Letter to Uintah Basin Standard Nov. 20

I agree with Chris Saeger’s initial statement in the Nov. 17 paper, that as westerners, “we love our public lands.”  It is because of that core value attachment to the land, that San Juan County citizens have been fighting to protect 1.9 million acres from further federal restriction and control, via a national monument.  We appreciate the support given by the Duchesne County Commissioners who approved resolution 16-11 opposing the Bears Ears National Monument designation during their meeting on Nov. 14.   

San Juan County is already home to six of those federal designations/destinations:  Natural Bridges, Hovenweep, Canyonlands, Dark Canyon and Grand Gulch Wilderness areas, and Glen Canyon Recreation Area.   Only 8% of San Juan County’s 5,077,120 acres are privately owned.  We need jobs and a tax base and multiple use of local land not one more monument. Some areas in that coveted land, do NOT meet the definition of “public”, including 43 grazing allotments, 661 water-right infrastructures, 151,000 acres of state trust land, and 18,000 acres of private property, as well as hundreds of miles of roads and infrastructure. 

Because most of the area in question, is already public, the BLM and Forest Service have the authority and jurisdiction to manage it.  It may be true that inadequate staffing has been a problem, but consider that our Federal Government is nearly $20 Trillion in debt; it's a wonder that anything is functioning. If you managed your personal budget like the US government, you'd be filing for bankruptcy, or be in debtors' prison.  Ironically, the US National Parks and Monuments are under a 2-year maintence deferment totaling nearly $11.5 billion dollars. Utah alone is behind $278,094,606 in park maintenance.  There is no money to support EXISTING monuments, much less new ones. 

We have learned from other “monumental” mistakes, that tourist destinations have a heavy negative impact on land.  Because the State of Utah does such a good job of promoting Parks and Monuments, places like Moab and Zions park are now overrun by too many visitors.  In the Cedar Mesa area of San Juan County where thousands of fragile Anasazi ruins exist, such excessive visitation would be counterproductive to preservation of these important sites. The BLM already has the jurisdiction and power to enforce and supervise visitation there. National Monument status would only compound existing problems.

Unlike Mr. Saeger who believes that the federal government can better manage public lands, I find no fiscal support for his position. I would also suggest that perhaps the restrictive nature of federal timber management and policy has often been the very cause of fires. Wouldn’t it be wiser to allow logging, and encourage gathering of dead wood, and allow cattle to graze to control grass, rather than burning up our U.S. forests? I do agree we need to give the president elect a chance to make both America and our public lands great again.  Sign our petition, join our protest, and let sovereign state’s rights speak louder than rich lobby coalitions. www.savebearsears.com