~~ Bear Essentials ~ Oct. 8, 2017~~

Quote of the week: “It is often said we now live in two Americas. Nowhere is that description truer then when it comes to land owned by the federal government. In the United States east of the Rockies, the federal government owns just 4 percent of all land. But west of the Rockies, the federal government owns more than half of all land including almost two thirds of all land in Utah. When an unelected and unaccountable bureaucracy owns and manages more than half the land in your state, that is a recipe for disaster.”               Senator Mike Lee

v DOI moving in the right direction on National Monuments:

“Creating too large national monuments — results in agencies lacking the necessary resources to adequately manage sites. The federal government currently has a backlog of $18.62 billion in maintenance projects. A better approach is to right-size monuments and allow for limited economic activity in areas where there won’t be damage.” 

v National Monuments Discussed by Heritage Foundation Washington DC (10-4)  Includes: Senator Mike Lee, Congressman Rob Bishop, Matt Anderson, Ryan Benally, New England fisherman, and Maine sportsman. The Antiquities Act was also discussed.  This was very informative.  Listen and Learn..

v Endangered Species Act:   

 “In the nearly fifty years since it was signed into law, the ESA has done more to impede economic activity, obstruct local conservation efforts, and give federal bureaucrats regulatory control over private property, than it has done to protect endangered species."    Senator Mike Lee

v Antiquities Act is Robbing Rural Communities of Their Land

v KUER Looks a Bears Ears Stories   Local interviews with Judy Fahys

v Brief History of Recapture Canyon  A video series compiled by Monte Wells

v Consider Donating to Free Range Report (Majorie is a non-NGO funded, patriot who deserves our support and thanks.  No one has helped San Juan County more.)

                         

Good News Bears

n  Secretary Zinke given High Marks for Return to Conservation Ethics

~Mr. Zinke has ordered all his agencies to put a priority on active management against wildfires. “We are spending $2 billion a year fighting fires, money that could be going to far better conservation efforts,” he says, visibly annoyed. ~Such mismanagement is what drives Western frustration, which threatens to become a new Sagebrush Rebellion. “Some of the anger is that our grand bargains have been broken, and those bargains said that you had wilderness, but you also have grazing; you could also hunt and fish,” Mr. Zinke says. Now Westerners “watch these catastrophic fires, and they’ve lost any faith that the federal government is capable of being a good steward.”

n  Trump Oks Emergency Funding for Wildfires and Urges Forest Service Reforms

n  DOI Blasts BLM Dan Love as Example of what is not Appropriate 

“We will hold people accountable when we are informed that they have failed in their duties and obligations,” Bernhardt

n  Yes, Presidents can Revoke National Monuments

“There is a reason we allow presidents to undo the actions of their predecessors. A president who could unilaterally set policy forever would have far too much power and be free of political checks and balances.  President Barack Obama designated most of his record-setting monuments during the twilight of his second term, long after the threat of electoral defeat had passed. Free of political checks, he ran wild with this power.”

n  Navajo Nation Should Not Sue Over Bears Ears  by Ryan Benally

n  “No Use” Public Lands Should Change to “Many Uses”

“Federal lands included in Bears Ears and other national monuments need management by local people on the ground , not by judges in black robes. A starting point would be to require approval by state congressional delegations of any national monument designated in their state. Let state wildlife managers have more say in whether grizzlies are removed from the endangered species list. Entrust Indian tribes with management of their antiquities as they already are with Canyon de Chelly National Monument.  Most of Bears Ears is under the purview of the Bureau of Land Management. It is time to return to the BLM motto: “Land of many uses”—not land of no uses.” 

n  Standing in Another Man’s Shoes   by Jim Stiles, Canyon Zephyr editor

n  BLM Reverses Obama Era Mineral Leasing ban in the West [This is huge!]

n  Should Trump Dump Pernicious EPA Regulations Affecting Farmers?

n  Sage Grouse need Ranchers for Survival

n  Forest Service Reform on Tap/ Helping Prevent Forest Fires

n  Western Caucus Calls for Bipartisan Forestry Management Reform

n  Book about the Bundy Family Written by Utah Author, Lyman Hafen

n  New Bill would Engage Local Stake-holders in Coal Mine Reclamation

 

Bad News Bears         

n  Antiquities Act Weakens Rural Communities by Locking up Land

n  National Review accuses Zinke of Failing to Free up Fed. Lands

n  Access Fund: Alarmist Voice Concerns about Bears Ears

n  Burdensome regulations counteractive to Conservation

n  Environmentalists Sue to Give Colorado River Human Rights

n  Zinke is for shrinking monuments, except in Montana?  Go figure?

n  Greens take on the Working Class

n  Westwise Claims Zinke’s Report is Riddled with Lies

~~~~~

http://beyondthebears.blogspot.com/

                                     Documenting Bears Ears “No Monument” efforts since July 2016

~~ Bear Essentials ~ Sept 24, 2017~~

A Monument in Name Only?  Salt Lake Tribune

“San Juan County officials reject claims that looting is even a problem, arguing tourists pose a bigger threat to the region’s fragile cultural sites embedded in it canyons and mesas. . .

The Bear Ears Commission members’ June 28 hike with BLM staff provoked an angry response from the San Juan County Commission, which has lobbied hard for the monument’s rescission on the grounds that it disenfranchises local citizens and serves no legitimate purpose.”

v Federal Land Ownership: Is it Constitutionally Legal?

v Read Article and then vote: Should Federal Ownership of State land be capped at 50%?

v Time Magazine’s view on National Monuments Under Review 

v San Juan County and Contentious USFS Road Closures in the News

                         

   Good News Bear

n  The Hill Reports Several National Monuments to be Downsized

n  Frivolous BE Law Suits Shouldn’t Waste Navajo Tribal Funds by Ryan Benally

n  Dan Love Finally Ousted as BLM Employee

n  Love Fired for Corruption and Theft

n  To Sec. Zinke: Don’t Let False Narratives Block Monument Review

n  Privately Owned Farms and Ranches the Cornerstone of Conservation

n  Libertarian Environmentalism looks at Monuments

n  Forest Service to allow mineral exploration near Mt. St. Helens

n  Grand Canyon Legislation to allow hunters in managing herds

n  Maine Leads the Charge in Food Sovereignty Movement  “Maine is nullifying federal regulations that cripple local farmers.”

n  Darren Parry, NW Shoshone Chairman speaks at Freedom Fest

n  Join the 21^st Century Sage Brush Rebellion

n  Zinke Directive Emphases Fuel Reduction to Control Wildfires

“This year-to-date, 47,700 wildfires have burned 8 million acres across the country, with the majority of the devastation in the states of California and Montana. High-profile fires in Yosemite and Glacier National Parks have caught national headlines, however millions of acres of forest and grassland have burned in recent months.”

n  Tracking Proposed Monument Reductions  Stanford University, Bill Lane I.

n  Navajo People have been Restricted Enough  by Gen Mitchell

 

 Bad News Bears

n  Forest Service Planning to Obliterate Roads in SJC

n  More information on designated road closures

n  See What SUWA’s Up To

Despite the strong likelihood that Bears Ears National Monument will be modified in coming months, Forest Service officials in southeastern Utah are planning to destroy at least 14 public roads within the monument’s current boundaries.

n  Indivisible Project; well funded and spreading  The Indivisible Project is a registered 501c(4) nonprofit. Our mission is to cultivate and lift up a grassroots movement of local groups to defeat the Trump agenda, elect progressive leaders, and realize bold progressive policies. i.e. World Globalism

n  Yet another “Shift” to the Left Jonah Yellowman, one of their speakers

n  WildEarth Guardians are set to “Mobilize When the Time Comes”

n  Outside Magazine Claims Zinke’s Memo Contains Lies

n  “Outside” writer, Claims Gun Shops Automatically enroll buyers in NRA

n  BLM Farmington Office Stalls on Drilling Permits

~~~~~~~

http://beyondthebears.blogspot.com/

                                     Documenting Bears Ears “No Monument” efforts since July 2016

Darren Parry, Northwestern Shoshone Chairman Speaks of Perspective and History and Unity

Given 9/9/2017 and  printed 9/13/2017 in Free Range Report  by Marjorie Haun

“Events that transpired over time had only one conclusion.  But as I have gotten older I have come to realize that history is about perspective.  Who’s perspective?  And then one day I read a quote attributed to Winston Churchill, and he said, History is always written by the victors.  That explains perfectly why my people’s perspectives were never written.”  Darren Parry

Chairman Parry has served on the council on 2 separate occasions and has been currently serving for the last 6 years. Darren also serves on the Board of Directors for the American West Heritage Center, in Wellsville, Utah. He attended the University of Utah and Weber State University and received his Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education, with an emphasis on History. His passions in life are his family which includes his wife Melody and 9 children and 11 grandchildren. His other passion is his Tribal family. Recently, Darren was honored for preserving Shoshone history by the Idaho State Historical Society. He wants to make sure that those who have gone before him are not forgotten. It is important to him that all peoples perspectives are heard and respected.

Darren Parry, Chairman of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation, presented this moving essay in a speech at the San Juan Freedom Fest, held in Blanding, Utah on September 9, 2017. Here, he articulates the personal and cultural bases for his, and other Native Americans’ deep desire to protect the lands of their inheritance. The Bears Ears, designated by President Obama as a national monument, was taken out of the hands of the Navajo, Utes and other tribes in San Juan County, and placed into the care of federal bureaucrats. This is a call for unity of vision and care over these most wondrous lands.

“San Juan Freedom” by Darren Parry

As a small child, I loved to sit at the feet of my grandmother, Mae Timbimboo.  She was the gentlest woman that I have ever known.  Her black hair and dark skin with deep creases told of a life of a caring, nurturing tribal elder.  When she passed away a few years ago it broke my heart.  There is an old Indian saying that says. “When an old Indian dies, a library burns,” this statement was never as true as it was about my grandmother.  She would sit for hours and tell me stories about how the “Coyote Stole Fire” or how the “Sun” got its name, and then with reverence in her tone she would relate the story of the massacre at Bear River, where more than 500 of my people were massacred.  As I grew and attended school and developed a great love of history, I suddenly realized something….  None of the stories that my grandmother told me were in our history books.  But how could this be?  I had always believed that history was an absolute.  Events that transpired over time had only one conclusion.  But as I have gotten older I have come to realize that history is about perspective.  Who’s perspective?  And then one day I read a quote attributed to Winston Churchill, and he said, History is always written by the victors.  That explains perfectly why my people’s perspectives were never written.

In fact a wise old Indian Chief said this about history, “It would be better not to know so many things, than to know so many things that are not so.”

The most important statement that I can make as a Native American leader today is…..”We are still here.”  We’ve have a history that has contributed significantly to not just the history of the United States, but to the world.  There are not that many Indians in the U.S. today and we tend to get overlooked in many ways.  And when we are not overlooked, we tend to be misrepresented.  Everything from Squanto to Tonto you might say. History has on occasion reduced my Native people to one-dimensional characters, important only in the sense that we taught the Pilgrims to grow corn. 

But we are much more than that.  We long to be heard and recognized.  Our voices have been quiet for a long time.  We are as it seems, still searching for an identity.

But as important as that is, our Native voices are not more important than yours.  As events have unfolded in this beautiful part of the world over the last few years, I have gotten a glimpse  of who you are.  And you are not unlike us.

You have a strong work ethic.  You have a strong sense of family.  Those family relationships are as sacred to you as they are to us.  You have a strong belief system in those things that are most important.  And you love this land, just as much as we do.  This land is so important to my Native people that we call her Mother.  She is, and always has been the provider of our livelihoods.

What makes America the greatest nation in the world is that none of us are the same.  We all come from different backgrounds that bring with it, different perspectives. I have said many times that I feel like, we as a country have lost the ability to compromise.   But can’t we learn from each other?  Can’t we learn from those who have gone on before us even those who have made mistakes?  Isn’t it time that we all join hands and come together to make our own histories? Histories that celebrate the things that we have in common instead of focusing on the things that make us different. It is not our differences that divide us.  It is our inability to recognize,  accept, and celebrate those differences.  The key to a happy and healthy community has always been the acceptance of our individual and cultural differences.

A young boy lived down the street from a scary old man.  He lived alone and was probably in his 90’s.  But as time went on this young boy became more and more daring until he had eventually become friends with this man.  One day this little old man said, “come over to my house, I would like to show you something.”  He then pulled out this dusty old rock tumbler.  It had a can and a motor and a small band between them.  We then went into his back yard and found some old ugly good for nothing rocks.  We then proceeded to put them into the can with a little bit of liquid and a small amount of grit powder and we closed the can up and turned the motor on, and said let’s come back tomorrow.  This can was making such a racket that it could be heard at the boy’s home 3 houses away.  He came back the next day and together they opened the can and  took out these amazingly beautiful polished rocks.  Those same old dirty ugly stones that had gone in, through rubbing against each other and creating a little bit of friction, creating a little bit of noise, had produced the most beautiful rocks that the boy had ever seen.  Isn’t this the same with us?  It is through our communities, and through our different groups of often very colorful but very passionate people, who often bump up against one another, having arguments, having fights sometimes, making some noise, but in the end, still being able to work together and polish each other, which in the end will help us to come up with a beautiful landscape that benefits all.  It is my hope that we can all come together to make this corner of the world, the most beautiful place on Mother Earth, that all people may enjoy.

Thank you for having me!

Darren Parry is also the author of Great American Lie that all Tribes are for the Bears Ears, previously posted on Free Range Report.

Parry serves as Chairman of the Northwestern Shoshone Nation, with Headquarters in Brigham City Utah.  He speaks about the Bear River Massacre in which between 250-400 of my tribal members were massacred at the hands of the Federal Government in 1863. It is the largest massacre of Natives in the history of our country, as well as other Native American issues. 
Parry works for Arrowpoint Solutions, a tribal owned temporary staffing company.