Dear Health and Well-Being Professional –

We are writing to invite you to join with other Utah health and well-being professionals in asking President Obama to proclaim a 1.9 million acre Bears Ears National Monument.

More specifically, we invite you to add your name to the letter below.  Anyone working in a health-related field is welcome to sign on – doctors, nurses, health aides and technicians, mental health workers, “alternative” health and well-being practitioners, body workers and healers of all kinds.

To join the letter: email you name, professional title or descriptor, and town and state of residence to terri@suwa.org

Please act immediately!  We hope to finalize the letter as soon as possible!

The Bears Ears proposal represents an unprecedented coming together of the Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes for a common vision.  The 1.9 million acre Bears Ears area is not only the ancestral homelands of the tribes, but also a living cultural landscape used for ceremony, subsistence and sacred ritual.  Western archaeologists call it the most significant unprotected archaeological region in the United States with over 100,000 sites, including ancient villages, cliff dwellings and rock art.  The Bears Ears area is also a landscape of extraordinary scenic beauty, rich wildlife habitat, wild lands and outstanding recreational opportunities. These special values, however, remain seriously under threat from looting, vandalism, irresponsible off-road vehicle use and misplaced mining and energy development.

This is a terrific opportunity to lend your voice in support of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition’s proposed Bears Ears National Monument. 

Please feel free to extend this invitation to other people you know in the health and well-being field!

We hope you join this important letter!

Garon Coriz MD
Santo Domingo Tribe

 

HERE IS THE LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA:

Dear President Obama –

We are writing to encourage you to proclaim a 1.9 million acre Bears Ears National Monument with meaningful co-management authority for the Native American Tribes who claim this area as their ancestral homelands.

The Tribes say that creating a Bears Ears National Monument will bring healing – for the land, for our shared history, for people everywhere.

As people who work in the fields of health and well-being, we agree, and we believe the benefits will be multiple and widespread.

First of all, there are the very real psychological benefits from taking an action that addresses the traumatic historical disenfranchisement of Native Americans.  This kind of healing is fundamental to the well-being of all Americans and our ability to live and work together in community.  In addition, a growing body of research shows that time spent in the kind of undisturbed natural settings offered by the Bears Ears area fosters emotional health in general, decreasing anxiety, reducing physiological response to stress, and dramatically enhancing concentration, creativity and problem-solving skills.  A Bears Ears national monument would also offer a healing sanctuary for people who have suffered trauma or emotional challenge, such as our veterans and challenged youth.

Protecting a 1.9 million acre Bears Ear monument is also important for our environmental health.  Scientists tell us that protecting large landscape scale areas in their natural state is essential to addressing global warming and mitigating the impacts of climate change.  In addition, large natural areas protect reservoirs of clean air and water, providing significant health benefits that reach far beyond their borders.

Finally, the superlative recreational opportunities offered by the Bears Ears area – such as hiking, rafting, biking, climbing – provide very real inspiration for people to discover the joy of being physically active.  Americans’ increasingly sedentary lifestyles are a serious public health issue, contributing to rising levels of heart disease, obesity, and diabetes and their associated financial costs.  Motivating people to get outside and be active is critical to our public health.

A 1.9 million acre Bears Ears national monument is warranted to protect the area’s extraordinary and irreplaceable ancient artifacts, as well as to preserve a living cultural landscape of exquisite beauty.   Protecting the area would also generate significant benefits for the emotional, environmental and physical health and well-being of all Americans.  We hope you will act soon to protect Bears Ears.