Bear Essentials Jan. 12, 2017

To Do List this week:                       

1.  Write a Letter to President Trump clearly stating your support for overturning the monument designation and why. Deliver to Kara Laws Illuminated Moments (just south of post office -mail slot in door) by Jan 18.  Our goal is 300 letters. Out of towners, e-mail to savebearsears@gmail.com

2.  This is Critical! Take County Survey regarding land resources.  Must be done before Jan. 25.

http://sanjuancountyplan.org/   Send this information to other San Juan County friends and family who haven’t participated.  We must rally the troops and be active citizens in this effort to protect San Juan County lands. All of Utah is responding, and our voices must show strong. 

3.  Read: Critical Elements for Winning the Western Lands Debate  

4. Read Gail Johnson’s Flushed repost from Range Magazine (on my blog) This shows how agriculture has been harmed in other countries by “government reform.”

5.  These two articles from Range Magazine are also very good. Please read:  Tales from the Wasteland:  ….and Monumental Megabucks

It is important that we help educate all those helping in this effort.  Some people speak out with no real knowledge.  An informed citizenry is our best weapon and there is plenty of truthful ammunition to use.  Keep reading! 

Bearing Good News:

1.     President Trump open to Bears Ears Roll Back?  Thanks to our congressmen, especially Mike Lee, the door has been opened introducing this option.   Lee argued that “what can be done through unilateral executive action can also be undone the same way.” Read more:

  2.  Believe it or not, there is a Navajo Nation Republican Party and many of our issues, are theirs as well.  Follow them on Facebook. 

    Photo editorial credit: Navajo Nation Republican Party

    

    

    Bad News Bears

1.   Obama may designate another 6.5 M acres in Alaska as NM  

2.   EPA policies targeted as cause of economic hardships and cause of suicides on the Navajo Reservation. 

3.   Impact of Obama’s Midnight Monument Crusade: (features local rancher Sandy Johnson) 

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And now for some humor, which we all need once-in-awhile, when the muck of lies gets deep.  A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture in Montana when  suddenly a brand-new 2016 BMW advanced toward him out of a cloud of dust. The  driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, RayBan sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out the window and asked the cowboy, "If I tell you exactly  how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?"                               

Bud looks at the man, who obviously is a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, "Sure, why not?"                                

 

The yuppie parks his car, whips out his  Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Apple i phone, and surfs to a NASA  page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on  his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area  in an ultra-high-resolution photo.                                 

The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an

image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany.                                                           Within seconds, he receives an email on his Apple iPad that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with  email on his Galaxy S5 and, after a few minutes, receives a response.                                                            

 

Finally, he prints out a full-color,150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer, turns to the  cowboy and says, "You have exactly 1,586 cows and

calves."                                                                                           

"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves," says

Bud.                                                            

  

He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with amusement as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.                               

Then Bud says to the young man, "Hey, if I  can tell you exactly what your business is,

will you give me back my calf?"                                                             

The young man thinks about it for a second  and then says, "Okay, why not?"                                 

 

"You're from the Environmental Protection Agency", says Bud.                                                            

"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie, “but how did you guess that?"                                                              

"No guessing required." answered the cowboy. "You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of dollars worth of equipment trying to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know sh*t about how working people

make a living - or about cows, for that matter. This is a herd of sheep.”                                                             

“Now give me back my dog."  

AND THAT, FOLKS, IS PART OF THE PROBLEM.. Thanks Brent and Susan Flavel

Reflections, Results, and Recommendations Regarding Bears Ears

By Nicole Perkins
A Steward of San Juan

It is almost 4 AM as I sit here and try to express the core of my thoughts and heart. So... here goes. Bear with me (no pun intended).

More than 6 months ago we embarked on a courageous endeavor to stand up and speak out and say NO! Doodah! Kach! I have literally cried myself to sleep at night with my heart breaking as I have thought of the many good and decent people, the honorable men and women in this community, whose names and reputations have been disparaged and trampled on; of the very real threat to a simple and good way of life that so many here in our beautiful county have lived; at the utter lies, hatred and greed displayed by those who have abused their power and position to deceive and destroy.

No matter how much money, celebrity, power, and media influence the opposition has on their side they will not obtain that which is of greatest value. You cannot buy honor or respect. No matter how much you lust after what rightfully belongs to another, it will NEVER truly be yours. No matter how often you repeat a lie it will never become the truth. And THAT, my friends, is the key. The opposition has based their entire platform on a lie...everything... and a foundation based on something so precarious as that WILL, sooner or later, crumple. I am predicting sooner...This MONUMENT will FALL and when it does, it will take those who have "bonded" themselves FOR it, crashing down WITH it. We are already seeing signs of it with the "weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth". "Karma is unforgiving and always gets payback."

We are not a perfect community, and no one that lives here would ever claim that. BUT, we are a community of good people who love this land but more importantly, we love the Blessings of Liberty and are willing to pay the price to keep them.

As a community, we have transcended religion, race, cultural and political differences. With all the heartache and sleepless nights; the setting up for parades and booths and protests; creating brochures, signs, maps, and t-shirts and decals; letter writing campaign after letter writing campaign; preparing and sending packages to those with the hope that they might use their voices to possibly speak on behalf of our endangered lands and freedoms; having the audacity to plan a FREEDOM FEST in 6 WEEKS!; traveling to parades, setting up booths, tearing down the booths (and sometimes tearing UP the booths) and participating in protests and press conferences to help ensure the TRUTH would at least be SAID, if not heard; the loss of time for self and even harder, with family; and maybe the hardest of all, at least for me, delving into the dark and putrid pits of conversations taking place on social media to defend our community and our quiet way of life and then trying to survive the ugliness that is so pervasive in the tones and words that live there; after ALL of this and more, I can say (and I can only speak for myself) that it has ALL been WORTH it.

Just a few of the many people we've walked the talk with.

I wouldn't trade any of it for the people and the bond and the friendships that have come into my life because of this struggle... I have formed such a deep Respect and Kinship with those that I have had the honor and privilege of working side by side that it really has become a part of who I am now. I have watched as so many have sacrificed over and over again with their offerings of time, talents, resources, and knowledge. Everyone of you that I have marched side by side with, conversed, planned, rode to and from events with, hash tagged, "liked" and "loved", been "angry" and "sad" with, has touched my life for good. And Grandma Betty Jones, you are the ALL-TIME MVP, ROCKSTAR!!! I truly love and respect you. I truly love and respect all of you.

Sooooooo with all of that said, we are on the home stretch ladies and gentlefolk! NOW is NOT the time to give up or to slow down! (Ok, we ALL need that Pepsi and pony break so we don't break down...but after that...)

Right now, after all that's been said and done, we need to ...you guessed it....write letters! To President-Elect Donald Trump and to the 115th congress. (See the "Save the Bears Ears" website and face book page for more info...) We also, and I believe this with ALL of my HEART, need to keep praying and I am convinced that a community-wide non-denominational fast is KEY to finishing this the right way and with victory.

Whatever God you worship or whatever your higher power is (as long as it's not a tree-ehhh, couldn't resist that one) I sincerely believe we need to petition in humility, for His blessings to be poured out on this community. EVERY TIME that we fasted as a community in the past 6 months for this cause, we were blessed with moisture. To me, and I know too many others, this was a sign that God was aware of us and was pleased with our efforts. We have seen MIRACLES. Not one of us can deny the storm that was calmed the night of the Freedom Fest. There wasn't anything we could have done to stop the wind and the rain from coming, BUT HE could and HE did. All we could do is exercise some faith, and we did.

For those of you that are leaders in this community, I am asking you to join me and invite others to do the same. If you would all please let me know your thoughts, I would like to see our community set aside a day of fasting and prayer, beginning the 19th around 6:00 pm and ending on the 20th around that same time, concluding with a prayer and gathering as a community.

I have no doubt that we are going to WIN this BATTLE!!!

What Can Africa Teach us about Land Regulations?

Gail Dalton Johnson shared this article from Range Magazine Winter 2017. (This would be a great magazine to subscribe to: http://www.rangemagazine.com/ This particular quote from p. 2 is especially disconcerting:  "The ultimate goal is to eliminate private land ownership and property rights and replace state authority with federal/tribal jurisdiction across wide swaths of our western states. The effort is already underway, having been quietly developed by multiple agencies for several decades. The current administration has lit a fast burning fuse."

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Bear Essentials January 9, 2017

Bear Essentials January 9, 2017

I've been a bit under the weather so news is short this week.  I fell and cracked my ribs, the day of the NM designation...so it was a no good, very bad day.  But I'm getting back on track.  My blog is just about caught up with articles from last week.  Stay informed.  If any of you are not on the Save the Bears Ears Private site, let me know and I'll add you in.​

Get involved in SJ County Land Planning

Take this survey: http://sanjuancountyplan.org/

Reminder: Tomorrow Jan. 10  is the county resource management planning open house. It is about land use. Not specifically about the monument, but the monument will have a huge influence on the decisions made. There is a survey that is VERY IMPORTANT for everyone to fill out, which closes on the 25th. Friends of Cedar Mesa are spreading the word, so we need to make sure that the majority of the respondents to this survey are from SJC. It's only 8 questions, super easy and takes just a couple of minutes. Take the survey and share with friends and family. Here's the survey link http://sanjuancountyplan.org/

The Next Battle Field in Congress

--Jason Chaffetz  Outlines what’s wrong about Bears Ears.  

Bad News Bears—We’re in good company even when the news is bad

--Progressive Elites seek to destroy Rural America

--Obama moves to lockup 6.5 million acres of resource-rich Alaska lands

--Zions Park STILL Overrun by Tourists even in Winter  (Jan 1)--

Citizen Input Requested for Natural Resource Planning

Survey must be completed by January 25, 2017 if you want your opinion tallied

Stewards of San Juan attend Utah Dine Bikeyah Celebration/ Wake

Quick run down on what happened at celebration. About 12 people went down to represent Stewards of San Juan at the Bears Ears National Monument celebration today in Monument Valley. 

A lot of Elders here. April told Kenneth Maryboy and others at the head table there were elders in the audience that couldn't understand what they were saying. He told her they weren't providing translators.

We endured 4 hours of lies and misinformation. They called Phil Lyman names and praised Obama. Talk about endurance. During a session of what was supposed to open mic April asked if Grandma Betty could speak and if they had an interpreter, they said the were no interpreters. Suddenly there was no more open mic. Anna and April handed out 170 copies of the proclamation with areas of native concern highlighted. All together a good day.  (Wendy Black, Treasurer)

Kelly Mike Green "Drinking the enviro cool aid. Wait till a little time passes and the ugly bureaucratic do gooders will restrict all the things they promised and tell them it must be "Protected". Sad day."

Danielle took the opportunity to explain to many Navajos that there was nothing in the actual designation saying that they would be co-managers, and that they were being used. 

Part I Video with Mark Maryboy:  (Missing link)

Part II Video of part of the meeting: 

Trump Can Reverse Obama’s Last-Minute Land Grab

The White House is trying to lock up millions of acres, but no president can bind his successor

As he prepares to leave office in three weeks, President Obama is still trying to shape his legacy. On Dec. 20 the White House announced the withdrawal of millions of acres of Atlantic and Arctic territory from petroleum development. This week Mr. Obama proclaimed 1.35 million acres in Utah and 300,000 acres in Nevada to be new national monuments. But all the soon-to-be ex-president will prove is the fleeting nature of executive power.

These actions, like many others he has taken, are vulnerable to reversal by President-elect Trump. In our constitutional system, no policy can long endure without the cooperation of both the executive and legislative branches. Under Article I of the Constitution, only Congress can enact domestic statutes with any degree of permanence. And because of the Constitution’s separation of powers, no policy will survive for long without securing and retaining a consensus beyond a simple majority.

More on this story from Free Range Report

Navajo Nation Republican Party Active in Bears Ears Issue

Designed and published by the Navajo Nation Republican Party

Follow their commentary on https://www.facebook.com/NavajoNationGOP/?fref=ts

SITLA Land Exchange: A Complex Issue, Deferred

Letter received by Gail Dalton Johnson from the Utah Trust lands Administrator, Kim Christy. Should others wish to contact that office, information for doing so is at the bottom.  Thanks, Gayle and Merri Shumway for encouraging them to defer decisions until this plays out more. 

Thanks, Gail, for sharing your comment to the Governor with SITLA.  The following excerpt is what was sent out as part of our news release following today's Board meeting:

"Because of the complexities involved with SITLA’s significant inholdings of 109,000-plus acres within the current designated Bears Ears monument, we have yet to receive and comprehend the information necessary to make an informed decision to perform our fiduciary duties on what is in the best interest of our beneficiaries,” said SITLA Vice Chair Tom Bachtell. “Therefore, I make the motion to defer any board decision on this matter until such time as we believe the facts have been thoroughly studied and the information is complete for in which we can make an informed decision.” The motion passed unanimously.

Best wishes,

Kim S. Christy

Deputy Director

Utah Trust Lands Administration

675 East 500 South, Suite 500

Salt Lake City, UT 84102

Office Phone: (801) 538-5183

Cell Phone: (801) 201-7480

email: kimchristy@utah.gov

The Power of the People Trumps Polls

 Benjamin Burr comments on a power more accurate than polls:  

It has been a common thread in Bears Ears coverage to cite opinion polls saying Utahns want the monument. When you are commenting on these articles be sure to point out that a statewide poll took place on Nov. 8 and Utahns overwhelmingly re-elected monument opponents at every level of government. While people cast their votes for a variety of reasons, it was no secret that the vast majority of Utah's elected officials strongly opposed this. Even the best scientific polls do not override what in this case is an electoral mandate. It's one thing to answer a no-risk poll question, but when Utahns actually put their political capital on the line and voted, they voted overwhelmingly for no monument.Giving equal weight to opinion polls in the wake of such a decisive election on this issue is like saying the slam dunks by the team mascot from a trampoline during halftime should count on the scoreboard." 

Rep. Jason Chaffetz Emphasizes the point Jan. 5, 2017:  

"If our Democratic and media friends are still trying to puzzle through how Donald Trump won the presidency, they will find no better clue than last week’s national monument designations in Utah and Nevada. It is the perfect snapshot of the twisted priorities that lost the votes of alienated American workers throughout the country.

Hillary Clinton was a flawed candidate, but beyond her lackluster campaign, her private email scandal or even any alleged Russian hacking, the biggest millstone around her neck was the Obama legacy of selling out working men and women in America's heartland to facilitate the well-funded environmental imperialism of coastal and urban elite campaign donors.

When Hillary thrilled her “Enviro-imperialist” donors with her cheery promise to put coal miners out of work and energy companies out of business, miners and workers in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio heard her loud and clear. Working American families throughout the nation’s rust belt had enough and turned the tide for Trump in this past election. 

Now the Obama administration’s high-minded contempt for American working families has metastasized west. Struggling counties in Utah and Nevada last week learned that their residents’ right to earn a living and feed their families falls a distant second behind new hiking trails for absentee environmentalist overlords.

Never mind that the Bears Ears area was already amply protected, or that no mining or drilling was proposed anywhere near sensitive archeological sites.  For this administration, catering to the whims of the elitist donor class from the Democrat archipelagos takes priority over the basic survival needs of American workers in flyover country.

Although Utah’s San Juan County is larger than the entire land mass of Massachusetts. [Actually San Juan's land mass is 7,933 mi² and Massachusetts is 10,554 mi².  I sent a message to Chaffetz to correct this fact. However, San Juan's land mass IS bigger than Connecticut and Rhode Island combined.] The federal government controls 92% of San Juan County land. How does a county fund basic services like public safety, education, health or assistance programs with a tax base limited to 8% of its area? It does so barely, if at all.

Low-wage seasonal jobs are welcomed, but they do little to bring prosperity. For prosperity San Juan County families count on ranching, mining or other extractive indu:stries that are now closed off to them. These people do not measure government’s effectiveness by the generosity of its welfare benefits but by the opportunities created and freedoms preserved to allow them to earn their own way. In this they are no different than miners in Pennsylvania and Ohio, offshore drillers or constructors awaiting the go ahead to build the Keystone Pipeline; all have been stomped on by an “Envirocrat” president on his way out the door. The “tenure and trust fund” set will never understand that reality.

A monument designation grants federal bureaucrats life and death power over ranchers and others whose livelihoods depend on the land.  These federal environmental colonizers can close roads to private property and even prohibit ATVs used by local tribes for hunting and gathering.  Such a designation locks up over 100,000 acres of state school trust lands that should be generating badly needed revenue for Utah schools. 

Read more

Family Ranch Swallowed Up

by Gail Johnson

HC 60  Box 220

Lake Powell, UT 84533

435-459-1268/1269

sandyljohnson@wildblue.net

January 6, 2017

Governor Gary Herbert

350 State Capitol, Ste. 200

Salt Lake City, UT  84114

                                                                        Re:  State Lands in Bears Ears Monument

Dear Governor Herbert:

            My family's ranch is swallowed up in this new monument, our private land, water rights, grazing allotments (federal and state), and our home.  Since this monument has been forced upon this state in spite of opposition from every level of government and the majority of local residents, I would like to see the state take the position of not being amenable to trading out the school sections.  Tell the federal government to go fly a kite.   The state shouldn't have to trade just because an oppressive and out-of-touch federal government says to.  Trading under these circumstances is under duress, when the state should stand up to the federal government. 

            If the state decides to trade, make the federal government give more than equal value because the federal government is forcing this monument and trade upon Utah.  And for sure, all land traded for should be in this county. 

            I have always been against trading out scattered state sections, unless done on a section by section basis, for several reasons.  First, no one knows what the future will be and what lies below the surface of these lands.  Prior to World War II, prospectors roamed this county searching for gold and silver, walking right past and ignoring land that proved to be invaluable a few years later.  Lands rich in uranium and vanadium.  Scattered state sections increase the state's odds of capturing subsurface resources that may not be known today, but will be important in the future.  There may be other valuable options for these lands in the future, as well.

            Second, scattered state sections give the state leverage in dealing with the federal government, now and in the future.  It also gives access to land that otherwise might not be accessible. SITLA is much easier to deal with when developing water, maintaining roads, and doing range improvements than is the federal government.  Without these state sections, it will be much easier for federal land restrictions to tighten and tighten until historic multiple uses are choked out.

            I realize this issue is "wait and see" with the in-coming Trump administration, potential lawsuits, and a new congress.  That is what gives my family and this county a glimmer of hope.  I also see that today (Jan. 6), the SITLA board is meeting regarding land exchange. 

            Thank you for speaking out against this new monument and for anything you can do to reverse it and amend or get rid of the Antiquities Act.  Also, please consider keeping scattered state sections.

                                                                        Sincerely,

                                                                       

                                                                        Gail Johnson

cc:  Dave Ure, SITLA Director

       Rep. Mike Noel

       Sen. David Hinkins

       Utah Congressional Delegation

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.

House GOP Rules Changed Regarding Land Sales

Washington Post Article Jan. 3, 2017

House Republicans on Tuesday changed the way Congress calculates the cost of transferring federal lands to the states and other entities, a move that will make it easier for members of the new Congress to cede federal control of public lands.

The provision, included as part as a larger rules package the House approved by a vote of 233 to 190 during its first day in session, highlights the extent to which some congressional Republicans hope to change longstanding rules now that the GOP will control the executive and the legislative branches starting Jan. 20.

Many Republicans, including House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah), have been pushing to hand over large areas of federal land to state and local authorities, on the grounds that they will be more responsive to the concerns of local residents.

House Natural Resources Committee spokeswoman Molly Block said in a statement that “in many cases federal lands create a significant burden for the surrounding communities,” because they cannot be taxed and can be “in disrepair.”

“Allowing communities to actually manage and use these lands will generate not only state and local income tax, but also federal income tax revenues” she added, as well as reduce the need for some federally-supported payments. “Unfortunately, current budget practices do not fully recognize these benefits, making it very difficult for non-controversial land transfers between governmental entities for public use and other reasons to happen.”

Read the full story: 

Do Out-of-County People Know Facts from Fiction?

Great discussion following KSL's  report of Bears Ears Monument announcement.
Follow it on Facebook

As of Jan. 1 this site had 444 shares, and 807 Comments

Fallacies promoted by Pro Monument voices found on KSL site: 
-- Thank you oboma for looking out for indigenous people. The state leaders want to take, take and fill there pockets with outside interest groups. All for the minerals and cash.

--Poor babies! Cry your river! This is now the land of all the people in this nation! Not just a handful of white people selling out to the highest bidder!

--It's public land that's been managed by the federal government since before Utah was a state.

The government owned it since they bought it from mexico.

--So sick of people not supporting the country they live in, move to another country if it's so bad. National Monuments are National treasures and should be treated as such and supported. We the people want National Monuments get over it.
--These people need to uphold the constitution as they say they do and support our country and it's monuments that represent it.

Comments from Washington Post Site:
--Monument status will help prevent against future extraction. You can already see how weak the proposal is in that it still allows grazing. I don't think you're gonna get throngs of tourists. There are so many monuments and parks across the southwest it's impossible to visit them all.

--My new years resolution is to stop eating red meat. I'm tired of supporting careless environmental policies of the red states. That cattle grazing industry wreaks havoc on our environment and the cattle grazers themselves have supported Trump.
--Expect the usual teeth-gnashing and fake-cowboy flag waving. Expect the unhinged gun nuts to start feeding lies to the news media. Again.
--Nothing new here. Anything the president does, says or even thinks is suspect. Had this been done by a Republican, people in Utah would be cheering.
--Republicans again prove themselves small, choleric people who offer nothing but hysteria, pettiness tinged with willful ignorance, and the destructive tendencies of teen-aged louts.
--Hopefully this will mean the great American GOP public land grab to sell off public lands to private parties because of republican politicians that are bought and owned by the Koch brothers. Obama should have done this earlier.

Thank you all who jumped in and commented with facts, statistics, personal experiences, and actual data.  

Rural voices must continue to be heard

The wider span of public discourse and debate must continue to include voices of those in the rural west, both Native and Anglo voices alike.  The romanticized view of the land we live in needs a reality check for urban America.  A recent article in the Washington Post , followed by comments of east coast attitudes illustrates this well.  Read article and then read the comments at the end and respond.  We need more conservatives who are willing to write and represent Utah and San Juan County.  

One comment: 

Greg McGowan

12/31/2016 10:35 AM MST

Because Utah had introduced a bill in their Legislature to literally seize all non-military Fed lands so they could sell them to the highest bidder then pocket ALL the money in their personal bank accounts.

My posted response: That is an outright lie and slanderous; fear mongering at its best saying that sales of Fed. lands would be pocketed. The state of Utah is solvent, something the Federal government has not been for decades. State leaders have been voted in by those who know them, and support them. Unlike National bureaucrats, they are accountable to the voters, very directly. The waste and inefficiency that exists in the bureaucracy of our nation is the real tragedy. State leaders are much more accountable to those who elect them. 

There are over 100,000 acres of state SITLA lands within this designation, which are specifically earmarked for schools in the state. When it is made inaccessible, it doesn't benefit local children.  Many Federal Parks and Monuments have been poorly managed, using strategies that promote vandalism, forest fires, and road closures. Often they do not protect the very thing identified. Promoting tourism would be a tragedy for these fragile landscapes full of ancient ruins...unless you plan to fence everything in. Many areas in this 1.3 Million acres could help fund our schools and our county which is the poorest in the state. Only 8 % of San Juan County is privately owned, hence the poverty. Discrimination is perpetuated when East coast and west coast environmental extremists, take from the poor to support their personal agendas of land lock up in the West. There is abundant land in Utah for both private and protected agendas to share and enjoy. Bears Ears NM was no compromise.