Plan would expand boundaries at Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, and reimpose fishing restrictions on the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has recommended in a confidential report that President Biden restore full protections to three national monuments diminished by President Donald Trump, including Utah’s Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante and a huge marine reserve off New England. The move, described by two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because it was not yet public, would preserve about 5 million acres of federal land and water.
BEITC responds to Haaland’s monument recommendation; Pushes for expanded boundaries
In response to the June 14th article in the Washington Post, which cited information from the contents of the report submitted to President Biden from Secretary Haaland on the boundaries and management conditions of three National Monuments whose protections were illegally stripped by former President Trump, the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition (the Coalition) would like to acknowledge Secretary Haaland’s deliberate and inclusive outreach to stakeholders, including making time to tour the various landscapes and hear from individuals on the ground in the State of Utah during her first month in office. We are thankful that Secretary Haaland concurs with the Coalition’s assertion that former President Trump’s attempt to remove and replace the original Bears Ears National Monument was unjustified. We also reassert that the Coalition, comprised of the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and Zuni Tribe has and will always advocate for the protection of the greater Bears Ears cultural landscape, which is an interconnected area of 1.9+ million acres under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management and United States Forest Service.
