Locals, tribes caught in the middle of federal tug-of-war over Bears Ears
by Mike Anderson ksl · KSL.comEstimated read time: 2-3 minutes
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Bears Ears locals and tribes face challenges from federal land management changes.
- Davina Smith-Idesa criticizes the reduction from 1.36 million to 121,000 acres.
- San Juan Commissioner Lori Maughan highlights local management and lack of federal funds.
BLANDING — People in the communities around Bears Ears are frustrated at the constant tug-of-war over the size of the monument and the intervening of the federal government in how the land should be managed.
Responding to President Donald Trump's recent reduction, Davina Smith-Idesa, co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, said the change and its handling have been devastating.
"The reduction is significant," she explained. "We went from 1.36 million acres to just over 121,000 acres, so that's roughly about 91% that's been reduced."
In addition, Smith-Idjesa said the disbanding of the Bears Ears Coalition erases years of work in the development of a management plan that just started being implemented last year.
"To be cut out of that, to read the proclamation where it states terminated, disbanded, it was immediately a form of history for tribes, genocide, a hate," Smith-Idjesa said. "It's always been about how to protect Bears Ears together in unity. And that was taken away."
But Lori Maughan, a San Juan County commissioner, said protections for the lands will remain under the Bureau of Land Management. She also pointed out that very few people visited the area before it became a monument. As a tourist destination now, she said the county is left to manage services like roads and search and rescue.
"When the monument's designated, there's no designation for federal funds that come with it. We are expected as a county to pick up the slack," Maughan said. "You have to realize when you decide to create a monument, you announce it to the world, and then all of a sudden, the world is very curious and wants to see what it is."
Maughan said as federal lands, sufficient protections will remain in place, while giving people who use the lands and live nearby more say over how they're used.
"Let us manage what we have and what we know," she said. "We are the best stewards of what exists here."
Several mining claims have already been filed within the former monument, which would have to overcome years of reviews, feedback and checks to keep it in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. The monument designation, however, would have avoided that possibility completely.
"We're hearing there's still ongoing federal protections, but tribes are not included in those discussions," Smith-Idjesa said. "They will not be included. Our traditional ecological knowledges will not be included."
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
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Mike Anderson
Mike Anderson often doubles as his own photographer, shooting and editing most of his stories. You can watch his stories on KSL 5 News at 4 p.m., 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.