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A coalition of Native American tribes has called on President Biden to take immediate action to restore protections to Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument, which the Trump administration cut by 85 percent.
President Biden campaigned on reversing the rollbacks of such national monument protections—including in nearby Grand Staircase-Escalante—but has yet to take action to do so, despite receiving a recommendation from Interior Secretary Haaland months ago.
Bears Ears is a sacred landscape for the tribes that compose the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, and is composed of stunning canyons and mesas that are home to cliff dwellings, rock art, dinosaur fossils, and countless cultural treasures. But much of it is at risk. “Each day that passes without national monument protection for numerous sacred sites and irreplaceable cultural resources risks desecration, looting, vandalism, and misinformed visitation to an area that contains the exact kind of antiquities that inspired the creation of the Antiquities Act,” the letter to Biden from the tribal coalition reads. “These artifacts, considered by us to be messages our ancestors meant for us to see and incorporate as lessons into our present, are literally being erased.”
Reinstating the monuments—as well as establishing new ones—is popular. 84% of Westerners support creating new protected areas such as national parks, monuments, wildlife refuges, and tribal protected areas, while 77% of Westerners (and 74% of Utahans) support restoring national monument protections to lands in the West. National monuments created under the Antiquities Act aren’t just popular, they’re also beneficial to local communities. Research has found that national monuments often increase the number of businesses and jobs in nearby communities, expanding local economies, population, employment, and income.
Reinstating Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments needs to be only the beginning. President Biden has an opportunity to define our modern conservation legacy and join the ranks of our greatest conservation leaders. The time to protect more lands is now, and there are awe-inspiring outdoor places worthy of further protection under the Antiquities Act all over the country.
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We have tried to be patient and respectful as we await your decision on restoration. However, the longer action is not taken, real harm, much permanent, is occurring on this sacred landscape.”
