Join us in celebrating 2023

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As another year comes to an end, we want to thank you for walking with us in 2023. It was a big year for the Coalition, the five Tribes, and for the Bears Ears movement. Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter, and for your ongoing support which allows us to do this incredible and important work.

Stay tuned in 2024 because we are expecting very big news and, fingers crossed, the Monument Management Plan for the Bears Ears will be one step closer to completion. Your continued support helps the five Tribes ensure that this sacred, ancestral landscape is protected forever. See our update on the current status of the Bears Ears National Monument (BENM) and see the recap and major accomplishments of 2023.

We hope you had a restful and restorative holiday season and as always thank you for following and supporting our work.

Thank You - Ahéhee' - Kwakwhay - Askwali - Elahkwa - Tog'oiak'
Landscape photo taken in the Bears Ears National Monument

The Bears Ears National Monument - Where We Stand Currently

For our subscribers, new and old alike, we want to take a moment to give a little background on the Bears Ears National Monument and where it stands as the year comes to a close.

Tribal nations across the Colorado Plateau have been trying to protect the Bears Ears region for decades, perhaps hundreds of years. Many Tribal nations have long-standing ties to the Bears Ears landscape, and several southwestern Tribes trace their ancestry to this specific region. In Bears Ears, one can find the remains of ancient roads, shrines, pit houses, pueblos, great houses, kivas, and cliff dwellings. Ancestral paintings, petroglyphs, and pictographs still decorate cliff sides and boulders throughout the region. Without the proper safeguards, many of these cultural resources are at risk of damage from irresponsible visitation or from resource extraction, and other items are at continued risk of being looted from the landscape.

Before the Monument was established and before the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition (BEITC) existed, grassroots activists were organizing with Utah Diné Bikeyah (UDB) for the protection of Tribal sacred places along with ensuring traditional access and use in – what is today called – southeastern Utah. During UDB’s summer gathering in 2015, leaders from five sovereign Tribal nations– the Hopi, Zuni, Ute Mountain Ute, Ute Indian Tribes and the Navajo Nation– formed what is today known as the BEITC and decided to petition the U.S federal government on a government-to-government basis for the protection of these lands. As President Obama was leaving office, in December of 2016, he honored the government-to-government relationship and, under his authority granted by the Antiquities Act, created the BENM.

The first iteration was short lived because in 2017 Trump shrunk the BENM by roughly 85% and was intent on managing the monument without meaningful input from the five Tribes who sought the original designation. Over the next four years, the landscape was at risk of looting, degradation, and once again open to extraction for resources such as uranium.

In 2021 the Coalition Tribes sent a letter to President Biden requesting the restoration of the Monument, and this request was fulfilled in October of 2021. Both the Obama ([link removed]) and the Biden Proclamations ([link removed]) recognize the importance of the BENM to Tribal nations and, as an effort to respect the Tribes’ connection to this area, created the Bears Ears Commission (BEC). The BEC is composed of a Tribal leader from each of the five nations, and is observed as a collaborative manager of the Monument. The BEC is tasked with sharing their traditional and historical knowledge for the “development and implementation of management plans and on management of the entire monument.”

In 2022, the five Tribes of the BEC signed a cooperative agreement with the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service solidifying its role as a collaborative manager of the Monument. Since then, traditional knowledge holders, cultural experts, and Tribal leaders have been working with the agencies to incorporate traditional knowledge into the management plans for the BENM.

Sometime soon, a draft management plan will be published and will commence a 90-day public comment period. We hope you stay tuned to our social media, website, and our newsletter for your opportunity to weigh-in and support the Tribes’ efforts to protect this sacred ancestral landscape.
Tribal leaders visiting sites across the BENM

2023 Accomplishments

We are proud of some big accomplishments in 2023 including teaming up with the Wildlands Conservancy ([link removed]) to help acquire the Cottonwood Wash property, and another successful year of the Bears Ears Native Conservation Corps. In addition, we had a very impressive line-up of meetings and site visits in the Monument with Tribal leaders and traditional knowledge holders, elected officials, and leadership and staff from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS).

In 2023, the Bears Ears Commission, supported by the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, visited a number of sites of great significance to the Tribes. Field visits to the Monument provide opportunities for the reconnection and healing as a result of forced displacement from this sacred landscape. A key mission of our work is to help restore the relationship that the Commission Tribes’ have to this area, as well as improve access to their ancestral lands.

At the request of tribal leaders, federal agencies facilitated two field visits, and our friends at the the Grand Canyon Trust facilitated a third field visit, to help inform collaborative management of the BENM. The Coalition visited healthy grazing allotments and those that have been overgrazed, natural springs and developed water sites (for livestock grazing), areas affected by the extraction industry including a uranium drilling and processing mill, and a variety of ancestral sites within the Monument.

See this recap of our in-person meetings and site visits from 2023:
* In early February, the Coalition met at Sky Ute Casino in Ignacio, Colorado for the year’s first in-person meeting. Tribal leadership selected a new Commission logo, and met with collaborative management partners, the BLM and USFS. This meeting provided the opportunity to welcome Mr. Anthony Sanchez Jr., Head Councilman for the Zuni Tribe and, now, Bears Ears Commissioner.
* In late February, the Coalition met in Salt Lake City and welcomed new representatives from the Navajo Nation; Mr. Curtis Yanito, Council Delegate for the Navajo Nation was welcomed as a Bears Ears Commissioner; and Ms. Davina Smith, community advocate, was welcomed as Coalition representative for the Navajo Nation. During this meeting,Tribal leaders from each of the five Tribes met at the Utah State Capitol with Lieutenant Governor Deirdre Henderson and other leaders from the State of Utah, including the Director of the Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office. Leadership from the BLM and the USFS were also present. Attendees discussed a potential visitor’s center for the Bears Ears National Monument.
* For 2023’s third in-person meeting, the five Tribes and federal collaborative management counterparts met in Fort Duchesne, on Ute Indian Tribe territory. After meeting with agency partners, Vice Chairman of the Ute Indian Tribe Business Committee and co-chair of the Bears Ears Commission, Mr. Christopher Tabbee, invited Coalition staff to a community meeting to discuss the BEITC’s work. We are very thankful for the Ft. Duchesne community for hosting us.
* In June, Tribal leaders, the BLM, and the USFS visited the Monument allowing the opportunity for Tribal decision makers to be involved in management decisions.
* In July, the Coalition met once again in Bluff. Tribal leaders undertook field visits around the Monument with collaborative management partners from the BLM and USFS. In addition to these field visits, Tribal leaders surveyed important sites with our friends and allies at the Grand Canyon Trust, and went on an over-flight of the Monument by EcoFlight. Special shout-out and the sincerest of thanks to our friends and partners at the Grand Canyon Trust and EcoFlight.
* In September, Tribal Leaders met in Albuquerque, NM, at the Native American Community Academy (NACA) and the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (IPCC). We are honored to have been hosted by both NACA and the IPCC.
* The final in-person meeting was in October, at the Hopi Wellness Conference Center in Kykotsmovi, AZ. At this meeting Tribal leaders discussed Coalition and Commission business and met with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) about the collaborative management relationship so far. The Coalition also met with federal agency counterparts about management issues facing the Monument. We are thankful to have been invited to the Hopi nation for these meetings and for a very special community event known as Tuuvi.

In addition to these seven in person meetings with Tribal leadership, the Coalition held six meetings for the Cultural Resource Subcommittee (CRS). The CRS is composed of traditional knowledge holders, historic preservation officers, and other Tribal cultural experts who have been tasked with sharing traditional and local knowledge with agency personnel for the betterment of the BENM. Both the Obama and the Biden Proclamations that created Bears Ears task the Bears Ears Commission with providing Tribal expertise in creating the Monument Management Plan and ongoing management decisions. The CRS acts as the Traditional Knowledge conduit between elected Tribal leaders and BLM and USFS staff.

Community Outreach

In 2023 Coalition staff worked hard to share our work with the Coalition Tribes’ communities. These events were made possible with the crucial help of our new Tribal Stewardship and Engagement Coordinator, Harrenson Gorman.

See this overview of our 13 community outreach events:


** March
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*
** Hopi Cultural Competency Training in Moenkopi, AZ.
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April
* Fort Lewis Career (FLC) Expo. in Durango, CO.
* Uncompahgre Band of the Ute Indian Tribe community meeting in Ft. Duchesne, UT.
* Gathering of Nations tabling event in Albuquerque, NM.

July
* Eastern Navajo Nation Fair in Crown Point, NM.

September
* Paatuwaqatsi Water Is Life Ultra Race in Polacca, AZ.
* Indian Pueblo Cultural Center Gala in Albuquerque, NM.
* Zuni Fair in Zuni, NM.

October
* Northern Navajo Nation Fair in Shiprock, NM.
* White Mesa Spiritual Walk and Protest in White Mesa, UT.
* Community Meeting at Hopi Veterans Memorial Center, Kykotsmovi Village, AZ.
* Tuuvi, Hopi Cultural event in Moenkopi, AZ.

November
* Laughing for Land - A Night of Native Comedy in Albuquerque, NM.

Tribal leaders and staff on field visits with Grand Canyon Trust and federal agencies.
Photos taken at the Laughing for Land - A Night of Native Comedy in Albuquerque, NM

Bears Ears Native Conservation Corps

In 2023 the Coalition– under the leadership of our Collaborative Land Management and Tribal Support Specialist, Lauren Henson– had another successful year with the Bears Ears Native Conservation Corps. This program connects cultural advisors, elders, and youth from the Tribal nations that have ancestral ties to the BENM landscape. Modeled after multigenerational learning paradigms that center Indigenous values by uplifting youth and respecting the knowledge of elders, 2023's camping trip included an ethnobotanical learning and reconnection day for participants, and a Pinyon salve making workshop. This project also included visits to various locations within the BENM and participants engaged in discussions about holistic land management. This program is a critical mission of our work because it provides opportunities for the Coalition Tribes to reconnect, heal, and gain access to this sacred landscape.

Thank you - Ahéhee' - Kwakwhay - Askwali - Elahkwa - Tog'oiak'

for your ongoing support!
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