~~ Bear Essentials ~ Dec. 9, 2017 ~~

It was a great day of celebration for “Local” Native Americas and San Juan County

President Trump’s Remarks Dec. 4 Utah State Capitol

v Thank You’s Are In Order:  Contact Senator Hatch:

v Express your appreciation and concerns:   Write or Call the President:

            Write to Secretary Zinke: Dept. of the Interior  1849 C Street, N.W.  Wash. DC 20240 

v Other Issues of Local Interest

v Recommendations on SJC voting Districts Submitted (San Juan Record)

v Strategic Plans for Next 4 years from DOI/ Sec. Zinke  Draft

v Dept. of Natural Resources:  Facts related to Oil and Gas in Bears Ears

v Bills Would Eliminate Oil, Gas, and Coal Payments to Western States

Good News Bears 

n  President Shaves off 2 Million Acres from Utah National Monuments KUER

n  Glen Beck Clears up Myths Related to Bears Ears

n  Open Letter to Nav. President Russel Begay Elaine Devary Willman

n  Misconceptions and Missing Facts Relative to Bears Ears Jim Stiles

n  Shrinking Monuments Puts Principle Ahead of Politics  National Review

n  Secretary Zinke:  Why We Shrunk Bears Ears 

“The Bears Ears Commission will be renamed the Shash Jáa Commission and expanded to include San Juan County Commissioner Rebecca Benally, a Native American elected by the majority-Native American voting district in the county.”

n  Pres. Trump’s Speech to Utah 

n  Navajo Nation Should Better Use Resources, Not Sue Feds Ryan Benally

n  Jason Chaffetz ( Now with Fox News) Weighs in on Bears Ears

n  Des News Exposes Friends of Cedar Mesa Fund Raiser Snafu

n  San Juan County Hosts Thank You Celebration  Alex Cabrero

n  San Juan Praises Trump’s Decision and hosts Rally

n  Bill Boyle:  San Juan Record Summary of Dec. 2 Rally

n  San Juan Stewards of San Juan Attend Dec. 4 Signing

n  The Bears Ears Story Great Video

n  Sec. Zinke Cleans up the Department of Interior   Rob Bishop

n  Letter to the Editor—Clearing up misconceptions:  Dashelle Holliday

“Several high-profile cases of misconduct have come to light in recent years, ranging from sexual harassment within the ranks of the National Park Service to the brazen abuse of authority by BLM Special Agent Dan Love. A pattern has emerged demonstrating a reluctance by senior department officials to discipline and hold federal employees accountable for their wrongdoing. I’m encouraged to see the department beginning to open its eyes to reports of misconduct and impose real consequences on those found responsible.”

n  Trump Cleaned up Clinton Corruption from 1996

n  Commissioner Bruce Adams Speaks at Monticello Dec 2 Rally

n  Locals in San Juan Praise Trump’s Decision Lots of great photos too!

n  Five Myths about Bears Ears  Gov. Gary Herbert

n  Senate Passes Bill to Streamline Tribal Energy Development

““Indian tribes should have the same opportunities to develop their natural resources as any other sovereign nation,” said Hoeven. “For years, Washington’s overregulation has hurt tribal energy development and stymied economic growth in Indian Country. This commonsense bill will cut red tape and provide tribes with greater flexibility to develop energy resources to best meet the needs of their local communities.”

n Western Colo. leaders discuss Energy development with Trump Advisors

n  Resizing Bears is Good, Ending Antiquities Act Abuse in Utah is Better

“But whether Obama or Trump has the final say over these monuments, their opinions are not as important as those of the people directly affected, who ought to be brokering final settlements. They will feel empowered only when Utah becomes exempt from the Antiquities Act.”

n President Trump Visits Welfare Square

n  Mining Rights Groups Fight BLM California Road Closures

  Bad News Bears                   

  n  High Country News Takes the Low Road on Secretary Zinke

  n  HCN Explains Their Version of New Bears Ears Boundaries

  n  Friends of Cedar Mesa Explain Why They’re Going to Court

  n  Has Josh Ewing Gone Rogue?

n  Utah’s Small Towns Can’t Support Industrial Strength Tourism

n  Monument supporters Rally Against Trump

n  Wealth Destroying Beliefs of Modern Environmentalists

“Armies of dedicated people—from massive agricultural conglomerates and equipment manufacturers to individual farmers and ranchers on multiple continents—are working diligently to make sure every man, woman and child has enough to eat and drink. . . .True environmentalists must climb down from their ivory towers, put on their grownup boots and walk the land with today’s devoted conservationists—farmers, ranchers, miners, energy professionals, and water experts. Committed, resolute people like Bill Minor. Mother Earth will be saved by intelligent partnerships, not mindless lawsuits and feel-good ideology.”

n  LA Times: Public Lands, Native Americans, and Trump Proclamation

n  Southerm Utah Anglos also Pushed off Their Lands

n  Hysteria:  The Land has been Erased! Remember Chicken Little: “The Sky is Falling!”

n  Ute Tribes Protest Trump’s Decision

      Just a few of San Juan Stewards who were in SLC on this Auspicious Day                                                                 

~~~~~~

 http://beyondthebears.blogspot.com/          

                                     Documenting Bears Ears “No Monument” efforts since July 2016

Concessions made in BE Designation, and Comments

Quotes from High Country News Dec. 29, 2016

"Critics of the monument designation have portrayed it as a “land grab” on par with then-President Bill Clinton’s 1996 creation of the 1.8 million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to the west of here. The comparison doesn’t hold up, however. Grand Staircase-Escalante was devised so secretly, and hoisted on the public so unexpectedly, that even conservationists were miffed. The Bears Ears process, on the other hand, was initiated transparently by local Navajo community leaders years ago. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell spent days in the region listening to concerns and exploring the sites that were included in the coalition’s proposal. And the Obama administration waited until an alternate proposal, the Public Lands Initiative, failed in Congress before making the designation.

The details of the designation suggest that the administration took the opposition’s concerns to heart, and were guided in part by the Public Lands Initiative. The designated monument is smaller by 600,000 acres than the coalition’s proposal. In fact, its boundaries more closely follow those proposed in the PLI, which would have put 1.4 million acres within two National Conservation Areas and a separate wilderness area.

These areas were included in the inter-tribal coalition's proposal, but were left out of the final monument designation:

• The Abajo Mountains, a.k.a. Blue Mountains, which rise up just west of Monticello, the county seat, fall outside the monument boundaries. Locals use the mountains for grazing cattle, gathering firewood, recreation and as their primary source of municipal water.

• The lower reach of Allen Canyon, west of Blanding, which contains Ute Mountain Ute land and grazing allotments, is not part of the monument. (The archaeologically significant upper reaches of the canyon are within the monument).

• Black Mesa, which rises up between Cottonwood Wash and Butler Wash, was cut out of the monument (exactly as it was cut out of the National Conservation Areas in the PLI).

• A large, arcing strip of land adjacent to Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and surrounding Mancos Mesa was cut out of the proposal. Wingate Mesa, Nokai Dome and the Daneros uranium mine, which is looking to expand, will not be included within the national monument, giving Daneros operators plenty of elbow-room to enlarge the mine. (Mancos Mesa is included in the new monument). 

• Raplee Anticline and most of Lime Ridge between Mexican Hat and Comb Ridge are excluded from the monument. This has been the site of some oil development and limestone quarrying.

These significant concessions to the opposition, along with language in the proclamation requiring monument managers to preserve access to Native Americans for traditional uses such as gathering firewood, herbs and piñon nuts, may soothe some of the local tension regarding the monument. The hardcore ideologues, however, are not appeased. The Utah Commission for the Stewardship of Public Lands issued a statement comparing the designation to “the unilateral tyranny exercised by the King of England against the American colonies two and a half centuries ago,” and pledged to do what it can to “overturn this act of political cronyism.” They will be joined by Utah’s congressional delegation and perhaps the administration of President-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged to overturn all of Obama’s executive orders."

Read full article

Comments: Jan. 3  

Janet: This says it all for me. The disparity and discrimination between Public land states and Private land states. https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.clou[…]Lands_poster.png?1473289903

Steve Bonowski   Jan 04, 2017 09:22
 What you don't say about your link is that the American Lands Council is a creation of state representative Ken Ivory from Utah and specifically created to mount the biggest land grab in American history; stealing our Western public lands in order to sell them off to the highest bidder.

2. Janet:

Steve, Does it matter who created it, if it accurately illustrates the disparity between East and West States? What if land swaps were done? How would you view that? Public land in the west, for Private land in other states. A win-win situation. I don't disagree with public use of lands, but with the disparity and inequality created for citizens who live in public land-poor states as they try to make a living, educate their children, and provide services. Colorado has twice as much private land as Utah, so "subscribers" of HCN may not see this as a big deal.