~~ Bear Essentials ~February 11, 2018~~

v San Juan County friends: you are urgently needed tomorrow Monday, Feb. 12th at 5:30 PM for a town hall hosted by Representative John Curtis. This is your opportunity ask those hard questions you’ve been complaining about related to H.R. 4532.  Even though the monument has been reduced substantially, there are questionable items included.  Meet at the Hideout Community Center in Monticello.  5:30-7:00 PM       Car pool if possible.

v Comments to the Forest Service Need to be sent in by Feb. 12

Linda Patterson: ”I found a better map. Apparently all of Elk Ridge and the Blue Mountain are being assessed for wilderness designation. The scary part about this for ranchers is: that when they created the Dark Canyon Wilderness they eliminated grazing in that area. Here is the map link https://www.fs.usda.gov/.../FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd547675.pdf “

Without your voice the Green Swamp Will Continue to Grow  

Email John Curtis  https://curtis.house.gov/contact/email

Good News Bears

n  U.S. Forest Service asking for feedback Deadline this week

n  Jim Stiles Replies to High Country News

n  House Committee Hears Testimony from Utah Regarding Shash Jaa’

n  Rep. Mike Noel’s Bill Creates Review Process for Fed. Destinations

n  Hopis and Navajos Concerned about Closure of Page Coal Fired Plant

“Dwight Lomaintewa, who lives in the Hopi village of Mishongnovi, said the 65-mile (104 kilometer) daily drive to Peabody Energy's Kayenta Mine is well worth it. A steady job means his family can stay on the reservation and his children can learn the language and traditions, the 33-year-old said.

Myron Richardson, a 42-year-old Navajo welder, said he was fortunate to get a job at the mine after being away from home for construction jobs. If the power plant and mine close, he said he'd likely have to move, and his children's cultural lessons with their grandfather would cease.”

n  Colorado Citizens Hope to Recall Commissioner Controlled by Environmental Lobby

A county commissioner’s poor job performance and conflicts of interest have spurred a group of concerned citizens in La Plata County, Colorado to launch a local recall effort. Calling itself the La Plata Liberty Coalition, the group is busy gathering recall petition signatures with the hopes of ousting Commissioner, Gwen Lachelt.

n Montana Senator Writes Resolution supporting Justice for Western Ranchers  “WHEREAS, A seventeen page whistleblowing letter, released by the federal government’s lead investigator (Special Agent Larry Wooten) in the Nevada standoff case, cited multiple cover ups within the federal agencies and a “widespread pattern of bad judgment, lack of discipline, incredible bias, unprofessionalism and misconduct, as well as likely policy, ethical and legal violations among senior and supervisory staff”

n  Colorado Citizens Call for Water Rights Reexamination

n  Be Good Stewards of the Land as Sportmen  Sec. Zinke sets the pace

n  BLM works on Reshuffling the Swamp.  Good?   Or Bad?

n  Petition to Free the Hammonds.  Your Support is needed

n  Zinke Promises to Fire Nat’l Park Personnel for Harassment

n  Finicum Passengers File Suit Against BIA and County

 

Bad News Bears

n  Mineral Restrictions Continue in Bears Ears Country But there’s no Boom

n  Environmental Hype Falls Flat: No one shows up!

n  Who are the Big Players in the Anti-Livestock Lobby?  And WHY?

n  Hammonds Imprisoned and Denied Grazing Rights by BLM

n  Patagonia’s Public Lands Campaign Focused on Subsidizing Elite Industrial Tourism

n Uranium One Clinton Deal Allowed by FBI Director: Robert Mueller

n  Back Story of The Grand Old Broads

n  If pro-monument advocates can’t control themselves to not illegally vandalize Utah’s public buildings, paid for by your tax dollars, WHO KNOWS what type of desecration they have in mind for Bears Ears.... This happened at the Utah State Capitol Feb. 10!

n Horse Shoe Bend Will Never Be the Same:  Good or Bad?

n  Hysteria abounds: Gold Rush- Style Land Grab on Bears Ears?

n  San Juan Record Disproves the Alarmists: No Uranium boom!

          

Other Articles/ Events of Local Interest

v Utah Lawmakers Urge Support for Escalante Nat’l Park

v Another new Idea:  What about Disaster Relief Homesteading?

v Help Support Free Range Report – Truth in the West

v Drought Conditions in San Juan; please continue to pray for snow!

v  

                                                                 ~~~~~~                                                                   

 http://beyondthebears.blogspot.com/          

                     Documenting Bears Ears “No Monument” efforts since July 2016

Delineating the Antiquities Act

By Alan J. Peterson First published 5/25/17
Helper, Utah

Monument Review MS-1530

U.S. Department of the Interior

1849 C Street NW

Washington, DC  202240

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the abusive use of the Antiquities Act over the past 20 years.  Wow, where to begin?   Perhaps we should start with a better understanding of the reason for the Antiquities Act and when it was enacted:

The Antiquities Act of 1906, (Pub.L. 59–209, 34 Stat. 225, 54 U.S.C. § 320301–320303), is an act passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt on June 8, 1906. This law gives the President of the United States the authority to, by presidential proclamation, create national monuments from federal lands to protect significant natural, cultural, or scientific features. The Act has been used over a hundred times since its passage. Its use occasionally creates significant controversy.

History of Antiquities Act of 1906:

The Antiquities Act resulted from concerns about protecting mostly prehistoric Native American ruins and artifacts – collectively termed "antiquities" – on federal lands in the West, such as at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Removal of artifacts from these lands by private collectors – "pot hunters," in the language of the time – had become a serious problem by the end of the 19th century. In 1902, Iowa Congressman John F. Lacey, who chaired the House Committee on the Public Lands, traveled to the Southwest with the rising anthropologist Edgar Lee Hewett, to see for himself the extent of the pot hunters' impact. His findings, supported by an exhaustive report by Hewett to Congress detailing the archaeological resources of the region, provided the necessary impetus for the passage of the legislation.[1]

Let’s think about how different our environmental laws are now in 2017, compared to 1906.  There are now many, many environmental laws in place that did not exist in 1906. Perhaps the most far reaching is FLPMA of 1976.  The list below is just an example of “laws on the books” which render The Antiquities Act to be obsolete:

The Federal Land Policy and Management Act, or FLPMA (Pub.L. 94–579), is a United States federal law that governs the way in which the public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management are managed. The law was enacted in 1976 by the 94th Congress and is found in the United States Code under Title 43. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act phased out homesteading in the United States by repealing the pre-existing Homestead Acts.

Congress recognized the value of the public lands, declaring that these lands would remain in public ownership. The National Forest Service, National Park Service, and now, the Bureau of Land Management, are commissioned in FLPMA to allow a variety of uses on their land (of greater concern for the BLM, who is the least restrictive in terms of uses) while simultaneously trying to preserve the natural resources in them. This concept is best summarized by the term 'multiple-use.' 'Multiple use' is defined in the Act as "management of the public lands and their various resource values so that they are utilized in the combination that will best meet the present and future needs of the American people." FLPMA addresses topics such as land use planning, land acquisition, fees and payments, administration of federal land, range management, and right-of-ways on federal land. FLPMA has specific objectives and time frames in which to accomplish these objectives, giving it more authority and eliminating the uncertainty surrounding the BLM’s role in wilderness designation and management.

Parts of FLPMA relating specifically to Wilderness are found under the heading Designated Management. Here, the BLM is also given power to designate Wilderness and are given 15 years to do so. The BLM is to conduct studies, classifying areas as 'Wilderness Study Areas.' These areas are not official Wilderness areas but are, for all intents and purposes, treated as such until formal adoption as Wilderness by Congress. Approximately 8.8 million acres of BLM wilderness are currently included in the National Wilderness Preservation System as a result of the wilderness reviews mandated by FLPMA. Those ordered to implement policies from FLPMA are trained government employees using guidelines expressly stated within the act itself.

Further legislation following FLPMA has continued to address these concerns as the needs of the American people have expanded to include natural resources such as oil shale and tar sands in the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

For addition details of Laws and Regulations related to the Antiquities Act: Follow link:

~~ Bear Essentials ~January 29, 2018

v Without your voice the Green Swamp Will Continue to Grow  

         Article presents ideas and concerns; read and then write:

“The public commentary period is very important, and required by federal law, but corporate environmentalist groups conjoined with the global outdoor gear industry have developed a PR machine with the capacity to spit out literally hundreds of thousands of comments supporting vast land grabs, such as 'Bears Ears' and 'Grand Staircase-Escalante.' Donors, supporters on email lists, complicit partner organizations, and ideologically-sympathetic businesses will take talking points verbatim and cut and paste them into the comments field to be sent to the Department of Interior. It's not difficult for one corporate enviro group, Western Priorities, for instance, to blast the government with a couple hundred thousand cloned messages, giving the appearance of overwhelming support for this or that issue. The federal swamp had undoubtedly grown as a result of this tactic. But Zinke's Interior is onto the dishonesty of the big greens, and will carefully read and weigh authentic, original comments from real people will real stakes in how the federal government manages the lands and resources it controls. This makes your voice critical, and very powerful.”  Majorie Haun

v Please write or call these agencies:

--Utah BLM Contact: 2370 South Decker Lake Blvd.      West Valley, UT 84119      

Fax: (801) 977-4397            Phone: (801) 977-4300

Matt Preston Field Manager           Email:utslmail@blm.gov

--GSENM Field Office Contact:

669 South Highway 89A       Kanab, UT 84741

Fax: (435) 644-1305           Phone: (435) 644-120

Cynthia Staszak Monument Manager         

Email: escalante_interagency@blm.gov

--Shash Jaa’ (formerly Bears Ears)

MOAB FIELD OFFICE

82 East Dogwood         Moab, UT 84532

Fax: (435) 259-2106      Phone: (435) 259-210

Christina Price Field Manager          Email: utmbmail@blm.gov

Reasons why San Juan Never Needed Another National Monument 

Over 400,000 acres of Existing Wilderness designations with arguably STRONGER PROTECTIONS already existed LONG BEFORE there was a Bears Ears National Monument, within its boundaries. 
*No fracking
*No mineral development
*No oil drilling
*No mining

These Federal Wilderness Areas were Congressional designated, a truly democratic process. They've protected the Native American heritage sites under stricter protection than a National Monument ever would.

Legislation (H.R. 4532: Shash Jaa' National Monument and Indian Creek National Monument Act)...
was also introduced that explicitly BANS mining and drilling in the new monument area as well as in the land that was covered before the president altered the boundaries

Leading some to ask: "Then why was a National Monument ever needed?" The Answer is easy, it Never was Needed.

Missing from this map is also the heavily protected "Cedar Mesa SMRC" and the Natural Bridges National Monument...
Now add on the two Newest national monuments of Indian Creek and Shash Jaa', therefore, the former Bears Ears National Monument was never ever needed.

vIf HR4532 isn’t what you think it should be: Speak up now or end up grumbling for the next 20 years

Email John Curtis  https://curtis.house.gov/contact/email

n  Multiple Groups Plead for Reduced Bears Ears NM

n  Pacific League Foundation Intervenes in Bears Ears Litigation

n  Trump Admin Recommends Moving Bears Ears Lawsuits to Utah

n  Will Uranium Mining Claims be Protected by new Boundaries?

n  How National Monuments Can Hurt Native Americans

“We are the nearest people of Bears Ears and did not agree with naming a national monument on the land we use to survive. , ,The closest national monument, Natural Bridges Monument, is only a stone’s throw away from the Bears Ears region. You look at the entrance sign to that monument, woodcutting and wood gathering is clearly and proudly shown as being is completely banned.” Leland Grass

n  Senate Bill calls for Oversight of Drilling on Federal Land

n  It’s Up to Congress to Resolve Public Lands issue  KUER

n  King Cove in Alaska to benefit from Zinke Approved Land Transfer

n  Recruited Pipeline Terrorists Convicted

n  Colorado “Push Poll” Misleads and Misrepresents  Free Range Report

n  John Curtis Bill Leaning to the Left 

n  Wooten Letter Exposes Dan Love’s Operation of Abuse and Bigotry in Cliven Bundy Case    Part I: Warning:  Some of this is x-rated

n  Wooten Expose’: Racism, Egomania, and Abuse continued, Part II                                  

n  The Long and Uncertain History of Bears Ears  I question some of these events and dates.  Does anyone have addition information?

n  Federal Agency  Seeks to Control Protection of Frogs on Private Land

n  When Government becomes a Hammer, Citizens are Nails  The Petroglyph

  
r “This is not a difficult question for the BLM to answer. They know that they have been relying on less than trustworthy information put forward by the likes of Lance Porter. When you find out that Rose Chilcoat and Lynell Shalk of the Great Old Broads were the main source of the BLM information and that the entire narrative is based on hate for Mormons and for San Juan County you just have to wonder why those in a position to do something, choose to remain silent?” Phil Lyman

n  Anti-Local Green NGO’s in Bed with the Feds Using Your Tax Dollars

n  Slump in Sales of Outdoor Equipment

n  Drought Conditions in San Juan; please continue to pray for snow!

n  Blanding Boycott?

 Better yet, a Bears Ears Boycott. (see post below:

  Other Articles/ Events of Local Interest

v Charges Against SJC Sheriff’s Officers Dropped

“Congratulations Sheriff Eldredge and Deputies Freestone and Wilcox. I'm astonished at this statement from the AG. The AG's prosecutors were soundly defeated in court because their case was manufactured. The investigators didn't bother to do their homework, accusing the sheriff of "dry-firing" a weapon at an event that he did not even attend, and accusing the deputy of obstruction because he provided the records that proved the Sheriff was not present. The plaintiff changed his story several times. I would like to have seen the AG's office simply apologize.”  Commissioner Phil Lyman  (It looks like the AG’s office was shamed enough that they removed the link I had on this story.  E-mail me if you want to read it, and I’ll send a copy.)

  Kelly Pehrson’s reaction to the press release: “Unbelievable how ridiculous Reyes comment is. It’s like a football team that lost 50-0 and they still say they are the better team. What an ego!!!”

v Help Support Free Range Report – Truth in the West

                                                                 ~~~~~~                                                                   

 http://beyondthebears.blogspot.com/          

                     Documenting Bears Ears “No Monument” efforts since July 2016