Stewards of San Juan Organize

Dec. 2016

Those who helped at the December 2016 event: Wendy Black, Suzette Morris, Jami Bayles and their
children.  Janet Wilcox also helped. 

Though nearly 1500 passionate San Juan County citizens had been actively engaged in the Bears Ears Public Lands battle since June of 2016, the group never really had an official name, nor elected officers or leaders.  They communicated via a private Facebook page. Anyone who had a "great" idea just bounced off ideas in the group and moved ahead independently. Since there was no money generated by the group at that time, everyone volunteered both time and resources to the idea they hoped would help the cause of defending State's Right and Rescinding the Bears Ears Monument.
 In December some of the group determined to participate in annual Festival of Trees. There they sold shirts, decals, and disseminated information. This helped to generate a money for mailing expenses primarily and for dissemination of information.  The booth is pictured above and it was set up for both days of the event.  We took turns manning it.  

It was at this time when needed a banner, that we came up with Stewards of San Juan as an identifying name.  We also used an existing logo designed by Mark Bradford on the banner, which showed so many of the unique and special places in San Juan County.

The next year, Feb 2017, the group finally organized.  By now there were nearly 2000 people involved in the FB group.  Officers were elected and again they used Stewards of San Juan for their logo and official name. Voted in as president was Jami Bayles, Vice Presidents: Ryan Benally, and Suzette Morris, Secretary-Eva Clarke Workman, and Treasurer-Wendy Black.  Publicity and newsletter were handled by Janet Wilcox.