Bear Essentials Feb. 26-March 4

​ Bear Essentials  Feb. 26 - March 5

Movement to rescind the Bears Ears Monument picks up momentum

Since the rescind and “scind" no more effort began, led by Utah’s gutsy congressmen: Lee, Hatch, Chaffetz and Noel there has been an amped up deluge of propaganda from the multi-level marketed green machine. I’m sure you have seen repeated ads on prime-time TV promoting Bears Ears Monument.  In addition, more strident voices are proclaiming “this public land is ours” in newspapers and TV news from East Coast to West.  In newspapers in the Four Corners area there are weekly letters (often from out-of-state) insisting that Utah is planning to sell Bears Ears land and other far-fetched fear mongering. 

Another example of what we face.  Watch and get motivated!

 We plead with you to help counteract this deluge of falsehood and propaganda.  You are the true Stewards of San Juan and we must all fight with the pen, twitter, emails, and our voices. Please let yours be heard.  Often news stories, and opinion pieces in newspapers allow for “comment.”  Please do that. Stay informed and don’t hide your head under the Bear Skin, or we will all be skinned!!  

The three web sites under Good News will provide plenty of information for you to use.  We can't just sit, and pray that our Utah Delegation will fight all the battles for us. Thank you for writing and calling them, and assuring them we appreciate their efforts. They are being attacked unmercifully. Here are local newspapers that accept letters to the editor; some have word restrictions. 250-500 is usually the range, but check.  I suggest composing it first on a word processing program, then you can just copy and paste it in, and reuse it or revise as needed.

• Cortez Journal: news@cortezjournal.com
• Deseret News: letters@deseretnews.com
• Emery County Progress: editor@ecprogress.com
• Four Corners Free Press: freepress@fone.net
• Navajo Times: editor@navajotimes.com
• New York Times: letters@nytimes.com/editor
  Moab Sun News publisher@moabsunnews.com
• Price Sun Advocate: editor@sunad.com
• Salt Lake Tribune: letters@sltrib.com
• San Juan Record: sjrnews@frontiernet.net
• skiggins@thespectrum.com
• Southern Utah News: sunews@kanab.net
• Moab Times Independent: editor@moabtimes.com
• Grand Junction: http://www.gjsentinel.com/opinion/submit_letter

 Bearers of Good News

     Please Share specific stories from these sites.  We need more No Monument publicity

--Stewards of San Juan has their official web site up and running.  It will continue to grow as we move forward in our effort to support the Utah delegation of elected congressmen. Thanks to the skills of Devin Bayles Hancock, (our expert, though unpaid web master) we seek to share the truth, history, and facts regarding land issues in San Juan County.

-- SaveBearsEars  web site where families share stories, history, photos and love of the land. It was started summer of 2016, and many of your shared your amazing stories.  The bad news was that it crashed a couple of months ago, and Kara Laws and Cindy Bayles have spent hundreds of hours both creating and recreating the site.  It is up and running again and we appreciate their efforts.

  

--Beyond the Bears blog continues to add articles from across the country related to land issues.  We are not the only state fighting this same issue of more restrictions, under the guise of a National Monument, and the Antiquities Act.  Feel free to share articles, and ideas from my blog.

--Letter to President Trump:  Ways to make America Great Again:

--Take an aerial trip of San Juan via Twisted Arch Productions, Brett Saunders 

Pruitt EPA Confirmation welcomed in Colorado, epicenter of massive EPA debacles

Oregon Lawmakers  Consider Bill for State Authority Over Managing Lands

--*(Use Patagonia’s link to help us: http://p2a.co/mNGUHLJ   BUT follow these Instructions: Patagonia made this tool to complain to Governor Herbert. But you can also use it to praise his efforts and signing of the resolution and working to rescind Bears Ears and reduce the size of GSENM. Be sure to UNCHECK the box authorizing them to text you. Follow their instructions. You'll get a phone call, ignore the recorded message coaching you what to say then when the message is over; it rings you in to the Governor's receptionist. Ask her to connect you to the comment line and leave him a nice message! Call and thank the Governor on Patagonia's nickel! 

--Wyoming wins legal battle with EPA: A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Denver ruled 2-1 that the EPA had no right to ruled that 1.48 million acres of Wyoming did not belong to Wyoming but was instead “Indian country” and subject to the jurisdiction of the two American Indian tribes that reside on the Wind River Indian Reservation in west central Wyoming.  File attached.  This is encouraging news.

 Bad News Bears:   

--Ranchers in New Mexico Fear more loss of Grazing  Allotments

--Bill to Help Ranchers Fails in Congress  This bill sought to limit the power of federal agencies. The bill aimed to make any action taken by a federal employee that might negatively affect the use of a public grazing allotment a felony.

--Forest Service Set to Take Over Private Land In Colorado, which is already 96% Federal Land.

--Patagonia Funds Campaign to Protect Bears Ears from Utah Politicians

Talk Show Discusses Bureau of Land Management Raids.  (Start at about 36. Min.) Chris Courtlander begins to talk about the BLM's attack on the Custer Museum in Montana, the three people who committed suicide in Utah over a small shell picked up off the ground that was exempt from being illegal by virtue of the value as well as the fact that it was picked up on top of the ground, and some on Bundy Standoff and M