Beyond The Bears Ears

Monday, December 25, 2017

~~ Bear Essentials ~ Dec. 25, 2017 ~~

Did Santa Make it Past the Windmills?

Good News Bears

n Testimony on Dirty Dealings “In Federal Lands Committee Hearings last week, former Utah Governor, Mike Leavitt, recounted the ruthless and deceptive process by which President Bill Clinton created the 1.9 million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) in 1996. (See video in next link – very incriminating)

n Video of Committee Hearing, Testimonies by Rob Bishop and Mike Leavitt

n Rob Bishop Confronts Patagonia and False Narratives

n Controversy and Confusion over Oil Exploration in BE area San Juan Record

n Interview with Eva Ewald on Bears Ears, after it was Trumped KSJD, Cortez

n Reducing Antiquities Act Land Grabs A great article with good facts “President Obama designated the 1,351,849-acre Bears Ears NM three weeks before leaving office, largely to make still more energy, mineral and other resources off limits to exploration and development. He too did so without prior consultation with Utah’s governor, congressional delegation or residents. Offshore marine national monuments now total 760 million acres – 7-1/2 times the size of California!”

n How Ticaboo got pulled into the Uranium Russian scandal

n First Hearing on Escalante National Monument

n Can Compromise Replace Conflicts in Bears Ears Resizing? Janet Wilcox

n DOI Reverses Job Killing Mining Restrictions in Minnesota

n Looking for a Financial Fix for National Parks and Monuments Judy Fahys

Bad News Bears

n Judge Shelby sets new voting districts, splitting Blanding 3 ways

n Boston Globe says Pres. Trump Assaults Mother Nature

n Did you know You were part of a “Dark Campaign” to destroy Nat’l Monuments? Did any of you get any financial rewards, or $? Me neither!

n Oil and Gas Regulators Controlled by Trump Agenda?

n Congressional debates on New National Park in Utah

n Environmentalist says Bears Ears and GSENM have chance in Court

Many falsehoods in this video, be sure to go in and comment

n Federal Land Grabs via NMs Can Starve America

n Five Tribes file Law Suit over Resizing of Utah Monuments Video

n Bend Oregon Group, Bent on Protecting Mammoth Monuments

v Other Articles/ Events of Local Interest

v Interactive Map showing National Monument Boundary Changes

v Future of Power Plant on the Navajo Reservation

v Remember when Bears Ears Territory was too Protected? Jim Stiles

v Burning of the Bears in Bluff Joe Pachek art for Winter Solstice

v U of U Workshop on Environmental Racism Jan. 17

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http://beyondthebears.blogspot.com/

Documenting Bears Ears “No Monument” efforts since July 2016

Thursday, December 21, 2017

Layers of Land Protection Prior to Nat'l Monument Designation

Layers of land protection in the West:

Some critics seem to feel that public land in San Juan County is now doomed to oblivion since President Trump's declaration to resize Bears Ears National Monument. Before more National Monuments were even in the picture in San Juan County, there were over a dozen existing protections already in place. These lands were, and are amply protected by law without another layer of ineffective legislation. However, you can enact all the laws and regulations you want, but without money (remember the US is 20 Trillion dollars in debt) and man power to supervise, you're just shaking a wet noodle at the thousands of uneducated tourists who have been attracted to SE Utah because of all the publicity.

1. 1906 Antiquities act,

2. 1935 Historic Sites Preservation Act,

3. 1960/1974 Reservoir Act,

4. 1964 Wilderness Act

5. 1966 National History Preservation Act

6. 1968 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act

7. 1969 National Environmental Protection Act

8. 1974 Archeological; Historic Preservation Act,

9. 1976 Federal Lands Policy and Management Act,

10. 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act,

11. 1979 Archeological Resources Protection Act,

12. 1980 Amendment NHBA - Exec. Order Protection & Enhancement of Cultural Environment,

13. 1990 Native American Graves Protection; Repatriation Act,

14. 1996 Indian Sacred Site Protection Act,

15. 2000 Consultation; Coordination with Indian Tribal Government Act
16. 2003 Preserve America Act

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