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A majority of Utahns support restoring protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, according to a new poll commissioned by the Grand Canyon Trust. The poll was conducted by New Bridge Strategy and surveyed 500 registered voters.
President Donald Trump slashed the size of both monuments by roughly 90 percent in July and eliminated the Bears Ears Commission, which guided the management of Bears Ears and consisted of representatives from the Hopi, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute, Zuni, and the Ute Indian Tribes. Roughly 3 million acres of public lands that now fall outside the monument boundaries are open for new mining claims starting today.
The poll results also show that a majority of Utah voters think Native American Tribes should have a strong role in public land management and support a president’s ability to designate national monuments. “These findings demonstrate broad public recognition that Tribal nations must remain meaningfully involved in stewardship and co-management of their ancestral lands,” Davina Smith-Idjesa, co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and a member of the Navajo Nation, said in a press conference Wednesday.
Autumn Gillard, a member of the Southern Paiute Tribe and coordinator of the Grand Staircase-Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalition, agreed, saying, “When Tribal voices are excluded, land management decisions lose generations of understanding that cannot be replaced by a short study or an administrative review.”
Maroon Bells fees to increase as county prepares to take over management
The Pitkin Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday approved a special use permit to take over management of the Maroon Bells Scenic Area from the U.S. Forest Service in 2027. Forest Service officials justified the decision by stating that the funding available to manage the Maroon Bells Scenic Area has “not kept pace with the rising costs of sustainably operating and maintaining the area.” The special use permit would allow Pitkin County to run everything from day-to-day operations like staffing and maintenance but would still require raising visitor fees to help “support operational expenses.” The county wants to increase the day-use fee at the Maroon Bells from $10 to $30, while campground fees and wilderness permit trailhead parking would more than double. Will Roush, the executive director of Wilderness Workshop, said of the decision, “Transferring essential public lands management functions to counties and private contractors without any Forest Service public process is a dangerous precedent, and everyone who cares about our public lands should be concerned about what this means for their future stewardship and accessibility.” To learn more, read our Westwise blog post about this issue.
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This president labels his policies 'America first,' but on public lands and national parks he’s simply put America last. As someone who was in those rooms making the case, I could not be more disappointed. And it doesn’t need to be this way.”
