Beyond The Bears Ears: ~~ Bear Essentials ~ Dec. 16, 2017 ~~

Saturday, December 16, 2017

~~ Bear Essentials ~ Dec. 16, 2017 ~~

v Interactive Map showing boundary changes

v A Public Lands Bill We can All Agree On?

v A Little Winter Humor Featuring our Favorite Bear

v Remember to pray for SNOW!

v Thanks, Dashelle Holliday for writing and publishing several letters this past week. We need more voices correcting misconceptions.

Address one or more of these fallacies when you write:

(These are “talking points” from the Grand Old Broads)

--Most Americans DO NOT want to reduce our national monuments

Protecting national monuments has enormous public support. Over 2.8 million public comments were received in response to Trump’s monument review. Keylog Economics analyzed the first 1.3 million comments received and estimated that 99.2% of comments opposed the review and any reductions to National Monuments. An analysis of more than 6,700 of the comments received found that over 90% of comments from Utahns opposed the administrative review and wanted to protect monuments. The Trump administration and Utah’s elected officials are ignoring the vast majority of comments.

--The Tribes Proposed and Support Bears Ears National Monument

Tribal council members from the Navajo, Hopi, Ute, Ute Mountain Ute, and Zuni Tribes form the Bears Ears Coalition, which proposed Bears Ears as the first tribally co-managed National Monument. Altogether, 30 Native American Tribes with heritage tied to the Bears Ears region have shown overwhelming support for the monument, to protect sacred uses and the area’s tens of thousands of Native American archaeological sites. The day after Trump announced slashing the monument from 1.35 million acres to 201,397 acres, the five tribal governments who petitioned to form it filed a lawsuit against the administration. The Department of Interior claims they consulted with the tribes, but the decision to reduce Bears Ears does not represent the views of these tribal governments and the administration did not go through proper channels for tribal consultation.

--These lands belong to ALL Americans

Before monument designation, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante were national public lands managed by the federal government and open for all to enjoy. They were never owned or managed by the state of Utah—so these monument reductions do not “return” the lands to Utahns. Bears Ears National Monument was intended to be co-managed between Native American Tribes, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the U.S. Forest Service. Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is managed by the BLM and will continue to be managed by the federal agency. Trump falsely claimed he was “returning” lands to the people when the public owned these lands all along.

--Monument Designations DO NOT Lock Out the Public

The only activity national monument designation prevents within Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante is oil and gas development and mining. Grazing is still allowed, as well as off-highway vehicles, mountain biking, hiking, camping, firewood cutting, logging, hunting, and trapping, subject to Monument Management Plans. Native American herb and seed collection and traditional uses in Bears Ears are protected under the monument designation.

--National Monuments Bolster, Not Hurt, Local Economies

Independent non-partisan research from Headwaters Economics shows that local economies adjacent to 17 national monuments in the West all expanded following monument designation. Over two-thirds of the communities studied grew at the same rate or at a faster pace compared to similar communities their state. From 2001 to 2015:

— Population grew by 13% and jobs grew by 24%
— Service business jobs grew from 3,916 to 5,561, a 42% increase
— Real per capita income grew from $30,687 to $35,812, a 17% increase

--Outdoor Recreation is Essential to Local and National Economies and creates:

— $887 billion in consumer spending annually
— 7.6 million American jobs
— $65.3 billion in federal tax revenue
— $59.2 billion in state and local tax revenue

-- Has Helped Neighboring Economies

Suzanne Catlett, Board President of the Escalante & Boulder Chamber of Commerce says it best: “As head of a chamber representing 49 businesses, I can tell you that since the protection of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, our local tourism industry in Escalante has grown and is thriving… Thanks to our national monuments, people want to live here, and new home construction is at an all-time high. We have no doubt that Bears Ears National Monument will bring the same economic opportunities to the area. There is no doubt that shrinking these national monuments would harm our local businesses.”

Good News Bears

n New York Times story on Bears Ears

n Uranium interests in San Juan County

n Utah Geological Survey Refutes Wash. Post Article

“WashPost’s misleading headline, ‘Areas cut out of Utah monuments are rich in oil, coal, uranium,’ may seem accurate to those unacquainted with the ins and outs of energy development, but fossil fuel and mineral deposits must have the potential to yield profits before an area is even considered. There may indeed be oil, coal and uranium resources in the ground in southeastern Utah, but according to the scientists at UGS, either due to the size of deposits or the expense and difficulties involved in exploration and extraction, they are not worth the trouble.”

n Thank you for Shash Jaa’, from a Navajo Elder

n When the Shoe’s on the Other Foot Idaho State Journal

n Newt Gingrich: Ignore the Naysayers

n Trump Shrinks Bears Ears Navajo Times

n EPA director to End Sue and Settle Pattern

“Scott Pruitt recently issued a directive to end a 20-year string of “sue and settle” cases that have funneled untold millions of tax dollars to environmental organizations. . . About 20 years ago, government agencies stopped collecting data on these settlements, so they could no longer report to Congress on the amount of money involved, or the groups to whom it was being paid. Long-time observers know it amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars, and the recipients are mostly large environmental organizations.”

n BLM Agent Wooten reports Unprofessional behavior by BLM Video by Washington Representative Matt Shea refers to Operation Cerberus

n Whistle Blower gives additional information concerning Bundys