In the midst of the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, our partners continue to make moves on the ground to safeguard our special wild places. Today, we bring you updates from two treasured places that have remained at the heart of the national monuments conversation: Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante.
So what’s new? And what can you do?
“The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument’s vast and austere landscape embraces a spectacular array of scientific and historic resources. This high, rugged, and remote region, where bold plateaus and multihued cliffs run for distances that defy human perspective, was the last place in the continental United States to be mapped. Even today, this unspoiled natural area remains a frontier, a quality that greatly enhances the monument’s value for scientific study. The monument has a long and dignified human history: it is a place where one can see how nature shapes human endeavors in the American West, where distance and aridity have been pitted against our dreams and courage.” — From President Bill Clinton’s proclamation establishing Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument on September 18, 1996. Photo: The Cockscomb, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument courtesy Tim Peterson.
Monuments For All and Coronavirus: What You Need To Know
“With over a million acres of public land, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument might seem like the perfect place for social distancing right now. After all, its canyons are some of the most remote places in the country. However, it follows that remote places like southern Utah have extremely limited health care services,” Grand Staircase Escalante Partners wrote on Instagram. “In order to slow the spread of COVID-19 and therefore not overwhelm local resources and protect local vulnerable populations, we encourage potential visitors to stay closer to home and enjoy local parks this spring. We do not take this recommendation lightly, as our gateway communities depend on the tourism economy, but we feel strongly that it is incumbent upon each of us to act in the best interests of the immunocompromised and elderly in this unprecedented moment in history.”
Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition added on Instagram, “Outdoor adventures can wait. Help us protect our Indigenous and rural communities, as well as the Bears Ears cultural region, by simply staying home. We can all contribute to communal well being by supporting the needs of others during this time. Thank you for your understanding, and please help spread the word!”
With new information and regulations coming out daily, for southern Utah please check in with local organizations like Grand Staircase Escalante Partners,Utah Diné Bikéyah, and Friends of Cedar Mesa as well as the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and tribal governments to determine when it may again be appropriate to visit the region. For other monuments and national parks, please look up local organizations and local government entities for updated guidelines for safe and healthy recreation in the face of this pandemic.
You can also see Utah Diné Bikéyah’s website for more COVID-19 resources and links to ways you can help support indigenous communities in the region.
Photo: Bears Ears rock art panel courtesy Tim Peterson
Protecting Bears Ears and Grand Staircase National Monuments in the Courts
On April 10, sovereign tribal nations, local and national groups filed new documents in a pair of lawsuits challenging President Trump’s 2017 decision to cut more than 2 million acres of public lands from Bears Ears and Grand Staircase national monuments. The plaintiffs in the federal court cases argue that only Congress can reduce a monument’s boundaries and that Trump overreached his authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906.
Plaintiffs wrote, “Did the Antiquities Act authorize the President to dismantle an existing national monument … leaving countless objects of historic and scientific interest stranded outside its dramatically reduced boundaries? The answer is no.”
Keep up to date on the latest developments on the court cases with Native American Rights Fund and Grand Staircase Escalante Partners.
For an in-depth update on what is happening on the ground with Bears Ears, check out Tim Peterson, Grand Canyon Trust’s Cultural Landscapes Program Director’s blog post:
“Bears Ears is a place that challenges our perception of time, laying bare the bones of the Earth, holding the fossils of life long before humans, and bearing the crucible of cultures infinitely older than America. As the battle to restore the monument stretches into its third year, it helps to remember the 600 generations. We are well reminded of that sense of constancy to stay our ephemeral fears over the monument’s fate. I am often asked about Bears Ears, and I answer that it must and will be restored, and the true gifts that it has to give are not even yet known.”
“From earth to sky, the region is unsurpassed in wonders. The star-filled nights and natural quiet of the Bears Ears area transport visitors to an earlier eon. Against an absolutely black night sky, our galaxy and others more distant leap into view.” — From President Barack Obama’s proclamation establishing Bears Ears National Monument on December 28, 2016. Photo: Bob Wick // BLM
Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments are both world-renowned hotbeds of paleontological research, world-class destinations for outdoor recreation and natural beauty, and major economic drivers for small businesses in these regions. Bears Ears has been home to Hopi, Diné, Ute, Ute Mountain Ute, and Zuni peoples since time immemorial, and was designated as a national monument in 2016 to protect countless archaeological, cultural, and natural resources, including the wealth of traditional knowledge that Native people hold for this region. It is the first tribally requested national monument.
During the federal comment period in 2017, millions of Americans called out with a clear and powerful voice: We stand with our national monuments. We will continue to fight with them to safeguard Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante as they were rightfully designated.