Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** Conservation group pilots land back project near Bears Ears
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Thursday, January 4, 2024
Cottonwood Wash near Bluff, Utah; Source: Wildlands Conservancy ([link removed])
California-based conservation group Wildlands Conservancy has purchased a 320-acre piece of private property ([link removed]) on the edge of Bears Ears National Monument, near Bluff, Utah, with the intention of returning it to its original stewards.
Wildlands is inviting the five Tribes of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition to co-manage the land. But there's one caveat: no development can occur on the land ([link removed]) , which is rich with ancestral sites like cliff dwellings and petroglyphs. Wildlands' Dave Herrero told the Los Angeles Times ([link removed]) that some of the Tribes were initially skeptical of the deal but eventually agreed upon a mutual goal of preserving the land as it is.
“Our main goal is to continue protecting our cultural significant ties to this area—that’s our biggest concern,” said Anthony Sanchez ([link removed]) , the Zuni representative on the coalition. “We’re not there to make money. We’re not there to do anything but protect it.”
Herrero said part of the property will likely be reserved for Tribal members ([link removed]) to conduct ceremonies, while the rest of the property will be open to the public to enjoy. He also said Wildlands and the Tribes plan to do ecological restoration work ([link removed]) on the property, like removing invasive species.
** Quick hits
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The Salton Sea shows why Utah should pay attention to Great Salt Lake’s stench
Deseret News ([link removed])
Draft plan would pause Thompson Divide oil and gas drilling for 20 years
Colorado Newsline ([link removed])
Alaska lawmakers say Interior threatening to block Ambler mining road
E&E News ([link removed])
Conservation success stories from 50 years of the Endangered Species Act
Newsweek ([link removed])
Tech founder donates nearly 1,000 acres of private land in California for public use
SFG ([link removed]) ate ([link removed])
BLM proposal to protect wildlife corridors could restore the West’s ‘veins and arteries’
Inside Climate News ([link removed])
Nevada has the most abandoned mines in the nation. Why is it taking so long to seal them?
Nevada Independent ([link removed])
BLM adds new wildlife protections in Moab-area canyons
Times-Independent ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
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” The law says that all living things have a right to be in this world... The law came from a more generous time when the United States had the power and the confidence to say that we will preserve all of our living legacy.”
—Ecologist and writer Carl Safina on the Endangered Species Act, Newsweek ([link removed])
** Picture This
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@Interior ([link removed])
Located just an hour's drive from Fairbanks, Alaska, the one-million-acre White Mountains National Recreation Area offers stunning scenery, peaceful solitude and outstanding winter recreation. Photo by Bob Wick / @BLMNational ([link removed])
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