Bluff proposing to Incorporate --Three times the size of Blanding

"The size of Bluff's service area is proposed to be approximately 38 square miles and takes in the Bluff Bench. It runs from Recapture to Comb Ridge. In comparison, Blanding has 2.4 square miles of build-able area and another 8 square miles of open space for a total of approximately 11 square miles. Anyone know any legitimate reason Bluff needs the property on the Bluff bench and such a wide expanse of "city" space?  

http://www.sjrnews.com/view/full_story/27364775/article-Bluff-collecting-signatures-for-incorporation-process?instance=home_news_left

Suit Against Editor of Canyon Zephyr Jim Stiles Dismissed

Stewards of San Juan representatives supported Jim Stiles and his wife yesterday at court in Moab. He was accused of defaming the former Moab City Manager. We were relieved when the suit was dismissed by Judge Anderson. Jim has been a huge help to us via his articles in the Canyon Zephyr regarding Bears Ears and its future.  Here are some of the articles in the newest issue: 

Bears Ears Post Mortem

The Unspoken Bears Ears Goal: Creating an Urban New West

Shakey Ground for Journalists and Freedom of the Press: But is Anything New?

Cottonwood Uranium Mining: Archaeology Related to Hogans and Sweat Houses

By Janet Wilcox

Last Monday Feb.6, myself, along with 25 other Stewards of San Juan staged a quiet protest at the U of U Dine Bekaya Celebration of the Bears Ears National Monument.  We respectfully listened to all the talks, even the ones we didn’t agree with.  Even though I have often been at odds with Willie Greyeyes, his insights on healing were valuable.  He recommended daily prayer and being in tune with your maker.  He stressed the value of open country and sacred places for spiritual healing and the need to live in harmony.  That message speaks to me, as I also believe in daily prayer and find peace in sacred places both indoors and out.

By and large, most people living in rural America identify with those concepts. However, as I watched mobocracy in action at the Jason Chaffetz Town Hall meeting three days later, I thought how ironic it was that Willie’s message was lost on these folks, many of whom claim to support his cause. Harmony was the furthest thing from their minds, instead they choose to be disrespectful.  Their clamor and shouts only fueled their narrow  ideology with more propaganda and hate. 

Because of those experiences, I feel compelled to dispel some misconceptions that have appeared on Pro-Bears Ears Monument web sites and in articles.  One is the notion that mining is evil, and that Navajos consider it a desecration of the land, and secondly, the assumption that hogans and sweat lodges in the Bears Ears Monument were built hundreds of years ago. That is not the case, ironically, SUWA, Friends of Cedar Mesa and other Pro-monument web sites have used photos of hogans and sweat houses built by Navajo uranium miners less than 80 years ago. There-in lies the double rub.

Fossil fuels have provided jobs for many years in San Juan County for Anglos and Native Americans alike.  Such resources from Mother Earth also provide jobs for Navajos at the Page Power plant, which requires coal. Navajos in Arizona are worried about losing their jobs and don’t want the Power plant to close.  Yet one of the best sources of for clean burning coal was locked up by Bill Clinton’s National Monument at Grand Staircase Escalante 20 years ago.  This also rubs the wrong way.

Rather than viewing mining as a desecration of the earth, consider that ores and fossil fuels are instead a gift to those who live nearby. Some states were blessed with timber and large lakes with fish, others rolling farmland, some gold and silver mines, and we were given uranium and oil. A variety of natural resources throughout the United States have been considered a blessing for over 200 years. Now it seems to be an albatross to be avoided at all costs.  As we become indebted to foreign powers, public lands appear to have “collateral” written all over them, under the guise of National Monuments.

With modern scientific breakthroughs businesses now can more wisely extract those resources, using less invasive strategies.  Mother Earth has always been generous, and ironically, she has proven victorious even when damaged by floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanoes, mining, fires, or paint balls in the desert.  Unlike humans she has the power to revitalize, repair, and comeback better than before.  She is the Comeback Queen, and will continue to befuddle those who claim otherwise. Cottonwood mining area in San Juan County of evidence of such a comeback.

Blue Mountain Shadows, has been publishing the history and culture of the Four Corners area since 1986.  This Blanding based regional magazine has published four issues related to uranium mining plus a small collection about oil drilling in Mexican Hat.  In addition, Doris Vallee’s history in “Looking Back Around the Hat” also contains historical information related to drilling.

According to Darroll F. Young’s article in the 1995 issue of Blue Mountain Shadows, the idea of uranium was first introduced to SE Utah, 98 years ago, when two men from Moab came upon his father who was working on the state road crew in 1919.  The men were prospecting for uranium to be sent to Paris, France to Madam Curie, who made the discovery of radium.  At that time uranium was not considered of any great value.  It was over 20 years before its value became known and jobs came to San Juan.

Times were tough in those days of the Great Depression and San Juan County men -- Navajo and Anglo alike, were happy for any work they could get.  A daily wage was only $4 prior to 1939, but it soon raised to $15 or more a day. This also improved wages in the agriculture community and a glimmer of prosperity began to grow. Soon new roads were constructed.  More businesses were established, and motels, equipment, and trucking businesses were added.  Job opportunities grew and home construction expanded.  

Young emphasized, however,  that the “greatest influence of the uranium industry was demonstrated by the transformation that took place in the schools” of San Juan County. Prior to this, Navajo and Ute students were usually sent to boarding schools by the Federal Government.  As roads improved, one-room schools were eliminated and bus routes expanded. A new hospital was built, recreation facilities added. The positive effects of uranium mining touched every facet of life by the 1950’s.  As important as economics was to our nation and to the State of Utah, most of the work of extraction and refining was carried out before health and environmental costs were understood. But that is another story to be discussed at a future time. 

Fast forward 50 years to the other side of the Mr. Young’s Uranium story:  In 1999 Blue Mountain Shadows was asked to conduct oral interviews of uranium miners who had worked in the Cottonwood area.  These histories were part of the Cottonwood Reclamation project which involved over a dozen government agencies in the initial surveys and planning. It was funded by the Utah Division of Gas, Oil, and Mining, in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, Manti-La Sal Nat’l Forest, and the San Juan Historical Commission.

 Archaeologist, Kathy Huppe was the Cultural Resources Coordinator who worked with Blue Mountain Shadows. From those interviews, three magazines were published 2001-2002. These provided both history and insight as to what life was like for both Anglo and Navajo miners as well as other aspects of uranium mining.  

Donald C. Irwin, the archaeologist who conducted the Cottonwood cultural resource

inventory for the project, recalled his first trip to Cottonwood Wash and drove past the imposing mound known as Cottonwood Falls great house.  “I drove further up the canyon and to my amazement, I learned what any citizen of Blanding, or thereabouts knows, you can’t turn around or spit in this country without finding another archaeological site. Everywhere I stopped, I saw the telltale flakes of stone and broken pottery.”

Therein lies both the beauty and the burden of San Juan County: What and how much can actually be protected?  

In issue #27 of BMS, several articles discuss the Navajo miners who worked in Cottonwood, as well as in other locations in San Juan county.  Cleal Bradford tells of his father Vet Bradford who, after completing the tunnel on Blue Mountain, [which brought water to the south side of Blue Mountain] put his skills to work as a miner, supervising a group of Blanding men.  But it was WWII, and as more and more men were called into the Army, Bradford began recruiting men from the Bluff and Montezuma Canyon areas. 

Some of these hardworking Navajo men included Tom Beletso, Old Maryboy and his sons Slim John and John Bill.  David Yanito, his father Addison and brother Richard Yanito were also miners.  John Billy Atcitty, Harvey John Atcitty, John Bill Atcitty and their uncle Sam Long John. Later Kee Mustache and Harvey John were added to the crew. There was a lot of hard work involved in mining, mucking out, and hauling rock. But these men wanted jobs and were willing to work hard. The Navajos working in Cottonwood, had their own vehicles, but most of them would stay at Cottonwood year-round. It was for that reason that it was worth the effort for them to build hogans and sweat houses.  It was part of their culture and the reason why remnants exist at these mining areas.

Huppe documented many of these structures: a hogan and a sweat house at the Laura Mine in Upper Cottonwood, as well as another sweat lodge above the original Cottonwood Mill location on the flats to the north.  They were not built by “ancient ancestors”, but by Navajo Uranium Miners. They like other men went where the jobs were. Hundreds of other Native Americans were employed at other sites scattered throughout the Four Corners area.  During the summer months, there was a large Navajo population at the Cottonwood camp, with wives and children.  During the school year, their children went to boarding schools in Shiprock.

  

Bradford stated, “The thing I appreciated while working with these Navajo men at the mine, was the fact they were a pleasant group, were hard workers, and made sure they earned their days wages. . . I had worked with other men before and since, who come to work grouchy, and leave grouchy.  But that wasn’t the case with the Navajo miners.”

“Harry Dutchie, a Ute, also worked with the Bradford crew, but he rode back and forth from Westwater with the Blanding men, but was accepted well by the Navajos.  Other mining operations also employed Navajo miners.  Robert Nat’s father worked for a Colorado operation, as did Ben Yanito and Dan Benally.”

Though conditions at the mining camp seem primitive compared with the conveniences of modern life, the jobs and regular pay provided both Anglos and Native Americans an improved lifestyle. San Juan County was finally able to build top of the line school buildings, as well as roads to transport students and they offered teachers the best salaries in the state at one time; however, times have changed with increased federal regulations and a monument designation which proffers more controls and less multiple use of public lands. 

 These historic hogans and sweat houses, however, stand as witnesses that people who work together, productively using what the earth provides, can find harmony and prosperity, even in remote San Juan.  

(Past issues of Blue Mountain Shadows can be purchased by contacting  Donna Blake bluemtshadows@gmail.com
 $12 each.)

A Monument to ‘Presidential Vanity?’ It’s Time to Rescind Bears Ears

"Earlier this month, Governor Herbert signed a resolution, approved by the state’s legislature, calling on President Trump to rescind the Bears Ears designation. Utah has long fought against Washington’s public-land policies, and in recent years has even called on the federal government to transfer most of its lands in Utah to the state. (In total, the federal government controls nearly two-thirds of the land in Utah.) The latest salvo in that battle centers on the Antiquities Act, whereby with the stroke of a pen, the president can bypass all of those pesky details of conventional lawmaking — the coalition-building, the endless compromises — and impose an unwanted preservationist agenda on far-away western communities, leaving them to deal with the consequences. It’s a tool that Obama was especially fond of; he designated more national monuments than any other president."

Read full article by Shawn Regan

Bear Essentials Feb. 12-19, 2017

 Bear Essentials   February 12-18 

What we did last Monday Feb. 6 

(All blue underlined items are hyperlinks which will take you directly to articles.)

This past week included a marathon trip to Salt Lake with Stewards of San Juan.  In the process, we had lunch with Senator Jim Dabakis.  Well, actually he was directly across the capitol cafeteria but I did talk to his camera crew, while he was flaying his arms animatedly talking to Bill Allred.  I’d never posted on his Facebook page before, but it is quite an experience.  He is probably the most outspoken critic of our State Republican Leaders. We encourage all of you to be brave enough to write to those you disagree with, as well as give support to your state leaders who are being attacked. We also staged a respectful protest at the Dine Bekaya “Celebration” at the U of U that evening.                

We encourage you write to President Trump.  He needs our support and needs to know the causes we support and encouragement to rescind the Bears Ears Monument. 

There were several from our No Monument group who commented on the Dabakis FB page:  Feb. 7.  Here are their comments:

--By Joy Howell: “It's so sad that the majority who live in cities don't comprehend the fact that everything that sustains the city life is produced outside of their little bubble...it all comes from the ground. From food, to wood, paper, glass, wiring, medicine, concrete, steel, plastic, oil, fuel...all of it. Those of us who actually live in the area have worked hard to protect our beautiful and soul sustaining places...we find it offensive (since that's a word everyone seems to understand) to know that we have become the so-called enemy of the world! Why? Tourism is great! I'm in the hospitality industry and appreciate the guests...but, I also like to offer amenities and electricity. We know that there's more to this push than the media, the big money and certain other proponents of socialism say.  We live it, we know the truth. And we will continue to fight for our Constitutional Republic...which protects ALL of us. There's no longer a way around it...no more loopholes, no more lies. No more 'mob rule' that denies inalienable rights. No more.

--By Kelly Mike Green: Tourism brings in money but does not sustain families. Seasonal work. Low pay. Not enough money to afford a mortgage. No discretionary money to raise your standard of living, The opposite of extraction jobs and that is a fact,

  Legislation in the Works

--H.R. 622, Local Enforcement for Local Lands Act,  removes the law enforcement function from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service. Instead, the bill calls for deputizing local law enforcement, combined with block grant funding, to empower existing duly elected law enforcement offices to carry out these responsibilities. The bill, jointly sponsored by Utah’s Rep. Mia Love and Rep. Chris Stewart, also establishes a formula to reimburse local law enforcement based on the percentage of public land in each state.  

--Lest We Forget:

James Redd, the man bullied to death by the BLM

Hopefully HR 622 listed above will prevent future tragedies from happening.

--Why we must continue to be pro-active by writing, phoning, & talking to others:

Reactions to legislative efforts from Western States have been extreme and angry; thus citizens who care about public land and the disparity that exists between East and West need to stay involved.  Comment on news articles, encourage friends to contact Congressmen in other states, write articles. Attend Stewards of San Juan Meetings  Wed. 7 PM Arts and Events Center.

 Good News Bears

Idaho Statemen article debunked Headwaters Economics survey:

 “The Headwaters Institute study (which is often quoted by Pro Monument Web sites). . .did not examine federal lands’ actual effect today. The study looked only at gross income, assuming that one dollar is the same, whether it is wages, profit from a farm or small business, or a dollar of welfare payments. . .

The only significant effect federal lands have on rural income is an increase of per capita investment income, concentrated in elite counties located near areas of federally protected parklands, such as Sun Valley, Jackson (Wyoming), Park City (Utah), and Aspen. Investment income includes dividends and interest, private pension payments, and rents.

Individuals who have earned their wealth elsewhere bring it to the elite locations when they move or retire near parks paid for by the public. The individuals who move often enjoy lower tax rates on their passive income. The locals who benefit are those who sell or rent real estate — there is no matching, positive effect on local wages.”

-- Trump can reverse egregious Antiquities Acts edicts by doing 2 simple things

--If I Were Chief of the Forest Service by Lyle Laverty

 --Videos Worth Watching

1)   Video: 2-6-17: Senator Mike Lee sticking his neck out for SJC & Utah.

2)   The Nature of Sustainable Development – Environmental catchword

--Bad News Bears

----Opinion: Trump Obama’s Illegal, Job-Killing Monuments

Quote from article above:   “Clinton who among his many Antiquities Act edicts, closed one of the world’s best low-sulfur coal deposits—its mining will create 1,000 local jobs and generate $20 million annually—with the Escalante-Grand Staircase National Monument. So passionate was Utah’s opposition to the monument that Clinton deceived political leaders—but not Robert Redford—about his plan until he announced it at Arizona’s Grand Canyon. Today, Garfield County is a self-declared “economic disaster” area.”

--The Bundy Paradigm: Will You Be a Rebel, Revolutionary or a Slave?  Though written over two years ago, this is still relevant today, as we consider the plight of this ranching family and the role of the BLM. 

 --Dan Love, a Cruel and Unusual History by Majorie Haun

Dan Love, the Bureau of Land Management agent now under investigation by the agency’s own Inspector General’s office for egregious ethics violations related to the 2016 Burning Man festival in Nevada, has a history of cruel and ruthless behavior which predates the current uproar over his thuggish tactics. Prior to Love’s involvement in the failed raid on the Bundy Ranch in April of 2014, he lead the 2009 federal antiquities sting, ‘Operation Cerberus Action’ in southeastern Utah. This sting, which took several years and climaxed with federal raids by hundreds of armed BLM and FBI officers on dozens of homes, also lead to the deaths of 4 men involved in the case.  

         

--Why should Ordinary Americans care about what happened to LeVoy Finicum?

--North Dakota Acts to Tighten Rioting Laws

“Protestors against the Dakota Access Pipeline set fire to construction vehicles and piles of tires in a series of violent riots last fall. The protests repeatedly became violent, and cost North Dakota tens of millions in law enforcement costs. Protestors also left a mountain of garbage in their wake that now threatens to contaminate the Cannonball and Missouri Rivers when spring flooding begins.” 

…And most of All, Pray Daily, Remembering God Is On the Side of Truth and Agency

Federal agencies not held to accountable for environmental destruction, wildfires

By Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food.

My theme shall remain in 2017: We have to turn the tide of the federal government and return it to being a government of, by and for the people. As of Jan. 20, we have new leadership but we cannot sit back and expect these things to correct themselves. A government who holds its citizens criminally responsible for errors it makes on a much grander scale should not be considered part of a free society. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. It seems like a few ganders should be in hot water about now.

Read full story. 

Stewards of San Juan Organize

Dec. 2016

Those who helped at the December 2016 event: Wendy Black, Suzette Morris, Jami Bayles and their
children.  Janet Wilcox also helped. 

Though nearly 1500 passionate San Juan County citizens had been actively engaged in the Bears Ears Public Lands battle since June of 2016, the group never really had an official name, nor elected officers or leaders.  They communicated via a private Facebook page. Anyone who had a "great" idea just bounced off ideas in the group and moved ahead independently. Since there was no money generated by the group at that time, everyone volunteered both time and resources to the idea they hoped would help the cause of defending State's Right and Rescinding the Bears Ears Monument.
 In December some of the group determined to participate in annual Festival of Trees. There they sold shirts, decals, and disseminated information. This helped to generate a money for mailing expenses primarily and for dissemination of information.  The booth is pictured above and it was set up for both days of the event.  We took turns manning it.  

It was at this time when needed a banner, that we came up with Stewards of San Juan as an identifying name.  We also used an existing logo designed by Mark Bradford on the banner, which showed so many of the unique and special places in San Juan County.

The next year, Feb 2017, the group finally organized.  By now there were nearly 2000 people involved in the FB group.  Officers were elected and again they used Stewards of San Juan for their logo and official name. Voted in as president was Jami Bayles, Vice Presidents: Ryan Benally, and Suzette Morris, Secretary-Eva Clarke Workman, and Treasurer-Wendy Black.  Publicity and newsletter were handled by Janet Wilcox.  

Bear Essentials February 5, 2017

  Bear Essentials February 5-12, 2017

--Twitter? Anyone who is engaged in the battle and uses twitter, please use your skills and know how to educate the New Sec. Of Interior Ryan Zinke.  He can be a real ally and needs to be treated and tweeted well. https://twitter.com/hashtag/bearsears?src=rela

--Our State Representatives were Great Spokesmen for rural Utah.  See the Utah House of Representatives in Action.

1-    House Concurrent Resolution 11 Representative/ Speaker of the House Greg Hughes discusses Concerns about Bears Ears, and the need to repeal the designation.

2-    House Concurrent Resolution 12  Representative Mike Noel explains problems because of Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.

--ARRA Newsletter: National Monuments

It looks like the Utah congressional delegation is not about to leave unchallenged former President Obama’s decision to create the Bears Ears National Monument.  Various members of the delegation have spoken personally to President Trump and to Secretary-designate Zinke about the need to overturn this declaration.  Although there are some legal questions as to whether a president can rescind a monument designation of a former president, there is precedent for adjusting the boundaries of National Monuments.  Secretary-designate Zinke has promised that one of the first orders of business as Secretary will be to go to Utah and talk directly to the people affected by this particular monument designation.  Perhaps some sort of change for Bears Ears National Monument is more than just a pipedream.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has removed National Monument designations from the jurisdiction of its National Parks Subcommittee and made it a subject matter for the full committee.  Some might consider this move as a minor matter, but we see it as something more. Chairman Lisa Murkowski‘s(R-Alaska) decision to kick this issue to the full committee is one way to streamline the process for rewriting of the Antiquities Act.  We see this as a hopeful sign.

--Fox News Reports on House Hearing Feb. 3,

---More States Protest: BLM Regulations Targeted by Wyoming

“Under the Obama Administration, lands in Wyoming and all across the west were the target of aggressive federal regulations that were devastating to our jobs, our land, and our way of life,” said U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney in a statement Monday.”

 Bad News Bears

--News related to one of the real Bad News Bears: (Dan Love)

--“The agent also is accused of bragging that he “owned” the national director of BLM’s Office of Law Enforcement and Security and that nothing would happen to him.

According to the report, Love told the woman she better do damage control after the investigation began in 2015. Once he was removed from his position, she said he told her: “You know, if you don’t side with me, grenades are going to go off and you’ll get hit.”

--Original Deseret News Article regarding Agent Love

--Welfare Recreation and Subsidized Public Lands by Kelly Green, Moab      

--EPA employees using encrypted messaging to skirt open records laws?

Good News Bears – give Phil a Bear Hug!

--Letter to Zinke: Bears Ears is a special interest ‘scheme,’ not the will of the people  by County Commissioner Phil Lyman

“As the details emerge of the new Monument, it is clear that scheming special interest groups have been crafting the details of this Monument for years. These special interest groups, who derided the County Commissioners over their concerns about such basic things as roads, hunting, and wood gathering, are now feverishly filing law suits and gathering petitions to coerce the BLM into closing roads, limiting access, and keeping people away from this area.

I have learned since becoming an elected County Commissioner that schemers are always ten steps ahead of people of good will. Those of us who love this place enough to sacrifice for it, to care for it, to call it home; those for whom this land is not a playground but our very soul, we are troubled by decisions made in Washington D.C. without the benefit of knowledge but rather the misinformation of maligning, accusing, agenda-driven organizations who have found a welcome mat at the White House for the past twenty-eight years. Buying influence and, with mob rule, circumventing the representative form of government that is the foundation of this Republic, these groups have bullied their way into becoming a quasi-administration.”  Quotes from Commissioner Lyman 

Bearing Bad Omens

--THE UNSPOKEN BEARS EARS GOAL–CREATING AN URBANIZED NEW WEST (“BEHIND ENEMY LINES”)…By Jim Stiles

“There is an irony in all this. “New Westerners” rail against the “redneck” mentality that used to govern the rural west before we came along to save it. But at the same time, many also long for the West the way it was 50 years ago, when the ‘rednecks’ were running the show.

New Westerners come to live here as permanent tourists. They’ve come to be closer to the beauty they have admired for so long and rail against those who extract natural resources from it. But at the same time, they have no problem consuming those resources. They oppose oil/gas production but heat their new homes and power their hybrid SUVs and urge many more of their stripe to join them. They condemn timber extraction but build new 4000 square foot McMansions in the arid deserts and forests of the West. They oppose new dams and water pipelines but xeriscape their lawns and think that makes them good conservationists. And then they condemn the old timers for not being progressive enough.

As the West becomes less of what it was, what really made the difference?

Us, en masse. Millions of us. We came here to save The West and subsequently ruined it with our sheer numbers and our desire to bring our urban habits with us. I doubt you could get a double-decaf, skinny cappuccino 40 years ago, but who’d be willing to trade it for some real peace and quiet? In today’s rush to be part of The New West, I’m not sure anybody cares.” Conclusion by Jim.  Be sure to read the rest and be forewarned.

=========

This is why county residents must confront the lies being generated, and the fear mongering.  We need to be engaged in this cause and continue to speak up.  Our next arena is Washington DC where Utah’s Resolutions will be presented.  Find kindred friends in other states who can speak to their representatives and senators in support of these bills.  Thank you for all you have done, and will do.  JW