Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Utah public lands state. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Utah public lands state. Sort by date Show all posts

Saturday, December 16, 2017

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


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

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  Trump Shrinks Bears Ears Navajo Times
“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


Bad News Bears


v   Other Articles of Local Interest
v Interview with Jonah Yellowman  video by Alex Cabrero
                                                             
                                                       ~~~~~~                                                         
 http://beyondthebears.blogspot.com/          

                     Documenting Bears Ears “No Monument” efforts since July 2016

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Comb Ridge Sale: Shame on Who?

Sent to Des News, SJR and Times Independent   10/27/16

     Yes, there should be shame, but not because STATE SCHOOL TRUST LANDS were sold to a private bidder, but because extreme environmentalists don’t want to share any land with anyone except Conservation Land Foundation devotees.  They are using everything in their power and in their banks to force local Native Americans, Anglos, and Hispanics away from a land they chose to live in, here in San Juan County.  These are families with local roots to San Juan, who didn’t migrate to more enticing lands in Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico centuries ago.  

     Unlike the opposition who follows the dictates of the CLF, these locals oppose a National Monument because the CLF does not want free enterprise, access to public lands, grazing rights, or a strong tax base in San Juan County. They don’t care about jobs and improved schools They are against private enterprise and they would be delighted if everyone moved away. 

     Moreover, CLF followers don’t want to share any of the 1.9 million acres they greedily seek in this current “campaign” for National Monuments, which involves not only Utah, but Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, California.  (Hawaii, Maine have already been checked off their bucket list.)

      The State of Utah covers 52,696,960 acres. They have already given up 35,033,603 acres to 13 different national parks/monuments.  That means the Federal government owns/ runs/ manages 66.4% of our state. And they say Utah is greedy?!  The scenario in San Juan County is even worse. Only 8% of San Juan County’s 5,077,120 acres is privately owned.    

    Those with a socialistic mind set don’t seem to grasp the idea that private property rights exist in the proposed Bears Ears monument area.  Some areas in that coveted land do NOT meet the definition of “public lands”, including 43 grazing allotments, 661 water-right infrastructures, 151,000 acres of state trust land, 18,000 acres of private property, and hundreds of miles of roads and infrastructure which are granted a RS2477 right-of-way. 

     This leads us to the most recent whining of the week--Comb Ridge.  The actual Comb Ridge wilderness consists of 17,400 acres; HOWEVER, adjacent to Comb Ridge proper exists SITLA land. SITLA land is not "public land", it is STATE land. Even though local people have long used it for their personal playground, they were trespassing.  

     Two weeks ago 391 acres of SITLA land were sold by the State to the highest bidder.  That land would be .02% of the total Comb Ridge acreage.  And the playground bullies don’t want to share even that pinpoint of land with anyone else.  In the bigger more coveted landscape of 1.9 million acres, 391 acres comprises only .0002 %.  Additional SITLA lands take up another .079 % of the ill-conceived 1.9 million acre monument.  I suppose there will be whining about that too, when legitimate companies who pay taxes and support schools are able to purchase and utilize state lands.  Shame on YOU for not being willing to share.  Is compromise not in your vocabulary?


Janet Wilcox  Blanding, Utah

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Former Kane County Commissioner Responds to DOI Review

Retired Kane Commissioner, Mark Habbeshaw, mounts up for rally on land use August 2011.
Salt Lake Tribune Article
Re: Bears Ears National Monument Antiquities Act Review by DOI
Dear Sir:
As a previous County Commissioner in Kane County Utah having to deal with issues and problems related to the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) for a period of ten years (2001-2010) I commend the DOI for its review of monument designations, including the GSENM and the Bears Ears National Monument (BENM), both within the state of Utah. The extensive problems I had with the GSENM will become equally problematic with the BENM if it is allowed to remain a monument.
The Antiquities Act’s original congressional intent has been abused in many instances for political purposes, in part for payback for financial and political support of environmental organizations. The primary abuse of the Antiquities Act relates to congressional intent that the size of monuments shall be limited to the “smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.” Congressional use of the word “objects” does not support monument designations of large and areas at the request of environmental organizations, wealthy foundations and other individuals or groups in order to create defacto wilderness conditions when Congress does not create Wilderness Areas to their satisfaction.
Kane County, Utah 
As a County Commissioner is was necessary to initiate two costly lawsuits against the federal government in order to protect our local interests from monument management abuses. In the County’s federal quiet title lawsuit GSENM management attempted to close approximately 85% of the County’s historic public highways across the monument. This action was taken in spite of the fact that the highways were rights-of- way (ROW) easements granted to the County by the U.S. Congress under Revised Statute 2477 of the Mining Act of 1866. After spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal quiet title litigation the County secured adjudicated ROWs to six of its county roads. These were the first and only fully adjudicated RS2477 ROWs in the nation. 

The county still has over 700 roads in quiet title litigation in continually delayed quiet title litigation. The State of Utah also has an extensive number of roads in quiet title litigation because the BLM and other federal land management agencies refuse to recognize congressionally granted highway ROWs. In the meantime, the status of roads monument management has posted closed or restricted and the County claims are open public highways is uncertain and controversial.
In one instance, monument management closed and barricaded the County’s historic and most iconic backcountry road – the Paria River road. This action was taken at the request of two environmental groups, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and The Wilderness Society. The two groups had previously sued the County for managing its roads across the GSENM. Federal Judge Tena Campbell issued a restraining order against the County not to take any action on roads within the GSENM without federal quiet title adjudication. This is when the Paria River road was closed by monument management at the behest of the environmental organizations. Judge Campbell was overturned by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeal but the Paria River road remains barricaded and closed under threat of federal arrest.
In the County’s and local ranchers’ lawsuit to stop grazing elimination on the GSENM, the GSENM attempted to permanently retire (close) several grazing allotments on the GSENM. The grazing closures were attempted even though the GSENM Proclamation allows existing levels of livestock grazing as being consistent with monument purposes. The way it worked was that GSENM staff would bring pressures and restrictions to certain ranchers, making their allotments less viable. Then Bill Hedden of the Grand Canyon Trust (GCT) would buy the allotments. GSENM management then produced several environmental assessments (EAs) taking action to permanently close the allotments to livestock grazing.
Because of the public notification requirements, the County and local ranchers tried to work with monument management to avoid permanent grazing allotment retirements. The effort was unsuccessful resulting in the County and the ranchers filing a lawsuit in federal court. The same federal judge in the RS2477 litigation denied the County standing in the grazing litigation, forcing the local ranchers to bear the costs of litigation. The end result of costly litigation was that the GCT and the GSENM could not permanently retire the grazing allotments and that the GCT could keep the allotments but that it must use them for grazing purposes as required by the Taylor Grazing Act. Today, the GCT holds the grazing allotments but runs them with the minimal stocking rates allowed.

The wealthy foundations that were funding the GCT’s buyouts will no longer provide funding because the allotments cannot be permanently retired. Therefore, Bill Hedden and the GCT are no longer purchasing allotment within the GSENM. However, GSENM management is still trying to formulate a means to permanently retire grazing allotments in the development of recent planning efforts. The designation of the GSENM stopped development of the Andelex Coal Mine in the area of Smokey Hollow within the GSENM. The mine site is capable of producing high quality coal for the nation for the next thirty years. It could be a tremendous economic benefit to southern Utah and northern Arizona. If the DOI Antiquities Act review results in rescinding the GSENM’s monument status or results in a significant reduction in the size of the GSENM it could free up this valuable coal resource for production. It could also free up significant other valuable natural resources within the GSENM for public benefit.
The designation of monuments, most often managed like national parks (NPs), do not support multiple-use of our public lands for economic and traditional uses important to local rural communities. Monuments have most often been designated without proper coordination with local and state officials and the people living on or by those lands. Motorized and mechanized access is always severely restricted when compared to public lands managed for multiple-use under the provisions of the Federal Lands Policy and Management Act (FLPMA). These recreational activities are important to local economies and to local residents for their enjoyment of our public lands.
In 1906, the Antiquities Act was passed with the primary purpose of rapidly acting to prevent the looting of archaeological sites. Congress never envisioned the abuses of the act we are seeing in more recent times. The Antiquities Act is antiquated today. There are abundant laws, rules and regulations to protect our resources to the extent necessary. There is no longer the need for speedy action by a President.
Large land mass designations that restrict the principles of multiple-use under FLPMA should properly be made by a deliberative body; i.e., the U.S. Congress. It would be appropriate in the DOI’s review of monuments deemed inconsistent with the Antiquities Act’s provisions, without consideration of other federal protective means and without proper and adequate consultation with local people, local and state governments to rescind or severely reduce the size of monuments over 100,000 acres. This would allow future congressional action to decide what, if any, restrictions are necessary regarding large land masses.
The West, because of the history of land status relies on multiple-uses of public lands for economic benefit and for a traditional quality of life. Large, unjustified monuments created without congressional approval are a very serious problem in the American West.
Thank you,
Mark Habbeshaw

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Bear Essentials: Feb. 19-25, 2017

Remember what we’re fighting for

Graphic Design by Mark Bradford

“This will be our Best Chance to Make a Difference. . . Something as important as this deserves our best efforts.”  Joe B. Lyman  


----Feb. 25 is the deadline for final comments related to the county planning survey  http://sanjuancountyplan.org/  You can make comments on any of the specific categories that concern you

--If you have even the least inclination to do so, write and let your voice be heard.  We must support State and County Rights and management of public lands.  The media is being inundated by radical lefties from the “progressive” environmental community. Counteract their falsehoods.  In the Moab paper alone there were 3 such articles this week. I know it’s happening in every state with rural areas.  Step up, gather your facts, write, edit, and send. Just a handful of people cannot do it all.  If you need information, look at my blog there are ideas there to utilize in some way: https://beyondthebears.blogspot.com/ 
The article under “Good News Bears” also has good data to use.

--Newspapers to write to: Include your name and contact information
·                  Cortez Journal: news@cortezjournal.com
·                  Deseret News: letters@deseretnews.com
·                  Emery County Progress: editor@ecpross.cgreom
·                  Four Corners Free Press: freepress@fone.net
·                  Navajo Times: editor@navajotimes.com
·                  New York Times: letters@nytimes.com/editor
·                  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
·                  Moat Times Independent: editor@moabtimes.com
  • Grand Junction: http://www.gjsentinel.com/opinion/submit_letter

--If you have not already done so, email our elected officials, letting them know you appreciate their efforts and remind them of the importance of State Sovereignty and our desire to rescind the Bears Ears National Monument designation.  On each email,, PLEASE 'cc'  Stewards of San Juan at SOS@stewardsofsanjuan.org. We will compile all emails sent and will be able to show the amount of support to anyone that says otherwise. Thank you!! 
Starting Tuesday Feb. 21, we encourage you to call our beleaguered Congressmen and elected officials.  We need to let them know how we are supporting them. They continue to be attacked by those who think “you can buy anything with money.”
Governor Gary R. Herbert
constituentservices@utah.gov
 801-538-1000
Utah Senator Mike Lee
mike_lee@lee.senate.gov
(202) 224-5444
 Utah Senator Orrin Hatch
 (202) 224-5251
john_tanner@hatch.senate.gov
(this is his Chief of Staff who delivers messages to Hatch
Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz
Chaffetz@gmail.com
202) 225-7751
House Speaker Greg Hughes
greghughes@le.utah.gov
Lieutenant Governor Spencer Cox
spencercox@utah.gov

New State BLM Director: Edwin Roberson
Share some of your specific concerns, and your love of the land with him.
He’s new and doesn’t know much about San Juan from “real” people
801-539-4010

Good News Bears
“Public policy should never be made in response to boycotts and threats, especially when it won’t have any real impact. [i.e. Outdoor Retailers]
Utah will still have a strong outdoor economy. Tourists will still come. We’ll have a stronger energy economy. We will protect Bears Ears. We are protecting and will continue to protect Utah’s iconic land and landscapes. We will continue to collaborate with the federal government, which certainly has a role in public land management.”

The outdoor retailers say they are leaving Utah because we don’t care about our public lands. Here is a list of items put together by the Governor’s Office outlining Utah’s commitment to public lands: 

§  Utah has the largest active watershed and wildlife habitat restoration program in the United States. The Utah Legislature has partnered with local hunters and the federal government to invest approximately $14 million annually for conservation, and we have restored more than 1.3 million acres since 2005. As of 2016, nearly 500 agencies, organizations, and individuals had contributed to these projects through funding or in-kind assistance.
§  There are currently 253 additional conservation projects underway, which include the rehabilitation and restoration of more than 265,000 acres. Six current and three proposed projects (over 9,000 acres in total) are within the new Bears Ears National Monument area. Another 139 projects and 185,000 acres have been proposed for treatment.

--House Oversight pushes for probe of ethics breaches, possible crimes of BLM bully Dan Love

The investigation of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) agent, Dan Love, has been ongoing and complex. With a history of complaints against Love of bullying, overly-aggressive tactics, ethics violations, and now, tampering, lies, and cover-ups, it appears that the most infamous figure in recent BLM history is now under the scrutiny of Congress’ most powerful investigative arm. The House Oversight Committee, headed by Jason Chaffetz, cites extremely serious, potentially-criminal activities, that go beyond Love’s ethics breaches related to the Burning Man controversy of 2015, or his extreme mishandling of the Operation Cerberus and Bundy Ranch cases. Love’s possible criminal activities include; destruction of federal records, witness tampering, and obstruction of a congressional investigation.  Read More


   Bad News Bears

“The environmental activists protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline have created such an “ecological disaster” at their protest camp that the North Dakota governor has ordered an emergency evacuation.   When thousands of protesters gathered at the Oceti Sakowin camp to protest the pipeline left in December, they left behind enough trash to fill up 2,500 pickup trucks, LifeZette is reporting.
The activists were there for months, first arriving in April to protest the pipeline’s construction. Their objection that a peak or spill could contaminate nearby waterways. But it appears their own protests have jeopardized the environment far more than any pipeline.”  Read more
--A Look at the Opposition:   An group called the Resources Legacy Fund
(
www.resourceslegacyfund.org/<http://www.resourceslegacyfund.org/>) Is
pouring money into the Bears Ears National Monument with funding largely
provided by:

*         The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

*         Wyss Foundation

*         Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation

*         Wilburforce Foundation

The money pot being used for the purpose is called the Bears Ears National
Monument Community Engagement Fund at Resources Legacy Fund.

(For e-mail recipients) I'll attached the Resources Legacy Fund's Consolidated Financial
Statements for the years  2015 and 2014 so that you can see what kind of money we are talking
about here. I hope someone will dissect it and write an article related to the millions used, to fund such things, probably at taxpayer’s expense.
Consider this is in in combination with previous foundation funding, and factoring in the number of outdoor equipment manufacturers that are announcing boycotting of the semi-annual outdoor show 
in Salt Lake City in protest of the opposition to the Bears Ears National Monument and we can see how critically important BENM is to the environmental/progressive community as a whole.  Bears Ears is sizing up as the linchpin of the day for the public lands battle between the left “progressives” and the citizens of the rural American west. This explains their goals. http://resourceslegacyfund.org/programs/bears-ears-fund/
The attack is mounting because the adversary has millions to put into this campaign against truth. We only have agency and truth to fortify us. Stay Informed, write and call often. Encourage others to do so also.  Share this e-mail with others.   Thank you for all you have done and your commitment to help.  If you can’t help, let me know and I’ll take you off this email group.  I only have room for 500, and we need warriors.