Utah Dine Bikeyah Board Chairman Willie Grayeyes, left, and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe council member Malcolm Lehi ride horses at Bears Ears in Utah. Photo from UDB / Facebook
Citing support from tribes, environmentalists and the public, the largest newspaper in Utah calls on President Barack Obama to create the Bears Ears National Monument:
Just about everyone who spoke at Wednesday's meeting of the Utah Commission for the Stewardship of Public Lands was arguing for President Obama to order the creation of a 1.9 million acre Bears Ears National Monument in southeast Utah. So that is exactly what Obama should do. Most of the support for the monument proposal came from the overflow audience, which included regular citizens, environmental activists and, most importantly, representatives of Utah Dine Bikeyah and the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition which is comprised of five tribes including the Hopi, Zuni, Ute Mountain Ute, Uinta-Ouray Ute and the Navajo Nation. Most of the opposition came from the members of the misnamed commission. But the attitude of commission members who so fiercely stand against the idea was so dismissive, uninformed and short-sighted that they were actually, if inadvertently, making the case for Obama to unsheath the federal Antiquities Act and make a specific preservation plan for the area that is sacred to so many Native Americans, individually and as members of a collection of nations.Get the Story:
Editorial: Obama should create a Bears Ears National Monument (The Salt Lake Tribune 4/24) Also Today:
Lawmakers say tribal support for Bears Ears monument is a ‘charade’ (The Salt Lake Tribune 4/21)
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