John,

The Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah is historically significant as the first national monument proposed by a coalition of Tribal Nations.

Of the 1.3 million acres originally designated under President Obama, a 2017 proclamation by Donald Trump reduced the monument by an unheard of 85% to just over 200,000 acres. In 2021, President Joe Biden restored the territory Trump had taken from the monument.

The five Tribes that make up the Bears Ears Commission (BEC) -- Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and the Zuni Tribe -- are among the many Tribes with deep ties to the area.

Working directly with the Bureau of Land Management and the US Forest Service, these five Tribes have made historic strides in developing plans jointly for managing the monument’s substantial natural and cultural resources.

As an unprecedented example of co-stewardship between the BEC Tribes and the US government, the integration of Traditional Indigenous Knowledge and Traditional Ecological Knowledge is a model for the nation in managing these sacred lands and waters.

Now the draft resource management plan developed jointly by the BEC Tribes and the US government has been released, and the public comment period is open.

The Bears Ears Commission recommends the adoption of “Alternative E,” as described below. We encourage you to review the recommendations, and if you agree, to sign on to our official comment now.

Alternative E would set new standards for sustainable, collaborative management of public lands. If approved, it will:

• Uphold the sovereignty of the Tribes;

• Honor Indigenous peoples’ traditional and cultural connections to the land;

• Utilize best practices passed down over centuries from the original, and ongoing, stewards of the land;

• Protect the biodiversity of the habitat and wildlife; and

• Manage access and use of the land so visitors may camp, fish, and hunt sustainably, doing no harm to the natural and cultural resources.

Let’s align our public land management standards with practices that have been tested over hundreds of years. Please sign on to our public comment in support of Alternative E today.

Thank you for supporting this pioneering work in Tribal co-stewardship of sacred lands.

- Amanda

Amanda Ford, Director
Democracy for America
Advocacy Fund