The Time is Now: Comment on Draft Bears Ears Management Plan

 by Tim Peterson, Utah Wildlands Director

If you’ve been following developments around the current administration’s efforts to gut Bears Ears National Monument, the following will come as no surprise. 

In a rushed and haphazard effort to open monument lands to more mining, more grazing, and more off-road vehicle use, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is leading a planning process for the shrunken units of Bears Ears National Monument that — were it not so distressing — might be considered laughable. 

But the draft plan is no joke. It’s set to deliver a crushing blow to fragile and irreplaceable cultural heritage found at Bears Ears that Native Americans and conservationists have sought to protect for generations. 

Public comments on the plan are due November 15, 2018

Western Cedar Mesa pictographs slashed from Bears Ears National Monument. JONATHAN BAILEY

The plan presents four possible alternatives for how to manage the monument, but none of them are acceptable. As if cutting the monument by 85 percent and disrespecting the sovereignty of Native nations by slashing their authority over collaborative management were not enough, the preferred alternative selected by the BLM ("Alternative D") would prioritize livestock grazing, mowing down old-growth piñon and juniper forests, timber harvesting, off-roading, and even mineral exploration and development over the protection of cultural resources including rock art, cliff dwellings, ancient road systems, and other “monument objects.”

Draft plan fails to meet basic standards

National monuments are supposed to be managed to protect the values for which they are named. In the case of Bears Ears, those “monument objects” are cultural resources, wildlife, geology, and fossils. 

But this draft plan fails to do that. In fact, it fails to even meet basic standards established by the BLM for managing national monuments in its own policies and procedures. It also punts important cultural resource management off to a later date, inviting avoidable damage to unique and revered cultural sites. 

TAKE ACTION. Please submit a comment (in your own words) to  blm_ut_monticello_monuments@blm.gov before the November 15, 2018 deadline ›

Please include specific information on the plan’s shortcomings, and your experiences in and connections to Bears Ears. It’s essential to write your comment in your own words. If you copy and paste, the BLM may ignore your comments.

Wondering what to write? Here are some important points to include:

• Apply the most protective measures possible. Alternative D (the preferred alternative) falls short of even the basic requirements for how the BLM is supposed to manage “national conservation lands.” The BLM is supposed to prioritize protecting the monument objects that the monument was designated to protect and apply the most protective measures possible.
• Allowing “enhanced” motorized recreation, timber cutting, increased livestock grazing, vegetation removal, and mineral exploration and development are unacceptable inside national monuments. These do not belong in the preferred or in any alternative considered for Bears Ears National Monument. 
• Stop wasting taxpayer money. The BLM has already spent nearly $1 million on a plan for a shrunken monument that likely won’t stand up to a legal challenge when it’s complete.
• The BLM must include at least one alternative that plans for the full 1.35 million acre cultural landscape designated as Bears Ears National Monument in 2016.
• Planning in a hurry while the courts determine the legality of the monument reduction is poor public policy. Both taxpayers and the land lose. 

• Protect cultural resources now, not later. Waiting for harm to fragile and irreplaceable cultural resources to occur and then reacting, as the plan proposes, is unacceptable. The BLM must work with Native American tribes to develop and implement a plan to better manage cultural resources and avoid irreversible harm now.
• Increased visitation and the unintended impacts to exceptional cultural resources by otherwise well-meaning visitors must be addressed immediately.

• Bolster Native American tribal involvement. Instead of rushing the process, the BLM must meaningfully engage Native American tribes in the development of a management plan for the entire Bears Ears cultural landscape, not just the shrunken monument units.  

The BLM seems to be scrambling to complete the plan by year’s end in an effort to beat the courts and/or Congress, either of which could restore Bears Ears National Monument to its original boundaries. For that reason, it’s important they get as much pushback from the public as possible. 

Please email your own personalized comments to BLM by November 15, 2018 › 

If you’d prefer to write a letter, you can mail it to the BLM, Canyon Country District Office, Attention: Lance Porter, 82 East Dogwood, Moab, Utah 84534.

Public meetings 

The BLM will also hold three public meetings on the plan. If you live in driving distance, please attend, submit your comments in person, and voice your support for protecting Bears Ears National Monument.

Blanding, Utah
Tuesday, October 2, 2018, from 5 to 8 p.m., San Juan High School, 311 N 100 E.

Bluff, Utah
Wednesday, October 3, 2018, from 5 to 8 p.m., Bluff Community Center, 190 N 3rd St E.

Montezuma Creek, Utah
Thursday, October 4, 2018, from 5 to 8 p.m., White Horse High School, State Highway 162.

Thanks for your continuing efforts to protect and defend Bears Ears, we appreciate it, and we know the land does too. We can’t do our work without you.

The Grand Canyon Trust helps you amplify your voice to defend our public lands. Your support helps thousands speak up and take action now. Please donate to the Trust today ›