails to survey those most directly affected by a decision. I am sure you know by now that the unbridled power of the Conservation Lands Foundation, headquartered in Durango Colorado, has masterminded this takeover of the West and Bears Ears is their current target.  They use money, manipulation, and the media to push their agenda in every way shape or form.  They and their pre-programmed followers exaggerate, berate, and intimidate those who disagree and they dump millions of dollars into these campaigns. 

Their game of Chess often uses indigenous people, the Antiquities Act, or visions of “desecrated” landscapes to spin the need for National Monuments.   Let’s see how their master plan works by examining their 2014 board meeting minutes. (All quotes below come from the Conservation Lands Foundation or CLF Board Meeting Minutes San Francisco, CA. 24 Oct. 2014) 

The illusion that this is a “bottom up” effort driven by indigenous people who want a monument ​is false.  The Native out-of-State Coalition was organized by CLF associates.  This is a Top Down Organization and they are carefully watching all players from Secretary Jewell, down to each tribe as illustrated in their October ​minutes.  “Struggles with Secretary Jewell, she is not being a strong advocate for the Antiquities Act, but continues to show gradual improvement. With strong leadership from the White House this has become less of a roadblock.”  

​ Utah was duped into thinking she actually had come to listen to local input. Not so, the CLF and the White House had over a year to train her as their chosen Queen in this game.

CLF also uses Native Tribes as pawns: One CLF member questioned the heavy reliance on the Navajo Nation, and asked, “What happens if we separate from them or disagree with them. Without their support the White House probably would not act.”  They are using coalition members as Castles in this game of chess, and tribal members as pawns.

​

Obviously CLF has money. They have spent millions of dollars to fight poor rural areas throughout the nation. Rich people in Park City may not care that 1.9 Million acres is being targeted for a National Monument in San Juan County. But if you live in rural Utah, you know the negative impact that more Federal encroachment has on schools, businesses, and property rights, of both Anglo and Native Americans.

Everyone has been affected by CLF’s  "love Nature, hate people policies" from important cabinet members, congressmen, all states with public lands, down to the poorest counties and reservations in the nation. The final question:  To whom is the United Stated indebted? Who has been paying our bills?  Why is our national debt at an all-time high of $18 Trillion and rising daily? Who has something to gain by owning more and more lands in the United States when the Federal Government can no longer pay their debts? ​

Read Sutherland Institute analysis of the poll:  http://sutherlandinstitute.org/news/2016/08/15/latest-bears-ears-poll-transmits-a-false-sense-of-security/

​

National Parks/Monuments Need Funding, NOT more land to manage.

Sent  8/16/16  to the Durango Herald

Over a year ago Mother Jones Press wrote: “The Feds Need $11.5 Billion to Fix Our Public Lands.  While Congress was buying all that new federal land, old national parks are wasting away.”

Evidently the Obama administration and environmental powerhouse lobbies don’t care about maintaining National treasures, just gaining them.  Zero credibility is what federal government gets when sites are closed or mismanaged by lack of funding.  Public lands in San Juan County, Utah are already “managed” by the Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Forest Service.  Some parts of the proposed Bears Ears National Monument are wilderness.  But none of these agencies have the funds to adequately do their job. Why all of a sudden do people think a National anything will do a better job of protection?  Especially when the designated property holder is already over $18 Trillion dollars in debt? 

In spite of lack of manpower, Secretary Jewell was dazzled by the “pristine” settings she encountered when she visited Bears Ears area last month. County residents in cooperation with existing guidelines and permit uses, have done a great job of stewardship.  If you don’t believe it, come visit the Abajo Mountains.  You can hike, bike, rock climb, picnic, and enjoy solitude.  Something you’ll be sure to miss should San Juan County become a designated tourist attraction in the National Park/Monument circuit --should they happen to stay solvent! If not, who knows what country will own the land.  Say No to Bears Ears National Monument.

States Across the Nation Loosing Control of Local Land

Cartoon by Deniane Gutke Kartchner, SJHS alumni, and former layout editor of Blue Mountain Shadows.

CLF=Conservation Lands Foundation, who has donated millions of dollars to secure lands across the nation   http://conservationlands.org/   Main Office. 835 E. 2nd Ave. #314. Durango, CO 81301 
GCT= Grand Canyon Trust   http://www.grandcanyontrust.org/
FCM= Friends of Cedar Mesa   http://www.friendsofcedarmesa.org/
Leonardo Dicaprio Foundation:   http://leonardodicaprio.org/leonardo-dicaprio-foundation-awards-largest-ever-round-grants/
These organizations are using their money and lobby power to abscond with more Utah land.  1.9 million area in San Juan County is targeted next.

Letter to Senator Orrin Hatch

Sent to Senator Orrin Hatch August 16, 2016

Even though we know you visited San Juan County earlier this summer, we haven't heard much from you since, and Rural Utah really needs your support and negotiating skills. In 2014 the Environmental funding lobby, Conservation Lands Foundation, set their target on Cedar Mesa, in San Juan County along with sites in a dozen other states as the “current campaign” for more National Monuments.  If protection truly is their goal, then that is the area where Anasazi ruins abound, and they probably do need greater protection, though we’re not sure that more tourists are the wisest way to do that!

 Now in 2016, we are engaged in a great land battle, trying to escape the greedy grasp of the CLF, who has now expanding their campaign to include a total of 1.9 Million acres.  This involves Forest Service lands of Bears Ears and the Abajo Mountains. Very few sites exist in this area, but it is where Native People and Anglos alike depend on its grass, timber, and water. Hunting, Boy Scout camps, and 101 recreational activities are centered in this area, along with Dine and Ute traditional activities. To abscond with this land, is government overreach. 

Both Cedar Mesa and the Blue Mountain area already have BLM policies, and Forest Service controls established, but both have been underfunded.  If these lands needed protection, why wasn't federal money provided so both agencies could do their job?  Making another National Monument is not going to fix a $18 Trillion dollar debt, nor help improve protection, or economic livelihood of the area.  We feel you are in a position to do something significant to stop this impending disaster.  Utah cannot afford another donation to Obama's National Monument showcase. Why aren't our congressmen fighting for us?  

A group of 2000 local people have been working for 6 weeks, in every way we know how, to alert others, argue our case, bend the ear of our congressmen, and Secretary Jewell.  We have signed petitions, written letters, gone to the State Capitol, built floats, stuffed newspapers with flyers, and argued our cause in every way we know.  None of us are directed by a well-paid CEO, nor reimbursed for our expenses.  We have done it because we love this land, that we today call home.  We say to the Hopi, and Navajo who want to come back to their old Utah homelands, “Come, Enjoy, Visit, Celebrate, and leave it as pristine as you find it.  But don’t take our freedoms and our land away from those who have lived here the past 200 years.”   We hope you will do more than appease listen, and look.  We need a warrior to lead this battle. 

Our Escape to Sacred Space . . . By Nathan Nielson

Anxiety hovers over our lands. The weight of modern life stresses the earth. Our appetites, our consumptions, the numbing images of our media machines leave us empty. Where, in all this commotion, is there room for reverence?

Max Weber never visited the American Southwest, but few theories explain the mass tourism of the region better than his iron cage of disenchantment.

The German sociologist saw the modern world as a lifeless system of technology and bureaucracy that gave up on its spiritual roots. Calculation and efficiency drove the spirits to the hills. "Not summer's bloom lies ahead of us," he wrote more than 100 years ago, "but rather a polar night of icy darkness."

So it makes sense that amid this mechanization the environment has become the last frontier of enchantment -- our playground and our church.

The beautiful and the sacred -- two things the iron cage cannot replicate -- meet together in these junctures of poetic erosion. On weekends and summers, the highways are clogged with campers and SUVs. People from around the world come to touch the rocky wonders they've seen so many times in pictures. Throbbing with otherworldly magic are the pink and orange hoodoos of Bryce Canyon, the towering thrones of Zion, the gravitational improbabilities of Arches, and the swirl of stone needles in Canyonlands.

Read the rest of Nathan's essay published August 8, 2016 in Real Clear Religion:
http://www.realclearreligion.org/articles/2015/08/08/our_escape_to_sacred_space.html

Ad in Moab Advertiser this week

 Cartoon created by Jeff Byrd, SJHS Alumni, former Rattler Staff writer and artist -- now a resident of California.

Returning To My Ancestral Homeland . . .by Janet Wilcox

I get it.  I can understand the connection that members of the Arizona Coalition tribes have with the land within the proposed Bears Ears National Monument. The ancient lands of the Anasazi are part of their heritage with thousands of those sites located south of the mountains, in the Cedar Mesa area. Archaeologists continue to speculate why they left this area. Perhaps survival was their primary goal, perhaps drought, or visions of a better place.  However, this important land is only a small part of the expansive 1.9 million acres they are asking for.

I also understand why descendants of early Mormon converts make pilgrimages to Nauvoo, the scene of both miraculous and horrific events in the history of early LDS church members.  Over 20,000 members were driven by mobs from a land they hoped would be a safe haven in Illinois. Their leaders were killed, and pioneers suffered terribly from the harshness of the emigration to Utah. Thus Nauvoo became a sacred and significant site to these people.

Caernarfon Castle in N. Wales with Bowen relatives,
Geraint and Zonia

When we traveled to Wales and Scotland in 2001 to visit the ancient lands of my forebearers, I felt a connection also; a reverence for the land, and a keen interest in the history of those countries and people.  I visited a little 300-year-old cottage of my third great grandfather in Wales, which was still being used.  I saw the battlefield where William Wallace and Robert de Bruce led the Scottish resistance against the British for land and freedom 700 years ago.  I felt connected and proud of them for their desperate fight for their lands, which they eventually won.

We visited the coal mines of Wales where several of my ancestors had to work in order to put food on the table.  I was saddened by the beautiful canyons filled with refuse from the coal mines; slate piles as high as the canyon walls.  Many of my ancestors died in those mines.  Working conditions were atrocious, but those were times when survival was paramount, not niceties.  Eventually. conditions in Wales forced them to seek a better life in a new country, and they left, eventually ending up in Malad, Idaho, my birthplace.  Like the Ancient Ones, they too sought a better place to live, a refuge from an unfriendly environment and a better life.

What I don’t get.  The early Celtic culture goes back to approximately 1200 BC, about the same era as the early basket makers of the Four Corners area.  There has been a huge evolution within both cultures over the past 3000 plus years.  Even understanding that commonality, I still cannot picture myself, or any other transplanted descendent of either group, presumptuously claiming they now have the right to go back to said homeland and demand that changes be made on how they are managing the land. This is what is happening in San Juan County, as tribal members from Arizona and Colorado, are clamoring to have 1.9 million acres made into a National Monument to “protect their lands.” They are petitioning President Obama to designate yet another National Monument, to put in his trophy case of public acquisitions.

We are going to Wales again next month. Should we form a coalition of descendants and propose a National Monument?  After all, I will be traveling with a large group who have a vested interest in those ancestral lands dating back centuries.  NO, we would never consider such an “outlandish” action.  Those beautiful Welsh lands are now either owned or used by others. Centuries have passed since we had a stake in them. This is their land now. We do not have the right to usurp their authority, or tell them how to protect and care for the land.  Neither you nor I may like the results of some of the things done in our ancestral homelands, but once your ancestors and mine left, they were no longer stewards of the land.  They gave up that right when they left. If I really love my ancestry and I want to protect the land, I will use my resources to HELP the local stewards make changes, not demand they turn management over to me.

Scottish custom of piping in the haggis.
Glasgow, Scotland 2001

What we can do is come and visit often; enjoy the beauty of the land, leave it better than we find it, and be appreciative guests on their public lands.  We will not vandalize, nor denigrate their lifestyle, religion, or bring up the sins of their fathers. We will celebrate the joy of being there in the land of our fathers. We may even have ceremonies and spiritual experiences while we are in Wales.  And I say to the Coalition tribes, come to Bears Ears and do likewise. Be a good guest. Get to know the people in this “foreign country.”  Learn and share with them. 

 Don’t come as an enemy in the night, with deception and ill will in your heart.  Mother Earth will bless all those who approach this land with "ho'zho' '" in their heart as well as in their actions.  

Sold to the Richest Lobby: The Selling of Bears Ears Monument

The Bears Ears controversy could become a best “seller.” – Oh, wait! It already is! The nation has been sold a bill of goods under the name of protection. Lands that are already public and open to everyone, and protected by the BLM, are suddenly being confiscated by the Department of the Interior and changed into National Monuments and Parks. Millions of acres across the nation are turning into trophies for the presidential showcase with 23 already on display and a dozen more pending.  This is a tale of deceit, manipulation, greed, unbridled power and lobbyists gone “wild.”  This theft is being orchestrated in at least 12 states in the name of “protection,” and it is of proportions never seen before in the history of the United States. This insidious “campaign” orchestrated by Conservation Lands Foundation for more locked up land is not about preservation but about power.  As of July 2016 our debt was 18,152,809,942,589. Whoever pays the debt, will have the power.  (P.S. June 2019, that National Debt is now more than 22,000,000,000)

The land grab ploy often uses indigenous people, the Antiquities Act, or visions of “desecrated” landscapes to spin the need for National Monuments.  Let’s see how this was masterminded and is playing out in the words of one of the nation’s strongest lobby groups, The Conservation Lands Foundation.  (All quotes below come from the Conservation Lands Foundation or CLF Board Meeting Minutes San Francisco, CA 24 October 2014)

Lands at Risk: CLF Campaign –targeted for National Monuments Campaign

Targeted Lands:   Includes “ the most recent designations of the San Gabriels in L.A. (Ca), and the Pacific Remote Islands National Marine Monument (Hilo, Hi. Upcoming and on-going campaigns: Beryessa Snow Mountain (CA), Gold Butte, City (NV), Boulder White Clouds (Id), Cedar Mesa (Ut), Coast Dairies (CA), Desert and Browns Canyon (NM).  CLF staff  feels as though we are currently well positioned to secure designation for most if not all of these areas before the end of President Obama’s second term.”  How does that feel to know your state or a neighboring one may be a “campaign” target?

Fallacies not facts: Dick Moe stated, "Cedar Mesa has the most unique cultural sites in the nation and are not protected.”  These lands are already designated and designed to be protected by the Department of the Interior. It has authority to limit harmful activities, prohibit irresponsible uses, and enforce existing laws.  However, the Federal government has not adequately funded National Parks, nor has there been sufficient funding given the BLM to protect public land in San Juan County, Utah. If the Federal government cared about “protection” they already have the power to do so.  If they cannot afford it now, why do we believe they can afford it later?  Hmmm, another National debt issue? 

While visiting the green landscape in the northern part of the proposed monument, Secretary Jewell said, “’This [Bears Ears range] is so pristine; I can't believe it's not protected.’   There lies the oxymoron.  The actual Bears Ears area and mountain range HAS been protected. That IS why it is so pristine! It’s been protected well by Ute, Anglo, and Dine’ while all the time being used for herbs and ceremonies. Wood gatherers, hunters, campers, cattlemen, trail riders, hikers, and those who has enjoyed it the past 140 years, have kept it pristine. Very few ruins dot that landscape.  But most importantly, it provides life giving water to towns below, to Ute, Navajo and Anglos alike.  We protect it because it is our lifeline.  Why should we trust the Federal government to do that? Neither the CLF nor federal bureaucracy is invested or seems to care about the lives of rural America.

Looking behind the smoke and mirrors of media spin
The illusion that this is a "bottoms up" effort, driven by indigenous people is false.  The groups were organized by CLF associates.  This is a Top Down Organization and they are carefully watching all players in the game, from Secretary Jewell, down to each tribe. This is illustrated in their minutes, "Struggles with Secretary Jewell.  She is not being a strong advocate for the Antiquities Act, but continues to show gradual improvement.  With strong leadership from the White House this has become less of a roadblock." Looks to me that we were duped into thinking she was honestly seeking "local input!"

One CLF member admits to relying on the Navajo Nation, but asks, “What happens if we separate from them or disagree with them. Without their support the White House probably would not act.”  They are using coalition members as Kings in a grand scale game of chess, and tribal members as pawns.

Money is Power but does Might mean Right?  (2014) In the event that the Senate turns after the mid-term elections and there are more attacks on the Antiquities Act, CLF is leading a broad coalition of national organizations that are increasingly focused on defense. The Wyss Foundation and other funders have set aside some funding resources specifically for this purpose.  Do we believe as a citizenry that elections, campaigns, and land grabs should go to lobby groups with the most money or with the best spin? 

Obviously CLF has money. They “raised $12 million (60% of goal). One member noted that an additional $6 million will likely be received through foundation support over the next two years, and emphasized that the last $2 million will be the hardest to raise.”  And of course there was the $30,000 (no match) funding they gave to Friends of Cedar Mesa. Knowing this, how would it feel to be the focus of CLF's “campaign” or know your state might be the next target?

Everyone has been affected by CLF policies, plans, and hype: Government officials including important cabinet members, congressmen, all states with public lands, down to the poorest counties and reservations in the nation. The final question:  To whom is the United Stated indebted? Who has been paying our bills? And who has something to gain by owning more and more lands in the United States?

Published in The Navajo Times 8/11/16

Wake Up: "Beyond the Bears Ears"

July 29, 2016

To all those who love San Juan County, Utah: its mountains, deserts, canyons, freedom, and our rural life style:

July's Celebrations were wonderful.  We certainly "Let Freedom Ring" here in San Juan County; however, amid the fireworks and parades, an ominous cloud hung over our heads warning of “a clear and present danger” to all things we hold dear. We need to be fully informed about the tentacles that are grasping not only our land, but our freedoms.  I urge you to order, and read Ted Flynn’s book,“Hope of the Wicked: The Master Plan to Rule the World.”   I’ve never been one to believe in conspiracy theories, or end of the world paranoia, nor have I even liked The Hunger Games, but Flynn’s book has too much truth in it to ignore, and it relates to all of us.

For the past month, I’ve worked relentlessly helping our county officials, the local Blue Mountain Dine', (as well as those in southern chapters in the county) the White Mesa Utes and hundreds of county citizens in their efforts to stop the creation of a National Monument which would capture and hold hostage, 1.9 million acres of our beloved San Juan County.  This was a grass roots effort, through and through, with no paid director, unlimited funds to pay CEOs, or special interest groups bribing us. Those in the Save the Bears Ears group have worked long and hard, and continue to do so.  I personally have spent at least 6-10 hours everyday in the cause, as have many others.  Even with everything we did, it may not be enough. This is more than just government overreach, it is blatant war on the United States. There are more than 6 other states in the US waging this same war.

As I learned more and more about how the Pro-Monument Coalition was organized, how it is funded, how they have “used” native people as their vanguard, (followed closely behind by multiple environmental groups,) I eventually came to realize it must be part of a bigger plan.  Then July 26 a friend brought Chapter 18 of Flynn’s book to me and my journey "Beyond the Bears Ears" began.  A lot of questions were answered.  It was a horrifying revelation to see the manipulation orchestrated in this evil plan and how it relates directly to San Juan County and dozens of areas throughout the United States. 

I’ll only share some of Flynn’s research related to land and radical environmentalism from chapter 18 right now.  Central to this cause is The Gaia theory of “saving Mother Earth.” It is at the core of our dilemma.  As gardeners I always thought my husband and I took pretty good care of the earth.  However, it’s beyond that. The Gaia movement has brought us:  The Endangered Species Act, the UN Biodiversity treaty, and the President’s Commission on Sustainable Development, and all are part of the big plan. “Global sustainable development” is the central organizing principle of the New World Order.   It also relates to the 1992 Rio Earth Summit where Agenda 21 was approved.  Yes, it's more than a book. It's a cunning design! (Glen Beck's book, Agenda 21 would help you understand more). The Biodiversity Treaty contains provisions which threaten national sovereignty! It plans to redistribute the world’s wealth, and ultimately will declare half of all America’s land as wilderness!  I wouldn’t have believed it in 2000 when Flynn's book was published, but now we are living their dream!

That is how San Juan County fits into their global scheme! Agenda 21 is a far reaching UN blueprint for global eco-socialism and it’s been happening for some time.  It threatens to destroy American property rights and will change activities of all people. (Many SJC citizens have deeded land and allotments that will be affected by a National Monument. This is how the takeover begins.)  These environmental zealots also take issue with Genesis, where man was given “dominion over the earth”.  They argue that the spread of Christian beliefs has harmed the earth and they plan to fix things through social activism.

Another organization working with the UN is the Gorbachev Foundation, which also promotes “sustainable development.” This includes Planned Parenthood and abortion clinics. In 1994 Gorbachev delivered the keynote address at a Hollywood funded Environmental Media Association (connect the dots to DiCaprio’s Foundation). Gorbachev stressed the need for a “universally binding international code of environmental ethics” –  Here are some of these commandments!

5) “Live sustainably.” Translation: “There will be regional limits on fossil fuel use and consumption of raw materials.” (Hence the lock up of fossil fuels in Grand Staircase and the hue and cry against mining in San Juan.)

7) “Share equitably the benefits of natural resources.” Translation: "Rich nations will be taxed with a world Eco Tax to redistribute the wealth.” (Who do you think that connects to?)

11) “Reaffirm that indigenous and tribal peoples have a vital role in the care and protection of Mother Earth.  They have the right to retain their spirituality, knowledge, lands, territories and resources.”  Translation: "Huge tracts of land will be given back to native people under the guise that they will be the guardians of Mother Earth, but in reality will be the minions of the New World Order.”  Hence, the role of the Native American Coalition as Banner Carriers in the Bears Ears take-over.

17) “Treat all creatures with compassion and protect them from cruelty and wanton destruction.” Translation: "No more animals will be consumed by humans and hunting in the wild will be a capital offence” (They could care less about our hunting and grazing rights!)

19) “Protect and restore places of outstanding ecological, cultural, aesthetic, spiritual, and scientific significance.” Translation: "The earth council will take all special parks, and religious places under their control and their global sovereignty."   (All quotes from Flynn's book."   

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This is probably enough to digest right now, but I bet you are connecting more dots already.  I encourage you to get the books mentioned above and look "Beyond the Bears Ears" for the bigger picture.  I’ll send more information in the coming weeks, but this seems unbearable to me (pun intended).  I’m going to go take a walk!  

P.S. Please share this site with others you feel are concerned about the direction our country is headed and the direct impact it is having on San Juan County and a dozen other places in the United States.  List of proposed Monuments: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_proposed_National_Monuments_of_the_United_States