FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON DC—Today the White House announced President Obama’s decision to designate the Bears Ears cultural landscape of southeastern Utah as a national monument. The move marks the first successful Native American-driven campaign for a national monument following years of cultural mapping and advocacy by a coalition of tribal governments to protect their ancestral homelands.
President Obama said in a statement:
Today, I am designating two new national monuments in the desert landscapes of southeastern Utah and southern Nevada to protect some of our country’s most important cultural treasures, including abundant rock art, archeological sites, and lands considered sacred by Native American tribes. Today’s actions will help protect this cultural legacy and will ensure that future generations are able to enjoy and appreciate these scenic and historic landscapes. Importantly, today I have also established a Bears Ears Commission to ensure that tribal expertise and traditional knowledge help inform the management of the Bears Ears National Monument and help us to best care for its remarkable national treasures.
Bears Ears National Monument sets the stage for a new era in public lands management which incorporates real and meaningful input from Native peoples. The proclamation lays out the intent to implement collaborative management with a tribal commission working alongside federal agencies to manage the new monument and incorporating both Native American traditional knowledge and western science.
"President Obama and his administration have listened to tribes and protected important public lands that to this day remain integral to Native American history, identity, and cultures," said Natasha K. Hale, program manager for the Grand Canyon Trust and an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. "His decision to use the Antiquities Act to protect our collective cultural heritage will not only be remembered by Native people, but all people who cherish and respect the Bears Ears landscape."
In 2015, the Navajo, Hopi, Uintah and Ouray Ute, Zuni, and Ute Mountain Ute governments formed the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and petitioned President Obama to proclaim a national monument to protect over 100,000 archaeological and cultural sites including great houses, cliff dwellings, pit houses, villages, and some of the oldest rock art panels in North America. The coalition’s proposal aimed to protect these lands, which already belong to all Americans, from widespread looting, grave robbing, fossil fuel development, uranium and potash mining, and irresponsible recreational use, as well as to honor the deep connections of Native people to the Bears Ears region. Indigenous people continue to hunt, gather medicinal herbs, and conduct ceremonies here, as their ancestors have done since time immemorial.
“We are grateful for President Obama’s brave action today,” said Navajo Nation Council Delegate and Bears-Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition representative David Filfred. “For the first time in history, a president has used the Antiquities Act to honor the request of Tribal Nations to protect our sacred sites. In doing so, he has given the opportunity for all Americans to come together and heal.”
Vice Chairman of Hopi Tribe and Co-Chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition Alfred Lomahquahu noted that “As a coalition of five sovereign Native American Tribes in the region, we are confident that today’s announcement of collaborative management will protect a cultural landscape that we have known since time immemorial. Our connection with this land is deeply tied to our identities, traditional knowledge, histories, and cultures. We look forward to working with the current and future administrations to fully and properly administer these lands for all to enjoy.”
Carleton Bowekaty of Zuni Pueblo, co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, noted that “Support for this monument has been overwhelming in Indian Country, and we thank President Obama for hearing our call for permanent protection of this living cultural landscape.”
In a statement, Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye added that “President Obama has been consistent in his commitment to work with tribal governments, and this historic designation builds on his legacy. We are particularly pleased that the designation affirms tribal sovereignty and provides a collaborative role for tribes to work with the federal government in maintaining the land. Because tribes will help manage this land, it reaffirms President Obama’s fundamental commitment to human rights and equity in voice.”
The national monument designation represents a historic moment in public lands protection, and in the role for tribes in protecting and managing America’s public lands. The Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition proposal was the first tribally-driven request for a national monument in history and it garnered worldwide attention and widespread backing across Indian Country, including resolutions of support from 26 southwestern tribes and the more than 250 tribes of the National Congress of American Indians.
