Bears Ears Support Heard Across the West

 by Tim Peterson, Utah Wildlands Director

As the holiday season sets in on the Colorado Plateau, we look forward to gathering together with our friends and families. Tribal leaders from Hopi, Navajo, Uintah and Ouray Ute, Ute Mountain Ute and Zuni are gathering too, as the year comes to a close, to plan for permanent protection of southeast Utah’s Bears Ears cultural landscape in 2016. 

Since the October introduction of the tribal leaders’ proposal to protect Bears Ears, its reverberations are being felt far and wide. Their message of a people’s movement inspired by healing is garnering attention and gaining ground. At the 2015 Native Nations Conference in Washington DC in November, President Obama promised:  

…moving forward, we’ll review tribal proposals to permanently protect sacred lands for future generations.

Here are a few more of the strong statements of support rolling in from all across Utah and the West:

• Jay Meehan: Love Song to the Bears Ears
• Former National Park Superintendents: Make Bears Ears a national monument
• Making Bears Ears a national monument is an opportunity for healing

Though there have been some naysayers, their words of opposition are often rooted in misunderstanding. Navajo Nation Council Delegate Herman Daniels Jr. has sought to set the record straight:

• Op-ed: Bishop is wrong, Utah's Native Americans want Bears Ears protected

As the days grow shorter, we give thanks this time of year for a bountiful harvest as we celebrate the season with friends and family. At the Grand Canyon Trust, we’re celebrating Bears Ears, and looking forward to the healing that permanent protection for the area will bring to the land, wildlife and to all people.

Please join us in expressing your support for the Intertribal Coalition’s proposal by signing the petition to protect Bears Ears. We wish you the happiest of holiday seasons!