By Janet Wilcox
The campaign driven
by the Conservation Lands Foundation over the past two years to designate the
Bears Ears in Utah as a National Monument has promoted Disparity, Discrimination, Deceit, Divisiveness, Disillusionment,
Dissembling, and Debt.
Disparity between states:
There is a huge disparity between
eastern states who have large amounts of private land and thus the wealth, and most
western states who have low median incomes and little private land. There is a
correlation between private land and wealth.
Former San Juan Commissioner Bill Redd often stated, “The wealth of a
people, or a country is always linked to land.”
75.2% of Utah’s land is public. Only 24.8% is privately owned. Only two other states in the nation have more
public land than Utah – Alaska and Nevada.
Our neighbors in Colorado have twice
as much private land - 56.7% and their
public land is 43.3%.
San Juan county
has an even more dismal ratio-- 92% of the land is already public and is managed
by BLM, Forest Service and five existing parks, monuments, and reservations.
This is why this is a poor county. If
the option of “multiple use” is done away because of a National Monument, many jobs that foster self-reliance and
freedom from debt will also be impacted, thus there will be even more
disparity. Since Obama took office in 2008, he
has set aside more than 550 million acres in two dozen monuments — the most of
any president in U.S. history. Such
wanton disregard of local economy has become a legacy of disparity and despair,
nothing a President of the "United" States should be promoting.
Federally Fueled Discrimination:
There exists not only discrimination in
the United States between those who have private land and those who don’t, it also
exists when citizens live in areas where they are prevented from using
initiative and free enterprise to earn a better living. Wealthy lobbies have poured millions into
Obama’s environmental campaign for more monuments, which increases the
disparity between the haves and the have nots. Other rural areas fighting this
same “Folly Green Giant” have the same disadvantage. Though San Juan County is rich in land, it is
ranked 29th out of 29 Utah counties based on per-capita, annual income. Another layer of discrimination appears when
schools become underfunded or under achieving because of environmentally
imposed restrictions on lands which can no longer provide funds for school
children. San
Juan County’s tax valuation which determines budget decisions, is based on
roughly 20 companies. All but two are tied to the land. Even Verizon, which is
a leading cellphone provider, is tied to the land. That is why sections of San Juan county land must continue
to be multi-use.
Ironically,
some areas in the proposed 1.9 million acres do NOT even meet the definition of
“public lands.” This includes 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. These lands are legally private or state owned and must continue to be available for private enterprises and access.
The Environmental Lobby Discredits State
Sovereignty, laws, and freedoms. Lobbies working for the "Folly Green Giant" make Utah sound like a thief when congressmen and state officials take a stand
to protect and use SITLA lands which are scattered throughout the proposed area. Merri Shumway, SJC school board member explains: “Four sections of every township was designated at
statehood for the purpose of supporting public schools. The State Institutional
Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) has the responsibility to manage these lands
that are in trust for school children in the state of Utah. The lands that do
not have the potential to generate revenue are sold off or traded for land that
can produce revenue to support public schools. When land is sold, the money
from the sale is deposited into the Permanent School Fund. Interest and
dividends from the fund are distributed to each public school in the state of
Utah each year. Community councils that consist of school faculty and parents
of students attending the school make the decision of how the SITLA money is
spent.” Those pockets of state land need
to be utilized for the benefit of local schools.
The Environmental Lobby is Dishonest.
The tribal coalition
organized by the Conservation Lands Foundation, is NOT a grass roots effort as
advertised, but is planned, paid for, and orchestrated by behind the scenes wealthy millionaires, such
as Hansjorg Wyss. According to Dave Skinner a Montana writer, Wyss has done more than any other man in
the world to bring rural states to their knees by donating millions to
environmental campaigns. The PEW
Foundation, Hewlet Packard, and dozens of other foundations get tax benefits
for donating to environmental causes.
Their $$$ has created a huge slanted campaign for more land. This Green Machine uses scare tactics and hyperbole as
it exaggerates what is happening and what will happen if a monument is not
designated. Overused phrases such as, “rampant looting” and “desecration of
land” has caused environmental hysteria and misled thousands of people who do
not see the true picture. By up-playing
negativity without giving actual facts, the nation has been led to believe
local people don’t care about the land.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Good citizens have been
protecting this area for generations, but there will always be those who are up
to no good, just as occurs in cities on the east and west coast. Establishing a monument will not stop that,
and in addition increased visitation will only bring more vandalism while
eliminating traditional uses. This has occurred in Grand Staircase Escalante
since its designation 20 years ago, and we have no reason to believe it will
be different here.
A
recent incident in the Bears Ears area of Comb Ridge was caused by Fort Lewis
College students who were supposedly supervised and educated. They didn’t just
leave footprints, but graffiti. This paradox plagues every preservation effort. In order to
protect special places, advocates must get public support. To do that, they
need to let the public know why the place is so special, to let the masses in
on their secrets. Such a campaign acts as a travel council publicist with many
of the same negative effects.
Whether
it is outright deceit, or poorly studied economics, the Folly Green Giant, has
also promised Native people that there will be new jobs through tourism and “Industrial-strength
recreation” (see recent article in Canyon Zephyr by Jim Stiles.) This dangling
carrot strategy would replace ranching, and fossil fuel industries in SJC, yet
expect people to drive hundreds of miles to get here while utilizing their
smart phones and gear which is at least partially dependent upon fossil fuel
products.
Tourist towns like
Moab and Jackson Hole, Wyoming are too expensive for middle income families to
live in. They are sustained by people who must work 2-3 part time jobs to
maintain a household. People who actually
reside there aren’t able to purchase homes on minimum wage salaries. The median
household income in San Juan County is already 4th from the bottom
in the state, but interestingly both Grand and Wayne county which are adjacent
to National parks and Monuments have an even LOWER median income, yet the
façade of tourism makes outsiders think things are booming because of all the
toursits. (http://img.ksl.com/slc/2607/260770/26077053.jpg)
Divisiveness: The CLF strategy of forming a native
coalition has ended up dividing tribes and sometimes families. Environmental CEO's and strategists never made any effort to inform tribal members at large, but instead
gathered hand picked consultant/leaders to represent their cause. It makes one question why they so readily joined this crusade,
when they have much to lose? There must be thousands of tribal members both in and out of Utah who have no idea what Bears Ears is all about. Yet supposedly 5 tribes
endorse it. Commissioner
Rebecca Benally warned early on, “Trusting the federal government has historically
resulted in broken promises for Native Americans." As native people in Utah started investigating what was at stake the tables
turned and coalition members of the Ute Mt. leadership were voted out of office
as a result.
Another D goes to Dissembling or pretending to support one idea, when in fact you
support a differing philosophy. Many of us heard Navajo leaders speak
passionately against oil drilling at the Sally Jewell hearing in July, yet ironically
the Navajo tribe is in the process of trying to buy Resolute Oil, the #1 tax
payer in San Juan County. So obviously,
it’s not the issue of owning an oil company or drilling that is the problem,
but who gets the benefits from it. This
certainly sends a mixed message from the Navajo nation. San Juan County Navajos have always been at the bottom of the totem pole of the Navajo Tribe. Why some Utah Navajos would support the Navajo Nation's stance makes no sense, unless they were dangled big "green" carrots.
Finally there is the BIG D words – Debt and Deficit. The Nation’s $20 Trillion debt has
put all of us in debtor’s prison. We are
being held hostage by land collateral. We have given away our birthright. We
see the results of national debt when existing National parks and Monuments are
put under a two-year deferment. Thirteen of Utah’s parks are hampered because
of no maintenance to the tune of $278,094,606.
The maintenance deferment nationwide totals $ 11,493,168,812. The
federal government is not taking care of existing needs. This further illustrates
government inefficiency; as a nation we cannot continue to spend money on
wants. We must focus on needs. Leave San Juan lands managed as they are with an
emphasis on cooperation and community/county-wide efforts to protect and live
in hoz ro’. A National Monument is not
the answer to peace and protection. By working together, we can eliminate those
D’s. It's obvious we need a non-partisan mediator not a heavy handed dictator.
by Janet Wilcox