BY BRIAN MAFFLY
New polling indicates Utah voters are divided starkly over whether a Bears Ears National Monument should be designated for the archaeologically rich landscape in San Juan County.
A 39 percent plurality opposes a monument, which President Barack Obama has been asked to designate under the Antiquities Act, while 33 percent support presidential action to protect this region around Bears Ears Buttes, according to a telephone survey of likely Utah voters sponsored by The Salt Lake Tribune and the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics.
American Indian tribes' proposal for a 1.9-million-acre monument has spurred an impassioned debate over public-lands management and local influence over major conservation initiatives that could make tens of thousands acres off limits to development and motorized use. The tribal proposal, developed by the nonprofit group Utah Dine Bikeyah, calls for preserving traditional uses, such as hunting and gathering of firewood, herbs and pinyon nuts, but critics claim a monument will close the door on these activities...