The Wilderness Society applauds long-awaited land management plan for Bears Ears National Monument
Mason Cummings, The Wilderness Society
Almost ten years after its designation, Bears Ears could be co-stewarded by Tribes
Today, the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management published a long-awaited monument management plan for Bears Ears National Monument, which was designated by former President Obama in 2016. At the forefront of drafting the management plan was the Bears Ears Commission (BEC), which worked in partnership with federal agencies on a proposal that upholds Tribal values and protects the Monument’s unparalleled natural and cultural resources. If finalized, the plan will set a new standard in balanced, sustainable land management and mark a significant cornerstone in federal respect for Tribal authority.
“With this plan, the federal government can affirm and formalize its commitment to meaningfully involve Tribal Nations in the protection and management of the Bears Ears living landscape,” said Scott Miller, Southwest senior regional director of The Wilderness Society. “The final plan must center Tribal co-stewardship, aligned with Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and take the necessary steps to protect the monument’s natural and cultural resources as outlined in the Presidential proclamation.”
The publication of the proposed plan triggers a 30-day protest period and a 60-day Governor’s consistency review period. Following these, the agencies are expected to finalize and release a final monument management plan. The final decision is expected sometime next year.
The Bears Ears Commission
The Bears Ears Commission, comprised of one elected official from the Hopi, Navajo (Diné), Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute and Pueblo of Zuni Tribes, all Tribal Nations with close ancestral ties to the Bears Ears landscape, was established the same year the monument was designated. Two years ago, an historic cooperative agreement was signed between the Commission and federal land managers formalizing how they would collaborate to co-steward the monument.
After centuries of dispossession and discrimination at the hands of the United States and its government, this is a small but crucial step forward. It’s both a measure of justice for the Commission and a model for the Biden administration and future administrations to ensure proper collaboration with other Indigenous groups and communities of color when making management decisions.
A Living Landscape
Bears Ears is estimated to contain over 100,000 archaeological and ancestral sites, including remarkably well-preserved cultural resources like ruins and 1,500-year-old petroglyphs. Pat Gonzales-Rogers, executive director of the coalition, previously likened the landscape to the Cathedral of Notre Dame in its cultural and religious importance.
In recent years, there has been growing acknowledgement that Traditional Ecological Knowledge should be fully incorporated in public lands management, and Bears Ears is a prime example of a landscape where that approach is sorely needed. In fact, the proclamation establishing the monument identifies Traditional Ecological Knowledge as a resource to be protected and used in understanding and managing the landscape. Especially as climate change raises new challenges in managing public lands, it will be vital to draw on solutions that include thousands of years’ worth of intergenerational Indigenous experience and knowledge. In the case of Bears Ears, as Diné activist Len Necefer has noted, the Tribes in the Commission have ancestral knowledge from the last time the Southwest was in a state of “megadrought.”
Now, we have a chance to ensure that a new, collaborative vision is carried out.
