Bears Ears victory celebration draws hundreds

Posted by Krista Allen | Jan 12, 2017 | News |

‘Utah Navajos pushed to the highest level of government’

TSÉBII’NDZISGAII-OLJATO, Utah

Scores of people gathered at the Monument Valley Welcome Center on Saturday to celebrate Bears Ears, which received designation as a national monument by President Barack Obama late last month.

“Ahéehee’ to President Obama for listening to our voices!” exclaimed James Adakai, president of Oljato Chapter. “This will protect and preserve Bears Ears region for our future generations.”

On Dec. 28, using the Antiquities Act, Obama designated two new national monuments, protecting 300,000 acres of federal land around Gold Butte in southern Nevada and 1.35 million acres around the Bears Ears buttes in southeastern Utah.

The designations mean that the areas, both sacred to some Native American tribes and popular for outdoor recreation, will be largely closed off to new commercial development.

Bears Ears is a particular point of contention between the Democratic administration and the Utah Republicans.

Members of the congressional delegation had been working on compromise legislation that would have allowed the land to be developed for energy and other uses. Environmental and tribal groups though have championed closing it off as a monument.

“We did it!” Adakai shouted. “You cannot change history. No one can change history and cultural significance tied to Bears Ears. This designation, no one will change that as well. This designation is forever to protect our sacred, historical, and ancestral land.”

But the members of the congressional delegation say they plan to work with the incoming Donald Trump Administration to find ways of reversing the move, and the Utah Attorney General’s Office announced that a legal challenge to the designation is also in the works.