"We will continue to work together to fight against any reduction in size of Bears Ears,” Vice President Jonathan Nez said in a press release. “This land protected our Navajo ancestors from the incursion of property theft and forced removal by the Spaniards and Americans. We must protect these lands that shielded our tribes.” NARF and Navajo leaders also note that H.R.3990, with its provisions affecting already declared monuments, essentially acknowledges what they have been saying all along. President Donald Trump cannot unilaterally change the boundaries of Bears Ears just because he doesn't like them, they argue. But that hasn't stopped Trump and his administration from asserting the authority to do just that. After visiting Bears Ears in May, Secretary Ryan Zinke of the Department of the Interior recommended a reduction in its boundaries in a memo that he refused to release to tribes or the public. “I talked to the tribes," Zinke insisted during a meeting of the National Congress of American Indians in June. “I talked to the tribes before, I talked to the tribes after. I called all the tribes." At the same time, Zinke acknowledged limits in the executive branch's powers when it comes to monuments. He plans to ask Congress to authorize tribal co-management at Bears Ears because, he said, the "president doesn't have the authorization to do that.”
Secretary Ryan Zinke discusses his recommendation to revise the Bears Ears National Monument at the National Congress of American Indians midyear conference in Connecticut. He is asking Congress to authorize tribal co-management of a portion of the monument in Utah, claiming neither the Department of the Interior nor President Donald Trump have the power to do that. Session held at Mohegan Sun on the Mohegan Reservation. June 13, 2017. #NCAIMY17
Posted by Indianz.Com on Tuesday, June 13, 2017
Zinke repeated the assertion in his previously-secret monuments memo, copies of which were leaked to the media. Five months after the visit to Utah, Interior has yet to advance any legislative proposals to address tribal co-management or to initiate government-to-government talks on the issue. "The Administration’s position is unknown at this time," Republican staff wrote in a markup memorandum on H.R.3990. Bear Ears covers 1.9 million acres in southeastern Utah. The monument includes ancestral villages, burial grounds and sacred sites and areas used by tribes for gathering and hunting. A diverse coalition of tribes, known as the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, supported the monument, which also enjoys widespread support throughout Indian Country. It was among the last to be declared by former president Barack Obama before he left office in January. Bears Ears isn't the only monument on the chopping block. Zinke wants Trump to change the boundaries of the Gold Butte National Monument in Nevada even though the recent designation is supported by Paiute tribes in the state. A similar recommendation was made for Grand Staircase-Escalante, whose designation in 1996 protected ancestral villages, burial grounds and sacred sites in Utah. In hopes of finding out more about Zinke's thought process, Democrats introduced H.Res.555 to require Interior to hand over documents connected to the review of certain national monuments. The measure was defeated at the markup on Wednesday after all Republicans, who hold the majority of seats on the House Committee on Natural Resources, opposed it. Democrats opposed H.R.3990, the CAP Act, but it easily cleared the committee thanks to Republican support. House Committee on Natural Resources Notice:
Full Committee Markup on Antiquities Act Reform (Wednesday October 11, 2017)
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