Ancient Buildings Cut From Bears Ears National Monument

 by Tim Peterson, Utah Wildlands Director

When President Trump traveled to Utah last month to carve up Bears Ears and Grand Staircase national monuments, he attempted to unprotect cliff dwellings contructed by some of Utah's earliest inhabitants.

When Trump took a hatchet to Bears Ears National Monument's original boundaries on December 4, 2017, many of these structures found themselves suddenly outside the monument. Here's a look at just a few of the sites Trump wants stripped of national monument protections:

Structure in western Cedar Mesa canyons stripped of monument protection, Bears Ears. JONATHAN BAILEY

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Western Cedar Mesa canyons cliff dwelling stripped of monument protection, Bears Ears. JONATHAN BAILEY

Cliff structure on Forest Service lands stripped of monument protection, Bears Ears.

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Cliff structure near Fish Creek, stripped of monument protection, Bears Ears. JONATHAN BAILEY

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Granary on Forest Service lands stripped of monument protection, Bears Ears. JONATHAN BAILEY

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Not only are these structures and dwellings objects of historic and scientific interest — precisely the kinds of objects the Antiquities Act of 1906 seeks to protect within national monuments — they are vital links to the past and the cultures of the tribes whose ancestors called the Bears Ears region home.

"The cultural resources here, the petroglyphs, the structures, all of this, is evidence of the Native people who lived in and passed through Bears Ears" says Zuni elder Octavius Seowtewa. "This cultural information is important for all Native people...if this information is lost, it's lost forever."