As the first national monument proposed by a coalition of Tribal Nations, Bears Ears gained protections under the Obama administration but lost protections under the Trump administration.

The five Tribes of the Bears Ears Commission (BEC) — Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and the Zuni Tribe — are among the many Tribal Nations with deep cultural connections to the entire Bears Ears landscape.

They helped win the reinstatement of protections under President Biden, who restored the original designation and re-established the BEC as collaborative managers of these sacred lands and waters.

In an unprecedented collaborative process, the BEC worked directly with the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service to develop a draft resource management plan for the monument, which has just been released — and it needs our support.

Alternative E was created from the input from over 90 community meetings which gathered input and concerns. As outlined in this newly released plan, Alternative E would set a new standard for sustainable management of public lands.

Specifically, Alternative E incorporates the most Traditional Indigenous Knowledge and TraditionalEcological Knowledge — both needed to balance public access with protecting the area’s cultural and natural resources. It would represent a sustainable collaboration that:

• Upholds the sovereignty of the Tribes and honors Indigenous peoples’ personal, traditional, and cultural connections to the land.
• Reflects time-tested best practices for land management passed down over centuries from the original, and ongoing, stewards of this land.
• Protects the habitat, wildlife, and resource biodiversity.
• Responsibly manages access and use of the Monument in a way that allows current and future visitors to recreate, hunt, and fish, while also responding to the needs and health of the land.

Our work together has already generated more than 63,000 comments in support of the plan, but that’s not enough to ensure its adoption before the final decision is made — and the deadline is fast approaching.

We must back-up this unprecedented community-driven federal-Tribal co-management plan for Bears Ears National Monument. Please add your name now to show strong public support during the official comment period.

Together, we’re re-Indigenizing national parks and protecting sacred places across the country.

Hawwih (thank you) for supporting grassroots community-powered Tribal sovereignty.