Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said Friday that President Trump had called him to announce his intent to dramatically shrink Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. It is hard to ignore the crystal clear messages sent by Trump’s administration this week‚Ää—‚Ääprotecting Native American history is bad, Confederate monuments are good, and national parks are for rich people only.
The red rock landscape of Bears Ears National Monument is filled with tens of thousands of archaeological sites and is considered sacred to nearby Native American tribes, who asked President Obama to protect it after Congress failed to do so. The ruins, rock art, and artifacts in Bears Ears have long been threatened by looting and vandalism, threats which continue today.