#bears ears national monument

[thomaswaynewolf]

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Kane Engelbert: The beautiful Doll House ruin during blue hour. From 2014-2017, I spent a lot of my outings hunting down ancient Puebloan ruins and photographing their timeless brilliance. The one ruin that kept calling me, even after I stopped researching ruin locations was the Doll House. In 2018 I finally found it in the Bears Ears National Monument west of Blanding, Utah. Its an amazing 800+ year old structure...spiritually charged, well preserved, 100% intact, tucked nicely inside a very difficult sandstone alcove to locate and long ways away from paved roads.  [Scott Horton]

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“Wherever forests have not been mowed down, wherever the animal is recessed in their quiet protection, wherever the earth is not bereft of four-footed life - that to the white man is an 'unbroken wilderness.' But for us there was no wilderness, nature was not dangerous but hospitable, not forbidding but friendly. Our faith sought the harmony of man with his surroundings; the other sought the dominance of surroundings. For us, the world was full of beauty; for the other, it was a place to be endured until he went to another world. But we were wise. We knew that man's heart, away from nature, becomes hard.” ― Chief Luther Standing Bear

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this press release from the Department of the Interior:

At a signing ceremony on Saturday, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, and the five Tribes of the Bears Ears Commission formalized and celebrated their partnership for co-management of the Bears Ears National Monument.

After signing the cooperative agreement formally recognizing their strong working relationship, the parties travelled to Highway 261 to unveil the Bears Ears National Monument sign(link is external), which includes insignias of the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, and the Pueblo of Zuni.

“Today, instead of being removed from a landscape to make way for a public park, we are being invited back to our ancestral homelands to help repair them and plan for a resilient future. We are being asked to apply our traditional knowledge to both the natural and human-caused ecological challenges, drought, erosion, visitation, etc.,” said Bears Ears Commission Co-Chair and Lieutenant Governor of Zuni Pueblo Carleton Bowekaty. “What can be a better avenue of restorative justice than giving Tribes the opportunity to participate in the management of lands their ancestors were removed from?”  

To support the work that the five Tribes will perform under this agreement and through their representatives on the Bears Ears Commission, the BLM and U.S. Forest Service also announced that they will provide resources to each Tribe through a separate process.

On October 8, 2021, President Biden issued Proclamation 10285, which restored the Bears Ears National Monument, and recognized the importance of knowledge of Tribal Nations in managing the monument by re-constituting the Bears Ears Commission as established by President Obama in 2016, consisting of one elected officer each from the five Tribes. The BLM and the U.S. Forest Service jointly manage the monument and will prepare a management plan for federal lands within the 1.36 million-acre boundaries of the Bears Ears National Monument working cooperatively with the Tribal members of the Bears Ears Commission to protect and restore the monument objects and values.

[averagehighlife]

One of the best crack climbs I’ve had the pleasure of sending. My 500th climb and my hardest trad climb flash to the day!

Scarface 5.11

[deserts-are-cool]

bears ears national monument

photo by deserts-are-cool

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

The state of Utah is suing the Biden administration over its decision to restore the size of two national monuments that were shrunk by then-President Trump.

The size of the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears monuments, both located in Utah, were cut by nearly half and about 85%, respectively, during the Trump administration.

These monuments were initially designated under the Clinton and Obama administrations.

In deciding to restore the monuments’ original sizes, Biden invoked tribal rights, calling Bears Ears “a place of healing … a place of reverence, a sacred homeland to hundreds of generations of native peoples.”

But, the state of Utah and two of its counties argued in court that the monuments are too big, and a violation of the Antiquities Act, which gives presidents the right to protect historic landmarks and other areas of significance.

They specifically argued that Biden’s move was not compatible with the part of the law that says parcels put aside for protections “shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.”

And they said that Biden’s move would “stifle local economic activity, impact local culture and tradition, lock up potentially critical minerals, destroy jobs, and impose exasperating and costly burdens on local and state governments.”

“The vast size of the new monuments draws unmanageable visitation levels without providing the tools necessary to adequately conserve and protect them,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) said in a Twitter thread supporting the suit.

The White House and Interior Department declined to comment, and a Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.

But, groups allied with the administration argue that Utah is wrong, and that the landscapes need to be preserved.

“By filing a lawsuit against the federal government over these monuments, the State of Utah is wasting taxpayer money trying to undermine something that is evident to anyone who spends time in these remarkable landscapes—that Bears Ears and Grand Staircase deserve protection,” Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities, said in a written statement.

“Both legal and historical precedent support the creation of these landscape-scale monuments,” Rokala added.

[justinfranktidwell]

Fannette Island, Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe, California, USA, 14 July 2022. A great day to be on the water!😎

[truthandadare]

Not fandom related by I’m so so proud of my friends/colleagues for the work they did on this incredibly important co-management project. They’ve put so much time and care into a more equitable strategy for conservation and it’s cool as hell. Check it out 😘

[dougrobyngoold]

Another Wash Hike - Valley of the Gods, UT

We are spending one last day in this area, it has really quieted down since the weekend. We are the only people left in the area we are parked in - just lovely! We took a little walk up another wash in the area - it has been so nice to get some hiking in. We missed our summer and fall hiking while we were in Europe!

Surprisingly, we found a little spring gurgling up in the wash.

Great view of one of the many massive formations along Valley of the Gods road.

Gorgeous red canyon walls as we made our way up the wash.

Awesome views as we made our way back to our campsite.

We had a great time visiting this area, there is just something magical about the places we have been in this part of Utah. Our last evening here did not disappoint us:

So long, Utah, until we meet again.....

[goingplacesfarandnear]

Utah Adventure Day 6-7: House on Fire Among Highlights Hiking Amid Sacred Sites, Spirits of Bears Ears National Monument

House on Fire is one of the most photographed – and dramatic – archeological sites in Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com By Karen Rubin, with Laini Miranda and Dave E. Leiberman Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com What is truly special about Bears Ears National Monument-Cedar Mesa – and what draws Laini back time and again, are the…

[batcavestudios]

“Keep close to Nature's heart ... and break clear away … once in a while, climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” - John Muir

[thomaswaynewolf]

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Bears Ears National Monument

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The beauty of those places I soared over is with me still, and in all my dreams as in my waking life was a love of place, a sense that places were embodiments of emotions, were anchors, were companions of a sort, even protectors or parents. Once at the Pacific, I thought to myself Everything is my mother but my mother, and I recognized how the ocean had been a mother offering power, constancy, and solace. Many years later when I began rowing a scull, I realized that out in the water, I was out of reach of men and dogs, and that, as well as the beauties of water, made it serene, dreamy, the eighteen-foot span of my oars being as close to having wings as I could come. 

Recollections of My Nonexistence :: by Rebecca Solnit

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from the National Parks Conservation Association:

The state of Utah has filed suit against the federal government, challenging President Biden’s restoration of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. These monuments were gutted — without lawful authority — by former President Trump, who cut the boundaries of Bears Ears by 85% and Grand Staircase-Escalante by 45%.

Earthjustice, representing a coalition of conservation groups and in partnership with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and Natural Resources Defense Council, is committed to using every legal tool to defend the monuments and the Antiquities Act itself.

These groups, together with Native American tribes who urged the Obama administration to establish the Bears Ears National Monument, also challenged President Trump’s 2017 dismantling of the monuments. That case remains pending in the District of Columbia.

“For its 116-year existence, nearly every U.S. President has used the Antiquities Act to protect some of our nation’s most treasured and important landscapes and waters,” said Theresa Pierno, President and CEO for National Parks Conservation Association. “The Grand Canyon, Olympic, Acadia and dozens more of our national parks are protected today because of the existence of this law and the foresight of those who used it. This lawsuit is another blatant attempt to strip away protections for the lands this important conservation law safeguards. As we’ve said time and time again, an attack on one monument is an attack on all. We will continue to fight to ensure all national monuments are protected now and for the future.”

“Utah’s lawsuit goes far beyond Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante,” said Heidi McIntosh, managing attorney for Earthjustice’s Rocky Mountain Office. “It is an attack on a bedrock law — the Antiquities Act — and the way both Republican and Democratic presidents have relied on it for more than a century to protect some of America’s most beloved places. Utah’s argument that the president may only designate small monuments centered on specific sites is just wrong. In 1920, the Supreme Court upheld President Teddy Roosevelt’s use of the Antiquities Act to protect 800,000 acres in Arizona when he declared the Grand Canyon a national monument. In the hundred years since, presidents have since routinely designated monuments of a million acres or more — like the Death Valley, Glacier Bay, Gates of the Arctic and the Wrangell St-Elias national monuments — many of which became beloved national parks. We intend to defend the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments and this sweeping attack on the Antiquities Act itself.”

[jmpphoto]

Granary by James Marvin Phelps Via Flickr: Granary House on Fire Ruins South Fork Mule Canyon Bears Ear National Monument Utah September 2022