National Native Organizations NCAI and AAIA File Brief Opposing President Trump’s Attempt to Decimate Bears Ears National Monument FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 19, 2018 PRESS CONTACT ncaipress@ncai.org general.aaia@indian-affairs.org NCAI and AAIA Highlight the Dangers that President Trump’s Action Poses to Landmarks, Structures, and Objects of Cultural, Historic, and … Native Americans launch fight to protect sacred sites after Trump reduced the size of protected cultural lands in Utah. Bears Ears National Monument includes red rock, juniper forests, high plateau and an abundance of early human and Native American historical artifacts. The monument's original size was 1,351,849 acres (2,112.264 sq mi; 5,470.74 km 2), which was controversially reduced 85% by President Donald Trump on December 4, 2017. Bears Ears is the first national monument created at the request of and with input from Native American governments. To say that Native Americans will be restricted from accessing, performing ceremonies, or hunting and gathering food and medicines in a Bears Ears National Monument is simply false. Originally Published: December 15, 2020 10:50 a.m. Tweet. Will a designation do that? He toured Bears Ears National Monument not with members of the Native American tribes that consider the landscape sacred, but staunch opponents of the Obama-era monument. The land is considered sacred by the people of the Navajo Nation, the Hopi National and … He slashed and split the 1.35 million-acre Bears Ears into Shash Jaa and Indian Creek national monuments, totaling 201,876 acres. President Barack Obama had designated 1.35 million acres to the monument in 2016 as requested by five Native American tribes with ties to the region. San … Bears Ears National Monument in Utah's San Juan County is home to one of the most fascinating cultural landscapes in the United States, with countless Native American ruins and other archaeological sites. It’s also a very important place to Native American tribes, including the Navajo, Ute, Ute Mountain Ute, Hopi and Zuni, whose ancestors all lived off the land at one point. What remains are the ruins of four mission churches, at Quarai, Abó, and Gran Quivira, and the partially excavated pueblo of Las Humanas. News Release. Obama declared Bears Ears a national monument in 2016; one year later, Trump contracted its area by 85 percent. In the days that followed, multiple groups and Native American tribes sued the Trump administration to overturn his … FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Both the Navajo Nation and the San Juan County Commission have come forward in the past two weeks to endorse the restoration of Bears Ears National Monument to its original … An ancient Native American site in a hauntingly strange landscape—one of many treasures now protected by the new Bears Ears National Monument. Outerwear brands like Patagonia have crusaded to protect the monument. Currently, the monument is about 200,000 acres (81,000 hectares) and split into Shash Jaa and Indian Creek national monuments. Here, visitors can view abundant rock art, ancient cliff dwellings, ceremonial kivas, and countless other artifacts. Bears Ears National Monument. When President Obama used his authority under the Antiquities Act to designate Bears Ears National Monument on December 28th, 2016, he granted a new layer of protection to some of the most spectacular places in southern Utah. (Adobe Stock) By Wendy Howell. Bears Ears is now at the heart of an ongoing struggle in which Native American tribes are fighting to protect sacred land from both environmental degradation and cultural desecration. Bears Ears: America's First Truly Native American National Monument. The crooked boundary of the monument touched Glen Canyon National Recreation Area , Canyonlands National Park , and Natural Bridges National Monument . It was only as recently as 2016 that the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah was inaugurated. Bears Ears National Monument is a United States national monument located in San Juan County in southeastern Utah, established by President Barack Obama by presidential proclamation on December 28, 2016. Bears Ears, a 1.35-million-acre rugged redrock landscape rich in Native American history and lore, was declared a national monument by President Barack Obama in December 2016. Bears Ears. Landscape is the ancestral home of many Southwestern tribes. President Trump, after gutting 85% of Utah lands set aside Bears Ears National Monument, recently put up those lands at auction to uranium, oil, and gas exploration, and this in the midst of a lawsuit challenging his move. Click to view larger map. The Bureau of Land Management said Thursday that it will accept nominations until Oct. 1 for spots earmarked for people … Federal land agencies have a spotty record accommodating tribal rights. Bears Ears National Monument, Utah, USA. This Land is Our Land: Save Bears Ears National Monument. He toured Bears Ears National Monument not with members of the Native American tribes that consider the landscape sacred, but staunch opponents … But this is hardly the environmental matter alone; Bears Ears has rightfully been called the first Native American National Monument. The Bears Ears National Monument will cover more than 1.35 million acres in southern Utah, including ancestral land important to dozens of tribes. There is of course Cedar Mesa, with its incredible canyons … The Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Hopi Nation and other tribes are extremely tied to this land. The area is open to visitors, but please review our Home to rugged red rocks, ancient cliff dwellings and tribal art, the Bears Ears National Monument is located in … House on Fire is one of several Native American sites at Bears Ears National Monument. Bears Ears National Monument is a huge, geologically diverse landscape with one of the highest concentrations of archaeological sites in the country. When then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke traveled to southern Utah in May 2017 to visit a pair of protected national monuments, he surrounded himself with advocates for dismantling, if not entirely erasing, those sites. The Gold Butte National Monument will protect about 300,000 acres of desert in Nevada. • Example #4: Bears Ears National Monument and the surroundi ng area contain many Managed collectively by many Native American tribes, the BLM, and the United States Forest Service, Bears Ears National Monument is full of important archeological sites and adventure opportunities. Bears Ears National Monument is a 1.35-million-acre preservation in southeastern Utah. As Zuni Tribal Councilman Carleton Bowekaty said in a recent radio interview, “To suggest we, as tribes, are pushing forward an initiative that would keep our people out of the Bears Ears is just preposterous.” President Donald Trump reduced Bears Ears National Monument to 15% of its original size the following year, citing local opposition to the monument as one of the leading reasons for his decision. It will be co-managed with a coalition of five Native American tribes ― a conservation first. Free dry-camping on the land is allowed since it is managed by the BLM, but due to the unsealed roads, there are many areas that RVs won't be able to navigate to. Native American supporters of a Bears Ears National Monument say the sacred lands should be protected for cultural resources and sacred rituals. It’s been eight months since I visited the Bears Ears area, and I am still dreaming of its beauty, but I am also increasingly sleepless about its future. The area of Bears Ears is considered sacred by five Native American tribes: Navajo, Hopi, Ute, Ute Mountain and Zuni. December 7, 2018 Categories: Native Lands, Religious Rights (Religious Freedom, Sacred Places, Repatriation) by Sonia Tamez. Native tribes sue Trump over Bears Ears Monument. Its unusual name comes from two towers of rock that have a striking resemblance to a pair of bear’s ears, a name that’s mirrored in various Native American languages. This culturally rich and recreationally spectacular landscape is home to thousands of sacred Native American cultural sites as well as world class rock climbing, mountain biking and … Photograph by Greg Winston, Nat Geo Image Collection Bears Ears National Monument. The foundation added Bears Ears to its 2020 World Monuments Watch list of threatened world treasures, saying “sacred land and sites of North American Indigenous people … have been put at risk of desecration.” Formerly known as Gran Quivira National Monument, it is where Native American trade communities of Tiwa- and Tompiro-speaking Puebloans lived when Spanish Franciscan missionaries made contact in the 17th century. The Monument is meant to honor the views of Tribes today, their ancestors, and their ongoing relationship with this landscape. SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A 15-person advisory committee for the downsized Bears Ears National Monument on Utah land considered sacred to Native Americans will include two spots for tribal representatives — three less than what a tribal coalition thinks they should get. 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