** Healing Bears Ears Campaign
------------------------------------------------------------

Over the next couple months, we will be launching our Healing Bears Ears Campaign that will highlight significant issues occurring on the Bears Ears landscape today.
Dear Bears Ears Supporter,

The Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition has been fighting to establish the Bears Ears National Monument since 2015, and the grassroots movement to protect our homelands in Bears Ears has been heartfelt for well over a century. Now as we rapidly approach restoration of the Bears Ears National Monument by the Biden-Harris Administration, we need your help to heal the landscape. Your donation to the Healing Bears Ears campaign will advance restorative justice and support us as we pursue the following goals: 1) Restore and expand Bears Ears National Monument to 1.9 Million acres; 2) Elevate Indigenous voices; and 3) Heal the earth.


** Public lands and Indigenous Sacred places
------------------------------------------------------------
As the United States lifts COVID-19 restrictions, people have geared up to resume postponed travel plans and outdoor recreational activities. Families and outdoor enthusiasts are looking to continue their journeys to the popular southwest region of the U.S., where areas in Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado invite them every summer with beautiful natural landscapes and cultural heritage sites. Yet, as we have seen in recent years with increased visitation to unprotected places, more incidents of vandalism have occurred in cultural landscapes like Bears Ears.

It should be known that respecting Indigenous cultures is more than the protection of a physical space with cultural significance: it requires a mutual respect and understanding for Indigenous identity, and for our connections with our ancestral homelands now known as “America’s public lands.” Additionally, Indigenous cultural sites are extremely vulnerable now that there is less monitoring of on-the-ground activity to deter harmful behavior. At current standing there has not been any substantial protections established by the federal government.


** Urgent threats to the Bears Ears Region
------------------------------------------------------------
Bears Ears is considered one of the biggest cultural heritage sites in the world. Unfortunately,
some of the most urgent threats to this region stem from individual actions by misinformed visitors.


** Vandalization & Looting
------------------------------------------------------------

This past April there were two incidents ([link removed]) of vandalization ([link removed]) in the Bears Ears region. It is the position of the Coalition to condemn the desecration of Indigenous cultural resources and sacred sites. Incidents like this are actively harmful to our communities and our connections to these places; they contribute to the erasure of our histories and perpetrate violence against Native peoples in this country today. Looting is also a huge problem in Bears Ears, as visitors have taken cultural objects like pottery pieces from the land in large quantities, leaving once culturally rich sites empty. This is also painful for many Native communities today.


** You can be an ally
------------------------------------------------------------

To help heal the landscape and our relationship to each other in Bears Ears. Your donations and support help us safeguard Bears Ear’s cultural landscape and natural resources by educating others. By spreading awareness to teach visitors how to practice respectful behaviors around sacred ancestral sites- you can be an ally.


** Practicing respectful behaviors around ancestral sites
------------------------------------------------------------

If you or others plan to visit this sacred place, here are some things you can do to heal the region right now.
1. Visit the Friends of Cedar Mesa Visitor’s Center ([link removed]) in Bluff, Utah before heading out to the landscape. The center provides additional visitor information to help protect resources.
2. Stay on designated trails and roads.
3. Do not take any cultural objects (pottery shards, corn cobs). They are not “souvenirs.” When you take these items, you are robbing someone of their history, culture, and identity.
4. Please do not touch any pictographs or make your own. These images relay stories told from generation to generation.
5. If you are a rock climber, do not bolt near or around pictograph panels
6. Leave no trace. Be prepared and make a plan to pack out everything you (and your pet) bring to the landscape.
7. Please do not share a site’s geotag, GPS coordinates, or location on social media, this can attract high volumes of foot traffic to an unprotected space.
8. Continue to follow CDC guidelines regarding the ongoing pandemic. Wear a mask, wash your hands, social distance, and if you have COVID-19 symptoms or have been exposed to the virus, do not travel to protect the health of others.

We hope that the next time you visit Bears Ears or any other culturally significant area, you will also share our simple guidelines ([link removed]) on social media to help us spread awareness on how to practice respectful behaviors around sacred sites. Your participation will ensure that we can continue to share experiences in these special places.
Donate Here ([link removed])


** Our enduring resilience
------------------------------------------------------------

It is important to acknowledge the enduring resilience, support, and hope in our communities that has shined through the hardship of the past year. As the pandemic continues, we are starting to see some hope with higher vaccination rates and a semblance of normal returning in some areas. Yet, we know we still have a long road to restoration ahead. The effort to heal Bears Ears as a cultural landscape - to preserve our stories, our histories, our art, and our connections to this region – will be a lifelong journey. We are extremely optimistic about the future of Bears Ears with people like you by our side to help us make this a place of healing for all generations to come.

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

============================================================

** [link removed] ([link removed])
** [link removed] ([link removed])
** htp://instagram.com/bearsearscoalition.org ()
** [link removed] ([link removed])
Copyright ©2021, Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
110 2nd St. SW, Ste 304, Albuquerque, NM 87106

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.