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Stewards of San Juan attend Utah Dine Bikeyah Celebration/ Wake

Quick run down on what happened at celebration. About 12 people went down to represent Stewards of San Juan at the Bears Ears National Monument celebration today in Monument Valley. 

A lot of Elders here. April told Kenneth Maryboy and others at the head table there were elders in the audience that couldn't understand what they were saying. He told her they weren't providing translators.

We endured 4 hours of lies and misinformation. They called Phil Lyman names and praised Obama. Talk about endurance. During a session of what was supposed to open mic April asked if Grandma Betty could speak and if they had an interpreter, they said the were no interpreters. Suddenly there was no more open mic. Anna and April handed out 170 copies of the proclamation with areas of native concern highlighted. All together a good day.  (Wendy Black, Treasurer)

Kelly Mike Green "Drinking the enviro cool aid. Wait till a little time passes and the ugly bureaucratic do gooders will restrict all the things they promised and tell them it must be "Protected". Sad day."

Danielle took the opportunity to explain to many Navajos that there was nothing in the actual designation saying that they would be co-managers, and that they were being used. 

Part I Video with Mark Maryboy:  (Missing link)

Part II Video of part of the meeting: 

Trump Can Reverse Obama’s Last-Minute Land Grab

The White House is trying to lock up millions of acres, but no president can bind his successor

As he prepares to leave office in three weeks, President Obama is still trying to shape his legacy. On Dec. 20 the White House announced the withdrawal of millions of acres of Atlantic and Arctic territory from petroleum development. This week Mr. Obama proclaimed 1.35 million acres in Utah and 300,000 acres in Nevada to be new national monuments. But all the soon-to-be ex-president will prove is the fleeting nature of executive power.

These actions, like many others he has taken, are vulnerable to reversal by President-elect Trump. In our constitutional system, no policy can long endure without the cooperation of both the executive and legislative branches. Under Article I of the Constitution, only Congress can enact domestic statutes with any degree of permanence. And because of the Constitution’s separation of powers, no policy will survive for long without securing and retaining a consensus beyond a simple majority.

More on this story from Free Range Report

Navajo Nation Republican Party Active in Bears Ears Issue

Designed and published by the Navajo Nation Republican Party

Follow their commentary on https://www.facebook.com/NavajoNationGOP/?fref=ts

SITLA Land Exchange: A Complex Issue, Deferred

Letter received by Gail Dalton Johnson from the Utah Trust lands Administrator, Kim Christy. Should others wish to contact that office, information for doing so is at the bottom.  Thanks, Gayle and Merri Shumway for encouraging them to defer decisions until this plays out more. 

Thanks, Gail, for sharing your comment to the Governor with SITLA.  The following excerpt is what was sent out as part of our news release following today's Board meeting:

"Because of the complexities involved with SITLA’s significant inholdings of 109,000-plus acres within the current designated Bears Ears monument, we have yet to receive and comprehend the information necessary to make an informed decision to perform our fiduciary duties on what is in the best interest of our beneficiaries,” said SITLA Vice Chair Tom Bachtell. “Therefore, I make the motion to defer any board decision on this matter until such time as we believe the facts have been thoroughly studied and the information is complete for in which we can make an informed decision.” The motion passed unanimously.

Best wishes,

Kim S. Christy

Deputy Director

Utah Trust Lands Administration

675 East 500 South, Suite 500

Salt Lake City, UT 84102

Office Phone: (801) 538-5183

Cell Phone: (801) 201-7480

email: kimchristy@utah.gov

The Power of the People Trumps Polls

 Benjamin Burr comments on a power more accurate than polls:  

It has been a common thread in Bears Ears coverage to cite opinion polls saying Utahns want the monument. When you are commenting on these articles be sure to point out that a statewide poll took place on Nov. 8 and Utahns overwhelmingly re-elected monument opponents at every level of government. While people cast their votes for a variety of reasons, it was no secret that the vast majority of Utah's elected officials strongly opposed this. Even the best scientific polls do not override what in this case is an electoral mandate. It's one thing to answer a no-risk poll question, but when Utahns actually put their political capital on the line and voted, they voted overwhelmingly for no monument.Giving equal weight to opinion polls in the wake of such a decisive election on this issue is like saying the slam dunks by the team mascot from a trampoline during halftime should count on the scoreboard." 

Rep. Jason Chaffetz Emphasizes the point Jan. 5, 2017:  

"If our Democratic and media friends are still trying to puzzle through how Donald Trump won the presidency, they will find no better clue than last week’s national monument designations in Utah and Nevada. It is the perfect snapshot of the twisted priorities that lost the votes of alienated American workers throughout the country.

Hillary Clinton was a flawed candidate, but beyond her lackluster campaign, her private email scandal or even any alleged Russian hacking, the biggest millstone around her neck was the Obama legacy of selling out working men and women in America's heartland to facilitate the well-funded environmental imperialism of coastal and urban elite campaign donors.

When Hillary thrilled her “Enviro-imperialist” donors with her cheery promise to put coal miners out of work and energy companies out of business, miners and workers in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio heard her loud and clear. Working American families throughout the nation’s rust belt had enough and turned the tide for Trump in this past election. 

Now the Obama administration’s high-minded contempt for American working families has metastasized west. Struggling counties in Utah and Nevada last week learned that their residents’ right to earn a living and feed their families falls a distant second behind new hiking trails for absentee environmentalist overlords.

Never mind that the Bears Ears area was already amply protected, or that no mining or drilling was proposed anywhere near sensitive archeological sites.  For this administration, catering to the whims of the elitist donor class from the Democrat archipelagos takes priority over the basic survival needs of American workers in flyover country.

Although Utah’s San Juan County is larger than the entire land mass of Massachusetts. [Actually San Juan's land mass is 7,933 mi² and Massachusetts is 10,554 mi².  I sent a message to Chaffetz to correct this fact. However, San Juan's land mass IS bigger than Connecticut and Rhode Island combined.] The federal government controls 92% of San Juan County land. How does a county fund basic services like public safety, education, health or assistance programs with a tax base limited to 8% of its area? It does so barely, if at all.

Low-wage seasonal jobs are welcomed, but they do little to bring prosperity. For prosperity San Juan County families count on ranching, mining or other extractive indu:stries that are now closed off to them. These people do not measure government’s effectiveness by the generosity of its welfare benefits but by the opportunities created and freedoms preserved to allow them to earn their own way. In this they are no different than miners in Pennsylvania and Ohio, offshore drillers or constructors awaiting the go ahead to build the Keystone Pipeline; all have been stomped on by an “Envirocrat” president on his way out the door. The “tenure and trust fund” set will never understand that reality.

A monument designation grants federal bureaucrats life and death power over ranchers and others whose livelihoods depend on the land.  These federal environmental colonizers can close roads to private property and even prohibit ATVs used by local tribes for hunting and gathering.  Such a designation locks up over 100,000 acres of state school trust lands that should be generating badly needed revenue for Utah schools. 

Read more

Family Ranch Swallowed Up

by Gail Johnson

HC 60  Box 220

Lake Powell, UT 84533

435-459-1268/1269

sandyljohnson@wildblue.net

January 6, 2017

Governor Gary Herbert

350 State Capitol, Ste. 200

Salt Lake City, UT  84114

                                                                        Re:  State Lands in Bears Ears Monument

Dear Governor Herbert:

            My family's ranch is swallowed up in this new monument, our private land, water rights, grazing allotments (federal and state), and our home.  Since this monument has been forced upon this state in spite of opposition from every level of government and the majority of local residents, I would like to see the state take the position of not being amenable to trading out the school sections.  Tell the federal government to go fly a kite.   The state shouldn't have to trade just because an oppressive and out-of-touch federal government says to.  Trading under these circumstances is under duress, when the state should stand up to the federal government. 

            If the state decides to trade, make the federal government give more than equal value because the federal government is forcing this monument and trade upon Utah.  And for sure, all land traded for should be in this county. 

            I have always been against trading out scattered state sections, unless done on a section by section basis, for several reasons.  First, no one knows what the future will be and what lies below the surface of these lands.  Prior to World War II, prospectors roamed this county searching for gold and silver, walking right past and ignoring land that proved to be invaluable a few years later.  Lands rich in uranium and vanadium.  Scattered state sections increase the state's odds of capturing subsurface resources that may not be known today, but will be important in the future.  There may be other valuable options for these lands in the future, as well.

            Second, scattered state sections give the state leverage in dealing with the federal government, now and in the future.  It also gives access to land that otherwise might not be accessible. SITLA is much easier to deal with when developing water, maintaining roads, and doing range improvements than is the federal government.  Without these state sections, it will be much easier for federal land restrictions to tighten and tighten until historic multiple uses are choked out.

            I realize this issue is "wait and see" with the in-coming Trump administration, potential lawsuits, and a new congress.  That is what gives my family and this county a glimmer of hope.  I also see that today (Jan. 6), the SITLA board is meeting regarding land exchange. 

            Thank you for speaking out against this new monument and for anything you can do to reverse it and amend or get rid of the Antiquities Act.  Also, please consider keeping scattered state sections.

                                                                        Sincerely,

                                                                       

                                                                        Gail Johnson

cc:  Dave Ure, SITLA Director

       Rep. Mike Noel

       Sen. David Hinkins

       Utah Congressional Delegation

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.

House GOP Rules Changed Regarding Land Sales

Washington Post Article Jan. 3, 2017

House Republicans on Tuesday changed the way Congress calculates the cost of transferring federal lands to the states and other entities, a move that will make it easier for members of the new Congress to cede federal control of public lands.

The provision, included as part as a larger rules package the House approved by a vote of 233 to 190 during its first day in session, highlights the extent to which some congressional Republicans hope to change longstanding rules now that the GOP will control the executive and the legislative branches starting Jan. 20.

Many Republicans, including House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah), have been pushing to hand over large areas of federal land to state and local authorities, on the grounds that they will be more responsive to the concerns of local residents.

House Natural Resources Committee spokeswoman Molly Block said in a statement that “in many cases federal lands create a significant burden for the surrounding communities,” because they cannot be taxed and can be “in disrepair.”

“Allowing communities to actually manage and use these lands will generate not only state and local income tax, but also federal income tax revenues” she added, as well as reduce the need for some federally-supported payments. “Unfortunately, current budget practices do not fully recognize these benefits, making it very difficult for non-controversial land transfers between governmental entities for public use and other reasons to happen.”

Read the full story: 

Do Out-of-County People Know Facts from Fiction?

Great discussion following KSL's  report of Bears Ears Monument announcement.
Follow it on Facebook

As of Jan. 1 this site had 444 shares, and 807 Comments

Fallacies promoted by Pro Monument voices found on KSL site: 
-- Thank you oboma for looking out for indigenous people. The state leaders want to take, take and fill there pockets with outside interest groups. All for the minerals and cash.

--Poor babies! Cry your river! This is now the land of all the people in this nation! Not just a handful of white people selling out to the highest bidder!

--It's public land that's been managed by the federal government since before Utah was a state.

The government owned it since they bought it from mexico.

--So sick of people not supporting the country they live in, move to another country if it's so bad. National Monuments are National treasures and should be treated as such and supported. We the people want National Monuments get over it.
--These people need to uphold the constitution as they say they do and support our country and it's monuments that represent it.

Comments from Washington Post Site:
--Monument status will help prevent against future extraction. You can already see how weak the proposal is in that it still allows grazing. I don't think you're gonna get throngs of tourists. There are so many monuments and parks across the southwest it's impossible to visit them all.

--My new years resolution is to stop eating red meat. I'm tired of supporting careless environmental policies of the red states. That cattle grazing industry wreaks havoc on our environment and the cattle grazers themselves have supported Trump.
--Expect the usual teeth-gnashing and fake-cowboy flag waving. Expect the unhinged gun nuts to start feeding lies to the news media. Again.
--Nothing new here. Anything the president does, says or even thinks is suspect. Had this been done by a Republican, people in Utah would be cheering.
--Republicans again prove themselves small, choleric people who offer nothing but hysteria, pettiness tinged with willful ignorance, and the destructive tendencies of teen-aged louts.
--Hopefully this will mean the great American GOP public land grab to sell off public lands to private parties because of republican politicians that are bought and owned by the Koch brothers. Obama should have done this earlier.

Thank you all who jumped in and commented with facts, statistics, personal experiences, and actual data.  

Rural voices must continue to be heard

The wider span of public discourse and debate must continue to include voices of those in the rural west, both Native and Anglo voices alike.  The romanticized view of the land we live in needs a reality check for urban America.  A recent article in the Washington Post , followed by comments of east coast attitudes illustrates this well.  Read article and then read the comments at the end and respond.  We need more conservatives who are willing to write and represent Utah and San Juan County.  

One comment: 

Greg McGowan

12/31/2016 10:35 AM MST

Because Utah had introduced a bill in their Legislature to literally seize all non-military Fed lands so they could sell them to the highest bidder then pocket ALL the money in their personal bank accounts.

My posted response: That is an outright lie and slanderous; fear mongering at its best saying that sales of Fed. lands would be pocketed. The state of Utah is solvent, something the Federal government has not been for decades. State leaders have been voted in by those who know them, and support them. Unlike National bureaucrats, they are accountable to the voters, very directly. The waste and inefficiency that exists in the bureaucracy of our nation is the real tragedy. State leaders are much more accountable to those who elect them. 

There are over 100,000 acres of state SITLA lands within this designation, which are specifically earmarked for schools in the state. When it is made inaccessible, it doesn't benefit local children.  Many Federal Parks and Monuments have been poorly managed, using strategies that promote vandalism, forest fires, and road closures. Often they do not protect the very thing identified. Promoting tourism would be a tragedy for these fragile landscapes full of ancient ruins...unless you plan to fence everything in. Many areas in this 1.3 Million acres could help fund our schools and our county which is the poorest in the state. Only 8 % of San Juan County is privately owned, hence the poverty. Discrimination is perpetuated when East coast and west coast environmental extremists, take from the poor to support their personal agendas of land lock up in the West. There is abundant land in Utah for both private and protected agendas to share and enjoy. Bears Ears NM was no compromise.

Bear Essentials Dec. 30, 2016 Two Days After Designation

How A Football Great Rallied His Team

This morning I watched an excellent talk by LaVell Edwards given April 2001, as he talked about the battles of life, comparing it to football experiences.  Edwards died this week, Dec/ 29,  but left a great legacy as an inspiring leader and successful coach.  His words really struck home to me as I contemplated putting on the full armor of God as we go into these battles in defense of land and freedoms and protection of the land we love.  Many of us are new recruits to the game, others are seasoned veterans, but we all could benefit from Lavell’s words.  Listen to Talk

In the first quarter some of our great county warriors like Calvin Black, Ken Bailey, and Bill Redd entered into this land battle [Sage Brush Rebellion] decades ago (see attached article); they were followed by dozens of other county, city, and local citizens in the second quarter who were concerned about grazing rights, road use, land use, and federal government overreach.  San Juan County has been in the fray for years.  

Thanks to the Internet, and a common cause, those of us who entered into the game in the 3^rd quarter had plenty of zeal as well as new tools to use, but we often lacked information and historical context, but we quickly learned and rallied to the cause and accomplished amazing things.  Now we find ourselves in the last quarter of a very important game of politics where we hope to change minds, policy, and the tide of liberalism in our country.  I hope you’ll listen to this great coach’s advice, and apply the principles he talks about into your personal and civic life.  I believe it can help us all, and revive us as we march forward:  

--Game plan:  After you are revived, inspired, and willing to continue please continue to tell our county’s story through every avenue put in your path: personal conversations, letters, e-mails, letters to the editor, comments to articles, interviews, or film.  Share facts and focus on illegalities of the Antiquities Act, economic discrimination of rural states because of public lands, our support of local and State elected officials as opposed to professional bureaucrats – anything that would help the uninformed to switch sides. Be firm, yet respectful.  Try to hear your voice through the ears of your audience.

--County Protest Dec. 29 Many of us were in mourning after this dismal, discriminatory, and divisive designation was announced. It’s a good thing we had the Christmas season, and family gatherings to quell the gloom, or it would have been unbearable.   Even though the acreage in the Obama designation was reduced to 1.3 from 1.9, both this national monument and Nevada’s are still liberal agenda over reach. County residents united the next day at the county courthouse and responded firmly and passionately against Obama’s designation of a Bears Ears National Monument.  If you weren’t there, this is a great video of the talks, as we rallied and reinforced our support for both county and state officials who will lead the next stage of battle. 

 

--Also Worth Watching:

 * 29 Fox News with Jason ChaffetzDiscusses Bears Ears Monument designation

* Marie Holliday gave an impassioned talk at the press conference Dec. 29.  And earlier

Our well-spoken San Juan County Advocate

this year both she and Rebecca Benally were interviewed regarding the PLI process.  This was replayed last night, Dec. 31 on Channel 4.    There are many other great videos on The County Seat.

 *  Lt. Governor Cox speaks at Monticello Press Conference. 

 *  Phil Lyman Represents our Dilemma well.  

Those links will take you to other individual presentations given Dec. 29 as Stewards of San Juan united to “Trump” Bears Ears.

--KSL News broadcasts Dec. 30 shows both sides of issue: 

You Tube Version

--If you weren’t convinced already that this has been a full-out top down effort funded by wealthy environmental organizations, please note that when those top down decisions were announced, press releases and web sites were already in place. This is a well-oiled money machine which preys on the land poor western states. Here are some press releases:

   1.  National Parks release Dec. 28: 

         2. BLM Bears Ears Fact sheet released Dec. 28: 

--And this is how we reply with a New War Cry:#Trump This Monument 
T-shirts are now available online! Click here to get yours ordered: http://www.savebearsears.com/shop/

San Juan County Responds to Monument Announcement

Dec. 29, 2016. Citizens in front of court house.
Stella Oliver photos

 It was a cold day but a heated Press Conference in Monticello Dec. 29, the day after President Obama's NM designation.  Citizens made it abundantly clear that San Juan County is not Happy about the Bears Ears National Monument.  About 300 people gathered to listen and support County and City Leaders, Local citizens, State representatives, and leaders from neighboring counties.

 Here is the link to the full press conference.

A few specific speeches for future reference.  More can be found on You tube.

Marie Holliday from Monument Valley

Lt. Governor Cox

Commissioner Phil Lyman

KSL Report of NM designation  See what Mark Maryboy, Steve Simpson, and Eva Workman think.

Bears Ears Designation: Dastardly, Deceptive, Divisive Deed

Thousands of San Juan County residents, and out of county family and friends  were in mourning after this dismal, discriminatory, and divisive designation was announced Dec. 28.  Even though the acreage in the Obama designation was reduced to 1.3 from 1.9, both this national monument and the designation in Nevada are still liberal agenda over reach. County residents united the next day at the county courthouse and responded firmly and passionately against Obama’s designation of a Bears Ears National Monument.  If you weren’t there, this is a great video of the talks, as we rallied and reinforced our support for both county and state officials who will lead the next stage of battle. https://www.facebook.com/ksltv/videos/10155208092913676/

This is how the designation reads: 

Proclamation -- Establishment of the Bears Ears National Monument

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BEARS EARS NATIONAL MONUMENT
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION

Visual history of the area:

Rising from the center of the southeastern Utah landscape and visible from every direction are twin buttes so distinctive that in each of the native languages of the region their name is the same: Hoon'Naqvut, Shash Jáa, Kwiyagatu Nukavachi, Ansh An Lashokdiwe, or "Bears Ears." For hundreds of generations, native peoples lived in the surrounding deep sandstone canyons, desert mesas, and meadow mountaintops, which constitute one of the densest and most significant cultural landscapes in the United States. Abundant rock art, ancient cliff dwellings, ceremonial sites, and countless other artifacts provide an extraordinary archaeological and cultural record that is important to us all, but most notably the land is profoundly sacred to many Native American tribes, including the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah Ouray, Hopi Nation, and Zuni Tribe.

Archaeological evidence

The area's human history is as vibrant and diverse as the ruggedly beautiful landscape. From the earliest occupation, native peoples left traces of their presence. Clovis people hunted among the cliffs and canyons of Cedar Mesa as early as 13,000 years ago, leaving behind tools and projectile points in places like the Lime Ridge Clovis Site, one of the oldest known archaeological sites in Utah. Archaeologists believe that these early people hunted mammoths, ground sloths, and other now-extinct megafauna, a narrative echoed by native creation stories. Hunters and gatherers continued to live in this region in the Archaic Period, with sites dating as far back as 8,500 years ago.

Ancestral Puebloans followed, beginning to occupy the area at least 2,500 years ago, leaving behind items from their daily life such as baskets, pottery, and weapons. These early farmers of Basketmaker II, and III and builders of Pueblo I, II and III left their marks on the land. The remains of single family dwellings, granaries, kivas, towers, and large villages and roads linking them together reveal a complex cultural history. "Moki steps," hand and toe holds carved into steep canyon walls by the Ancestral Puebloans, illustrate the early people's ingenuity and perseverance and are still used today to access dwellings along cliff walls. Other, distinct cultures have thrived here as well -- the Fremont People, Numic- and Athabaskan-speaking hunter-gatherers, and Utes and Navajos. Resources such as the Doll House Ruin in Dark Canyon Wilderness Area and the Moon House Ruin on Cedar Mesa allow visitors to marvel at artistry and architecture that have withstood thousands of seasons in this harsh climate.

The landscape is a milieu of the accessible and observable together with the inaccessible and hidden. The area's petroglyphs and pictographs capture the imagination with images dating back at least 5,000 years and spanning a range of styles and traditions. From life-size ghostlike figures that defy categorization, to the more literal depictions of bighorn sheep, birds, and lizards, these drawings enable us to feel the humanity of these ancient artists. The Indian Creek area contains spectacular rock art, including hundreds of petroglyphs at Newspaper Rock. Visitors to Bears Ears can also discover more recent rock art left by the Ute, Navajo, and Paiute peoples. It is also the less visible sites, however -- those that supported the food gathering, subsistence and ceremony of daily life -- that tell the story of the people who lived here. Historic remnants of Native American sheep-herding and farming are scattered throughout the area, and pottery and Navajo hogans record the lifeways of native peoples in the 19th and 20th centuries.

History of San Juan's People

For thousands of years, humans have occupied and stewarded this land. With respect to most of these people, their contribution to the historical record is unknown, but some have played a more public role. Famed Navajo headman K'aayélii was born around 1800 near the twin Bears Ears buttes. His band used the area's remote canyons to elude capture by the U.S. Army and avoid the fate that befell many other Navajo bands: surrender, the Long Walk, and forced relocation to Bosque Redondo. Another renowned 19th century Navajo leader, "Hastiin Ch'ihaajin" Manuelito, was also born near the Bears Ears.

The area's cultural importance to Native American tribes continues to this day. As they have for generations, these tribes and their members come here for ceremonies and to visit sacred sites. Throughout the region, many landscape features, such as Comb Ridge, the San Juan River, and Cedar Mesa, are closely tied to native stories of creation, danger, protection, and healing. The towering spires in the Valley of the Gods are sacred to the Navajo, representing ancient Navajo warriors frozen in stone. Traditions of hunting, fishing, gathering, and wood cutting are still practiced by tribal members, as is collection of medicinal and ceremonial plants, edible herbs, and materials for crafting items like baskets and footwear. The traditional ecological knowledge amassed by the Native Americans whose ancestors inhabited this region, passed down from generation to generation, offers critical insight into the historic and scientific significance of the area. Such knowledge is, itself, a resource to be protected and used in understanding and managing this landscape sustainably for generations to come.

Euro-Americans first explored the Bears Ears area during the 18th century, and Mormon settlers followed in the late 19th century. The San Juan Mission expedition traversed this rugged country in 1880 on their journey to establish a new settlement in what is now Bluff, Utah. To ease the passage of wagons over the slick rock slopes and through the canyonlands, the settlers smoothed sections of the rock surface and constructed dugways and other features still visible along their route, known as the Hole-in-the-Rock Trail. Cabins, corrals, trails, and carved inscriptions in the rock reveal the lives of ranchers, prospectors, and early archaeologists. Cattle rustlers and other outlaws created a convoluted trail network known as the Outlaw Trail, said to be used by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. These outlaws took advantage of the area's network of canyons, including the aptly-named Hideout Canyon, to avoid detection.

The area's stunning geology, from sharp pinnacles to broad mesas, labyrinthine canyons to solitary hoodoos, and verdant hanging gardens to bare stone arches and natural bridges, provides vital insights to geologists. In the east, the Abajo Mountains tower, reaching elevations of more than 11,000 feet. A long geologic history is documented in the colorful rock layers visible in the area's canyons.

Geography and Paleontology

For long periods over 300 million years ago, these lands were inundated by tropical seas and hosted thriving coral reefs. These seas infused the area's black rock shale with salts as they receded. Later, the lands were bucked upwards multiple times by the Monument Upwarp, and near-volcanoes punched up through the rock, leaving their marks on the landscape without reaching the surface. In the sandstone of Cedar Mesa, fossil evidence has revealed large, mammal-like reptiles that burrowed into the sand to survive the blistering heat of the end of the Permian Period, when the region was dominated by a seaside desert. Later, in the Late Triassic Period more than 200 million years ago, seasonal monsoons flooded an ancient river system that fed a vast desert here.

The paleontological resources in the Bears Ears area are among the richest and most significant in the United States, and protection of this area will provide important opportunities for further archaeological and paleontological study. Many sites, such as Arch Canyon, are teeming with fossils, and research conducted in the Bears Ears area is revealing new insights into the transition of vertebrate life from reptiles to mammals and from sea to land. Numerous ray-finned fish fossils from the Permian Period have been discovered, along with other late Paleozoic Era fossils, including giant amphibians, synapsid reptiles, and important plant fossils. Fossilized traces of marine and aquatic creatures such as clams, crayfish, fish, and aquatic reptiles have been found in Indian Creek's Chinle Formation, dating to the Triassic Period, and phytosaur and dinosaur fossils from the same period have been found along Comb Ridge. Paleontologists have identified new species of plant-eating crocodile-like reptiles and mass graves of lumbering sauropods, along with metoposaurus, crocodiles, and other dinosaur fossils. Fossilized trackways of early tetrapods can be seen in the Valley of the Gods and in Indian Creek, where paleontologists have also discovered exceptional examples of fossilized ferns, horsetails, and cycads. The Chinle Formation and the Wingate, Kayenta, and Navajo Formations above it provide one of the best continuous rock records of the Triassic-Jurassic transition in the world, crucial to understanding how dinosaurs dominated terrestrial ecosystems and how our mammalian ancestors evolved. In Pleistocene Epoch sediments, scientists have found traces of mammoths, short-faced bears, ground sloths, primates, and camels.

From earth to sky, the region is unsurpassed in wonders. The star-filled nights and natural quiet of the Bears Ears area transport visitors to an earlier eon. Against an absolutely black night sky, our galaxy and others more distant leap into view. As one of the most intact and least roaded areas in the contiguous United States, Bears Ears has that rare and arresting quality of deafening silence.

Ecology

Communities have depended on the resources of the region for hundreds of generations. Understanding the important role of the green highlands in providing habitat for subsistence plants and animals, as well as capturing and filtering water from passing storms, the Navajo refer to such places as "Nahodishgish," or places to be left alone. Local communities seeking to protect the mountains for their watershed values have long recognized the importance of the Bears Ears' headwaters. Wildfires, both natural and human-set, have shaped and maintained forests and grasslands of this area for millennia. Ranchers have relied on the forests and grasslands of the region for ages, and hunters come from across the globe for a chance at a bull elk or other big game. Today, ecological restoration through the careful use of wildfire and management of grazing and timber is working to restore and maintain the health of these vital watersheds and grasslands.

The diversity of the soils and microenvironments in the Bears Ears area provide habitat for a wide variety of vegetation. The highest elevations, in the Elk Ridge area of the Manti-La Sal National Forest, contain pockets of ancient Engelmann spruce, ponderosa pine, aspen, and subalpine fir. Mesa tops include pinyon-juniper woodlands along with big sagebrush, low sage, blackbrush, rabbitbrush, bitterbrush, four-wing saltbush, shadscale, winterfat, Utah serviceberry, western chokecherry, hackberry, barberry, cliff rose, and greasewood. Canyons contain diverse vegetation ranging from yucca and cacti such as prickly pear, claret cup, and Whipple's fishhook to mountain mahogany, ponderosa pine, alder, sagebrush, birch, dogwood, and Gambel's oak, along with occasional stands of aspen. Grasses and herbaceous species such as bluegrass, bluestem, giant ryegrass, ricegrass, needle and thread, yarrow, common mallow, balsamroot, low larkspur, horsetail, and peppergrass also grow here, as well as pinnate spring parsley, Navajo penstemon, Canyonlands lomatium, and the Abajo daisy.

Tucked into winding canyons are vibrant riparian communities characterized by Fremont cottonwood, western sandbar willow, yellow willow, and box elder. Numerous seeps provide year-round water and support delicate hanging gardens, moisture-loving plants, and relict species such as Douglas fir. A few populations of the rare Kachina daisy, endemic to the Colorado Plateau, hide in shaded seeps and alcoves of the area's canyons. A genetically distinct population of Kachina daisy was also found on Elk Ridge. The alcove columbine and cave primrose, also regionally endemic, grow in seeps and hanging gardens in the Bears Ears landscape. Wildflowers such as beardtongue, evening primrose, aster, Indian paintbrush, yellow and purple beeflower, straight bladderpod, Durango tumble mustard, scarlet gilia, globe mallow, sand verbena, sego lily, cliffrose, sacred datura, monkey flower, sunflower, prince's plume, hedgehog cactus, and columbine, bring bursts of color to the landscape.

The diverse vegetation and topography of the Bears Ears area, in turn, support a variety of wildlife species. Mule deer and elk range on the mesas and near canyon heads, which provide crucial habitat for both species. The Cedar Mesa landscape is home to bighorn sheep which were once abundant but still live in Indian Creek, and in the canyons north of the San Juan River. Small mammals such as desert cottontail, black-tailed jackrabbit, prairie dog, Botta's pocket gopher, white-tailed antelope squirrel, Colorado chipmunk, canyon mouse, deer mouse, pinyon mouse, and desert woodrat, as well as Utah's only population of Abert's tassel-eared squirrels, find shelter and sustenance in the landscape's canyons and uplands. Rare shrews, including a variant of Merriam's shrew and the dwarf shrew can be found in this area.

Biology

Carnivores, including badger, coyote, striped skunk, ringtail, gray fox, bobcat, and the occasional mountain lion, all hunt here, while porcupines use their sharp quills and climbing abilities to escape these predators. Oral histories from the Ute describe the historic presence of bison, antelope, and abundant bighorn sheep, which are also depicted in ancient rock art. Black bear pass through the area but are rarely seen, though they are common in the oral histories and legends of this region, including those of the Navajo.

Consistent sources of water in a dry landscape draw diverse wildlife species to the area's riparian habitats, including an array of amphibian species such as tiger salamander, red-spotted toad, Woodhouse's toad, canyon tree frog, Great Basin spadefoot, and northern leopard frog. Even the most sharp-eyed visitors probably will not catch a glimpse of the secretive Utah night lizard. Other reptiles in the area include the sagebrush lizard, eastern fence lizard, tree lizard, side-blotched lizard, plateau striped whiptail, western rattlesnake, night snake, striped whipsnake, and gopher snake.

Raptors such as the golden eagle, peregrine falcon, bald eagle, northern harrier, northern goshawk, red-tailed hawk, ferruginous hawk, American kestrel, flammulated owl, and great horned owl hunt their prey on the mesa tops with deadly speed and accuracy. The largest contiguous critical habitat for the threatened Mexican spotted owl is on the Manti-La Sal National Forest. Other bird species found in the area include Merriam's turkey, Williamson's sapsucker, common nighthawk, white-throated swift, ash-throated flycatcher, violet-green swallow, cliff swallow, mourning dove, pinyon jay, sagebrush sparrow, canyon towhee, rock wren, sage thrasher, and the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher.

As the skies darken in the evenings, visitors may catch a glimpse of some the area's at least 15 species of bats, including the big free-tailed bat, pallid bat, Townsend's big-eared bat, spotted bat, and silver-haired bat. Tinajas, rock depressions filled with rainwater, provide habitat for many specialized aquatic species, including pothole beetles and freshwater shrimp. Eucosma navajoensis, an endemic moth that has only been described near Valley of the Gods, is unique to this area.

Protection of the Bears Ears area will preserve its cultural, prehistoric, and historic legacy and maintain its diverse array of natural and scientific resources, ensuring that the prehistoric, historic, and scientific values of this area remain for the benefit of all Americans. The Bears Ears area has been proposed for protection by members of Congress, Secretaries of the Interior, State and tribal leaders, and local conservationists for at least 80 years. The area contains numerous objects of historic and of scientific interest, and it provides world class outdoor recreation opportunities, including rock climbing, hunting, hiking, backpacking, canyoneering, whitewater rafting, mountain biking, and horseback riding. Because visitors travel from near and far, these lands support a growing travel and tourism sector that is a source of economic opportunity for the region.

WHEREAS, section 320301 of title 54, United States Code (known as the "Antiquities Act"), authorizes the President, in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government to be national monuments, and to reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected; (1.3 Million acres!)

WHEREAS, it is in the public interest to preserve the objects of scientific and historic interest on the Bears Ears lands;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by section 320301 of title 54, United States Code, hereby proclaim the objects identified above that are situated upon lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government to be the Bears Ears National Monument (monument) and, for the purpose of protecting those objects, reserve as part thereof all lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government within the boundaries described on the accompanying map, which is attached to and forms a part of this proclamation. These reserved Federal lands and interests in lands encompass approximately 1.35 million acres. The boundaries described on the accompanying map are confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.

All Federal lands and interests in lands within the boundaries of the monument are hereby appropriated and withdrawn from all forms of entry, location, selection, sale, or other disposition under the public land laws or laws applicable to the U.S. Forest Service, from location, entry, and patent under the mining laws, and from disposition under all laws relating to mineral and geothermal leasing, other than by exchange that furthers the protective purposes of the monument.

The establishment of the monument is subject to valid existing rights, including valid existing water rights. If the Federal Government acquires ownership or control of any lands or interests in lands that it did not previously own or control within the boundaries described on the accompanying map, such lands and interests in lands shall be reserved as a part of the monument, and objects identified above that are situated upon those lands and interests in lands shall be part of the monument, upon acquisition of ownership or control by the Federal Government.

The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior (Secretaries) shall manage the monument through the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), pursuant to their respective applicable legal authorities, to implement the purposes of this proclamation. The USFS shall manage that portion of the monument within the boundaries of the National Forest System (NFS), and the BLM shall manage the remainder of the monument. The lands administered by the USFS shall be managed as part of the Manti-La Sal National Forest. The lands administered by the BLM shall be managed as a unit of the National Landscape Conservation System, pursuant to applicable legal authorities.

For purposes of protecting and restoring the objects identified above, the Secretaries shall jointly prepare a management plan for the monument and shall promulgate such regulations for its management as they deem appropriate. The Secretaries, through the USFS and the BLM, shall consult with other Federal land management agencies in the local area, including the National Park Service, in developing the management plan. In promulgating any management rules and regulations governing the NFS lands within the monument and developing the management plan, the Secretary of Agriculture, through the USFS, shall consult with the Secretary of the Interior through the BLM. The Secretaries shall provide for maximum public involvement in the development of that plan including, but not limited to, consultation with federally recognized tribes and State and local governments. In the development and implementation of the management plan, the Secretaries shall maximize opportunities, pursuant to applicable legal authorities, for shared resources, operational efficiency, and cooperation.

The Secretaries, through the BLM and USFS, shall establish an advisory committee under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) to provide information and advice regarding the development of the management plan and, as appropriate, management of the monument. This advisory committee shall consist of a fair and balanced representation of interested stakeholders, including State and local governments, tribes, recreational users, local business owners, and private landowners.

In recognition of the importance of tribal participation to the care and management of the objects identified above, and to ensure that management decisions affecting the monument reflect tribal expertise and traditional and historical knowledge, a Bears Ears Commission (Commission) is hereby established to provide guidance and recommendations on the development and implementation of management plans and on management of the monument. The Commission shall consist of one elected officer each from the Hopi Nation, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah Ouray, and Zuni Tribe, designated by the officers' respective tribes. The Commission may adopt such procedures as it deems necessary to govern its activities, so that it may effectively partner with the Federal agencies by making continuing contributions to inform decisions regarding the management of the monument.

The Secretaries shall meaningfully engage the Commission or, should the Commission no longer exist, the tribal governments through some other entity composed of elected tribal government officers (comparable entity), in the development of the management plan and to inform subsequent management of the monument. To that end, in developing or revising the management plan, the Secretaries shall carefully and fully consider integrating the traditional and historical knowledge and special expertise of the Commission or comparable entity. If the Secretaries decide not to incorporate specific recommendations submitted to them in writing by the Commission or comparable entity, they will provide the Commission or comparable entity with a written explanation of their reasoning. The management plan shall also set forth parameters for continued meaningful engagement with the Commission or comparable entity in implementation of the management plan.

To further the protective purposes of the monument, the Secretary of the Interior shall explore entering into a memorandum of understanding with the State that would set forth terms, pursuant to applicable laws and regulations, for an exchange of land currently owned by the State of Utah and administered by the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration within the boundary of the monument for land of approximately equal value managed by the BLM outside the boundary of the monument. The Secretary of the Interior shall report to the President by January 19, 2017, regarding the potential for such an exchange.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to interfere with the operation or maintenance, or the replacement or modification within the current authorization boundary, of existing utility, pipeline, or telecommunications facilities located within the monument in a manner consistent with the care and management of the objects identified above.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to enlarge or diminish the rights or jurisdiction of any Indian tribe. The Secretaries shall, to the maximum extent permitted by law and in consultation with Indian tribes, ensure the protection of Indian sacred sites and traditional cultural properties in the monument and provide access by members of Indian tribes for traditional cultural and customary uses, consistent with the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (42 U.S.C. 1996) and Executive Order 13007 of May 24, 1996 (Indian Sacred Sites), including collection of medicines, berries and other vegetation, forest products, and firewood for personal noncommercial use in a manner consistent with the care and management of the objects identified above.

For purposes of protecting and restoring the objects identified above, the Secretaries shall prepare a transportation plan that designates the roads and trails where motorized and non-motorized mechanized vehicle use will be allowed. Except for emergency or authorized administrative purposes, motorized and non-motorized mechanized vehicle use shall be allowed only on roads and trails designated for such use, consistent with the care and management of such objects. Any additional roads or trails designated for motorized vehicle use must be for the purposes of public safety or protection of such objects. Laws, regulations, and policies followed by USFS or BLM in issuing and administering grazing permits or leases on lands under their jurisdiction shall continue to apply with regard to the lands in the monument to ensure the ongoing consistency with the care and management of the objects identified above.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to enlarge or diminish the jurisdiction of the State of Utah, including its jurisdiction and authority with respect to fish and wildlife management. Nothing in this proclamation shall preclude low-level overflights of military aircraft, the designation of new units of special use airspace, or the use or establishment of military flight training routes over the lands reserved by this proclamation consistent with the care and management of the objects identified above.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to alter the authority or responsibility of any party with respect to emergency response activities within the monument, including wildland fire response.Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke any existing withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation; however, the monument shall be the dominant reservation.Warning is hereby given to all unauthorized persons not to appropriate, injure, destroy, or remove any feature of the monument and not to locate or settle upon any of the lands thereof.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-eighth day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand sixteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-first.

BARACK OBAMA

San Juan County reacts to Bears Ears announcement.
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