Friend — news is circulating that Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has recommended that President Biden restore full protections to Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument — a move that would preserve about 5 million acres of federal land and water.

Trump had slashed boundaries in Bears Ears National Monument by nearly 85%, Grand Staircase-Escalante by 50%, and opened the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts to commercial fishing. These actions have been devastating to the Indigenous communities who have protected them for centuries.

These recommendations are NOT final. We are already seeing fierce resistance from right-wing lawmakers and corporate polluters. If their pressure campaigns go unanswered, there's a serious possibility Haaland's recommendations get thwarted. Friend — everyone in the environmental movement needs to be raising hell right now.

LCV's Summer Membership Drive is in full swing, and the best thing you can do right now to fight back against Big Oil and right-wing extremists is:

Renew your expired LCV membership. Right now, all it takes is $5. Every membership contribution is being triple matched through the end of the month.

Your membership truly makes a difference in the fight to conserve and protect these majestic spaces.

Bears Ears contains cultural and natural heritage for five tribal communities who make up the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition — the Navajo Nation, the Hopi Tribe, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, and the Pueblo of Zuni — who have and continue to protect and preserve these sacred spaces from corporate greed and environmental racism.

This fight is a matter of basic human rights. Indigenous communities in these areas are experiencing the worst impacts of Trump's rollbacks: Remnants of Native American settlements have been vandalized, graffiti has been scribbled over ancient rock art, and cultural sites that hold centuries of human history have been robbed.

These are fights we can win. Here's one example: Just last week the Keystone XL Pipeline was formally canceled after the Biden administration revoked its permit earlier this year: A major win for conservationists and Indigenous communities who fought fiercely to protect the land, people, water, and wildlife threatened by the pipeline. Now is our moment for another big public lands win like this, but we need your help today.

The outcome of this Membership Campaign will determine how far we can go to protect Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts and the communities who cherish them the most.

So please friend, renew your expired LCV membership today.

Together we can make a real impact on restoring protections to public lands and waters and holding the Biden administration accountable to their conservation goals. We know that there is no time to waste.

Thank you for your support,

Vinnie Wishrad
SVP of Membership and Online Engagement
League of Conservation Voters