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Bears Ears
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November 29th, 2021It’s been a month and a half since President Biden’s Rose Garden ceremony where he fully restored Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments and righted one of the most grievous wrongs from the last administration. Surrounded by Native American Tribal leaders, the first Native American Secretary of the Interior, congressional and conservation stalwarts, and members of his executive team, Biden declared that protecting these monuments and their cultural sites and objects “may be the easiest thing I’ve ever done so far as President.” We couldn’t agree more!
But Utah Governor Spencer Cox and Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes felt differently. Where we see strong leadership and the vision to protect Bears Ears – a landscape Native American Tribes have called home since time immemorial – Cox and Reyes complain of an affront to rural Utahns. And where we see desperately needed action to conserve Grand Staircase-Escalante and mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis, Cox and Reyes wring their hands that this will mean less coal, oil, and gas is mined and burned at the expense of future generations.
And now Cox and Reyes are willing to put someone else’s money (Utah taxpayers’) where their mouths are.
A few weeks ago, the state of Utah announced that it was soliciting bids from law firms and lawyers to pursue a lawsuit against President Biden’s restoration of Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments. And while the announcement doesn’t exactly come out and say this, it’s clear the contract would last for years and may easily exceed $10 million dollars in fees and expenses. And why not? When it’s someone else’s money, the sky’s the limit, right?
Not so fast . . . Please help us convince Governor Cox and Attorney General Reyes this is a terrible idea that will only backfire. If you live in Utah, send them a message now via our online alert system. And if you live in or near Salt Lake City, join us for a protest at 6pm this Thursday (12/2) at the Utah State Capitol.
Rather than waste millions of taxpayer dollars on this fool’s errand (a very similar lawsuit challenging President Clinton’s establishment of Grand Staircase-Escalante was defeated by SUWA and others in 2004), Utah politicians should embrace the protection of these remarkable landscapes and recognize what huge assets they are to the state of Utah and our nation as a whole. Rather than pay private lawyers to travel first class and wine and dine at the taxpayers’ expense, those dollars should go to support stewardship, visitor education, and helping local communities benefit from the monuments.
The choice is clear: Governor Cox and Attorney General Reyes should beat their swords into ploughshares and stand with the majority of Utahns and Americans who support protecting Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments.
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November 17th, 2021Now that we’ve collectively taken a month or so to deeply breathe in full restoration of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments to their original boundaries: what comes next? We’ve invited SUWA’s Legal Director, Steve Bloch to explain the current state of things. Steve has guided SUWA’s work through legal and administrative challenges on both monuments over the years, and he’s here to bring us up to date on the process, answer your questions, and explain what you can do to reinforce protections for these outstanding places.
Take action after this episode!
Resources:
Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition Statement on Bears Ears National Monument restoration
SUWA Statement on Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument restorations
Learn more about SUWA’s stance on Bears Ears here
Learn more about SUWA’s stance on Grand Staircase-Escalante here
Highlights in the News:
KSLTV: Tribes, advocates praise Bears Ears restoration
High Country News: Bears Ears is back– but don’t celebrate just yet
Washington Post Opinion: Bears Ears is protected again. But for how long?
Deseret Opinion: It’s time to deflate the Bears Ears political football
Huffington Post: Utah Republicans Shamelessly Invoke Tribes to Condemn Bidens Monument Restorations
KUTV2: Utah AG challenging orders over Bears Ears, Grand Staircase National Monuments
Outside Magazine Op-Ed: There’s more work to do at Bears Ears
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Theme music is by Haley Noel Austin, with interlude music by Larry Pattis.
Dave Pacheco is the host of Wild Utah.
Post studio production and editing is by Laura Borichevsky.
A transcript of this episode is available here. -
October 15th, 2021Want a say in how the Forest Service manages public lands and mountain ecosystems outside of Moab?
The Manti-La Sal National Forest, which includes distinct forest units in the La Sal Mountains outside of Moab as well as the Abajo Mountains and a portion of Bears Ears National Monument in San Juan County, is revising its management plan for the first time in 35 years. Your input is vital to making sure this new plan includes smart, conservation-based management of these ecologically and culturally significant national forest lands.
The Forest Service is accepting public comments through October 25, 2021. Click here to learn more and take action now.
Abajo Mountains and the Manti-La Sal National Forest. Copyright Tim Peterson
The Manti-La Sal is an incredibly diverse and spectacular region that includes aspen groves, mountain lakes, stands of giant ponderosa pine, and rocky crags perched high above Utah’s canyon country. It’s one of the few places where you can stand in a snowy forest of pine and spruce while looking out for hundreds of miles across valleys, canyons, and redrock desert fins.
More importantly, the forest is a critical watershed of the Colorado Plateau, sustaining life in the surrounding redrock canyon county, including Bears Ears National Monument. As climate change and drought become our new reality in the West, protecting watersheds fed by mountain snowpack is more important than ever. The water, wilderness, native plants, and wildlife habitat of the Manti-La Sal need your help to survive and thrive!
SUWA has been working with partners for many years on a comprehensive “Conservation Alternative” that we believe should be fully analyzed and considered in the Forest Service’s development of the new plan.
Bears Ears National Monument / Manti-La Sal National Forest. Copyright Tim Peterson
This comment period, known as “scoping,” is the first of many steps in a long process, but it is the time when the Forest Service is most open to new information, input, and ideas for management of a healthy forest over the next several decades. This is our chance to help shape the vision of how the Manti-La Sal National Forest should be managed for preservation of its incredible values for generations to come.
Please speak up for the Manti-La Sal today and make your voice heard!
You can also submit comments directly via this Forest Service comment portal or by emailing the Manti-La Sal Forest Supervisor at mlnfplanrevision@usda.gov
Thank you!
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October 8th, 2021Did you hear the big news? President Biden just restored Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments to their original boundaries, protecting more than 2 million acres of Utah’s redrock wilderness!
At the signing ceremony at the White House, President Biden and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland reiterated the importance of protecting American wilderness in the face of climate change. And at a SUWA watch party in Salt Lake City, SUWA board member Mark Maryboy recalled the history of advocating for and establishing Bears Ears National Monument. “I feel very fortunate that we stand shoulder to shoulder in protecting the land,” he said to the activists who gathered in support of monuments restoration.
Protecting large landscapes like Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears is essential to mitigating the impacts of climate change and protecting wildlife. And President Biden’s restoration of Bears Ears National Monument gives Tribes a critical and long-overdue voice in the management of public lands.
You made this incredible win for the redrock possible.To demonstrate our collective support for this action by President Biden and Interior Secretary Haaland, we’re sending them a massive thank-you card and are giving you the opportunity to sign it!
Click here to add your name to the thank-you card!
Many Americans know about the lawsuits that the Tribes, SUWA, our conservation partners, and other organizations immediately filed to overturn President Trump’s unlawful executive order shrinking the monuments in 2017, but redrock advocates like you know the day-to-day work that went into safeguarding the lands cut out of these monuments and keeping them eligible for today’s restoration.
Monument supporters rallying at the Utah State Capitol in 2017. Copyright Ray Bloxham/SUWA
The truth is that these landscapes should have never been left unprotected in the first place. For decades Utah leaders have been all too keen to kick around our precious desert wild lands just to score a few political points. But SUWA has been here fighting back all along, and every year our movement grows stronger thanks to supporters like you.
Thank you for all you do to keep Utah wild!
P.S. If you’re a SUWA member, please stay tuned for an email invitation to our special members-only virtual celebration of this monumental win for the redrock!
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October 8th, 2021“President Biden’s restoration of Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments will be hailed by generations for protecting some of the nation’s wildest and most culturally significant public lands. It’s hard to describe the relief and joy our members are feeling right now knowing these places and their irreplaceable objects are on the path to healing after years of deliberate mismanagement and neglect under the prior administration. We’re grateful to President Biden and Interior Secretary Haaland for their leadership in making these places whole.”
Scott Groene, Executive Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
Photos: Jack Dykinga; Todd Abbotts
