January 28, 2026 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe Endorses America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act – 1.28.26

Fourth Tribal Endorsement of Federal Legislation

Contacts:
Grant Stevens, Communications Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (319) 427-0260; grant@suwa.org

Tuba City, AZ – The San Juan Southern Paiute Tribal Council, the governing body of the Tribe, voted on October 21, 2025, to support America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act (ARRWA). The resolution endorses congressional wilderness designation for lands within the Act, which would protect more than 8 million acres of federal public lands in Utah. This is the fourth tribal endorsement of ARRWA, following endorsements by the Zuni Tribe (2024), Hopi Tribe (2023), and Navajo Nation (2021).

“The canyons, mesas, and mountains included in America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act are the ancestral homelands of the San Juan Southern Paiute people and comprise one of the most significant cultural landscapes in the United States,” said San Juan Southern Paiute President Carlene Yellowhair. “These aboriginal lands contain the testimony of Ancestral San Juan Southern Paiute occupation and use for thousands of years, and we are honored to support this longstanding effort to permanently protect the region’s irreplaceable cultural resources, sacred sites, and critical plant and animal species.”

ARRWA would add more than 8 million acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) public lands in Utah to the National Wilderness Preservation System; this includes remarkable places like the Book Cliffs, the Dirty Devil, and parts of Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments. As the ancestral home of many Native American tribes, the region contains abundant and significant cultural resources.

This spectacular landscape is a key component of what scientists say is urgently needed today: wild lands set aside to exist in their natural state to protect ecosystems and prevent catastrophic climate change. Protecting it would also keep climate-disrupting fossil fuels in the ground and provide a vital corridor for the movement and adaptation of western wildlife species.

“We greatly appreciate the San Juan Southern Paiute endorsement of America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act and their leadership to protect public lands in southern Utah,” said SUWA Executive Director Scott Braden. “We look forward to the day when these lands – which contain cultural sites sacred to the San Juan Southern Paiute and many other Tribal nations – are protected for current and future generations.”

ARRWA has been introduced in the US House of Representatives since 1989 and the Senate since 1997. The current sponsors are Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Representative Melanie Stansbury (D-NM-01); the bill has 18 cosponsors in the Senate and 59 in the House. The bill is supported by SUWA, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and more than 200 other organizations belonging to the Utah Wilderness Coalition.

“I am proud to sponsor legislation protecting some of America’s most iconic landscapes, America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act,” said Rep. Melanie Stansbury (NM-01). “Protecting these incredible landscapes will help fulfill our trust and treaty obligations to Tribes, fight climate change, and protect our precious Colorado River and its tributaries. This wilderness designation will protect one of the most beautiful places in America, while supporting local communities and economies, for generations to come. I am grateful for the endorsement of my bill by the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribal Council.”

“We must protect our nation’s remaining wild places and reaffirm our commitment to the preservation of our national heritage,” said Senator Dick Durbin.  “With America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, we can protect public lands from the danger of development encroachment and preserve the natural condition of these lands for current and future generations of Americans to enjoy. I appreciate the endorsement of the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribal Council.”

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The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is a nonprofit organization with members and supporters from around the country dedicated to protecting America’s redrock wilderness. From offices in Moab, Salt Lake City, and Washington, DC, our team of professionals defends the redrock, organizes support for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, and stewards s world-renowned landscape. Learn more at www.suwa.org.