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

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

Kane County Utah County

Commissioner Habbeshaw in the News:

Habbeshaw Given Extra Miler Award 2013

Kane County Wins its first R.S 2477 Fight

Habbeshaw Leads Road Battles in 2005

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

eroberso@blm.gov 

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.

§  Read more about Utah’s commitment to public land and use in your letters.

--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

--Environmentalists Leave ‘Ecological Disaster’ At Protest Camp in North Dakota – Gov. Declares Disaster

“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.

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.

National Trust of Historic Preservation is Untrustworthy

Published Oct. 12, 2016 in the St. George Spectrum

By Janet Wilcox

45 year Blanding resident, retired school teacher and co-founder of Blue Mountain Shadows

On Oct. 5 the National Trust of Historic Preservation issued a press release stating, that “the Bears Ears region has been added to its 2016 list of 11 most endangered historical places.”  To the unwary mind, “historical preservation” seems like something we should all believe in.  But believe me, this is not a national organization you can “trust.”

UTHP was chartered by Congress in 1949, and in 1966 when Congress passed the national Historic Preservation Act, Congress also provided federal funding to support the National Trust’s work, and it was federally funded for 30 years!  Thankfully, today it is privately funded.  But where do those private donors come from?  What countries do they represent? Why have they shifted from preserving historic buildings and sites, to vast landscapes like the Grand Canyon and Bears Ears?  The antiquities act of 1906 was designed to protect specific features under immediate threat, not to be used as a landscape management tool.  The current administration has overused this executive ax, as it hacks away at state lands throughout the nation.

In 2013 the National Trust of Historical Preservation had an annual expense budget of $52 Million and paid out approximately $3.8 million in grant support; another $23 Million went to payroll for 497 employees, 36 of which were paid over $100,000.  That sounds like a lot of money and people to micro-manage your state and mine.

One of their 2013 smaller grants for $7,500 went to Utah based Friends of Cedar Mesa to develop two films showing why the greater Cedar Mesa “is deserving of protection.” Basically they fund organizations who will promote their pre-planned preservation agenda. If Cedar Mesa were still their focus, it would likely qualify as a site worth protecting because of thousands of Anasazi sites, but that is no longer the focus.  Acting on environmental whims and avarice, the proposed monument of 2013 suddenly expanded in Dec. 2014 onto a very important mountain range in San Juan County, including The Blue Mountains, Elk Ridge, and Bears Ears. This location is a dearly beloved and valuable resource to all of San Juan County. From this mountain has come much of their wealth, recreation, solitude, and resources.

The article did get one fact right, “low federal agency staffing” has made protection of some of the proposed Bears Ears 1.9 acres a problem.  And why is that?  It’s because our nation is now dealing with a $20 Trillion debt.  Currently US National Parks and Monuments are under a 2 year deferred maintenance totaling nearly $11.5 Billion. Utah alone is behind $278,094,606 in park maintenance.  There is no money to support EXISTING parks, much less new ones.  If our nation has to be bailed out again in 2016, what foreign countries are paying the bills, and how much US land collateral are they accumulating?  The power of a nation is in its land and citizens who care about it.  Don’t give more Utah land away. There are at least 13 such parks, monuments, wilderness areas in our state.

San Juan County is already home to six of those federal designations/ destinations:  Natural Bridges Nat’l Monument, Hovenweep Nat’l Monument,, Canyonlands National Park, Dark Canyon Wilderness area, Grand Gulch Wilderness area, and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.   We have learned from others’ mistakes, that tourist destinations have a heavy negative impact on public lands. We want to keep these lands pristine, as Secretary Jewell so aptly described them when she visited in July. The environmental scare tactics would tell you otherwise, but they are not based in reality.  Come visit our public lands and see for yourself.

San Juan County residents, Ute, Navajo, Hispanic, and Anglos are against converting another 1.9 M. of public county acres, into another poorly cared for National Monument. Private property rights exist in the proposed Bears Ears monument area, that 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. 

Sign our petition, join our protest, and let sovereign state’s rights speak louder than rich lobby coalitions. www.savebearsears.com

Feel free to share this link: http://www.thespectrum.com/story/opinion/2016/10/13/trust-me-we-cant-afford-give-away-bears-ears/92024728/