A headline in the Salt Lake Tribune caught our eye this morning: “Interior, tribal meeting sparks fear of new Utah monument designation.” That raises the question: Who’s actually “afraid” of new national monuments?
The answer, according to the Tribune, is Utah State Representative Ken Ivory, who’s also the CEO of the American Lands Council, a group founded to wrest national lands out of the hands of the American people. Ivory is upset over a meeting between leaders of five Native American tribes and officials from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, and Department of Agriculture to discuss how best to protect the Bears Ears area of Southeast Utah.
Ivory told the Tribune, “It’s a sad state when land use and land planning bypasses locally elected officials,” ignoring the fact that the five tribes at the meeting elect their own government officials. And tribal leaders have an important stake in the future of conservation and development in the Bears Ears area, which is home to over 100,000 Native American cultural sites and is sacred land for 25 tribes, including the Navajo, Hopi, Ute Mountain Ute, Hualapai Tribes, and 19 Pueblo nations in New Mexico.
Public opinion research shows that Ivory, and other politicians who may “fear” new national monuments don’t speak for all Utahns. In fact, according to the most recent Colorado College Conservation in the West Poll, 70 percent of Utah voters voiced support for “future presidents continuing to protect existing public lands as national monuments.”
An overwhelming 96 percent of Utah voters said that it’s important to protect and conserve natural areas for future generations. On the other hand, only one in five Utahns think it’s a good idea, as Ivory advocates, to sell off our national resources to reduce the budget deficit.
As for how to best preserve incredible places in Utah like Bears Ears, there are plenty of options. President Obama could use the Antiquities Act to declare a national monument, as he just did to preserve pristine lands in Nevada and California.
Or Congress could pass a bill to protect it. After all, Utah Rep. Rob Bishop is the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, which oversees new parks and other protected places. Bishop has been promising a grand bargain on Utah lands for years, but there’s still no proposal on the table. If Congress keeps ignoring the fact that places like Bears Ears deserve protection, it’s no wonder that tribal leaders have begun looking to other avenues for action.
Photo credit: Climbing Cedar Mesa by Rob Degraff, CC 2.0