Bears Ears National Monument Receives Unprecedented Resource Management Plan

WASHINGTON – Tribal Nations, in collaboration with the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service, has announced a draft Resource Management Plan for Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. This is the first time in U.S. history in which Tribal Nations have worked with federal agencies to draft a management plan. 

Bears Ears National Monument spans 1.36 million acres in southeastern Utah. It was declared a national monument by the Obama administration, attacked by the Trump administration, and then restored by the Biden administration. In 2022, the federal government agreed to co-manage the land with the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, and the Pueblo of Zuni. This draft RMP is the product of two years of negotiations between the five Tribes of the Bears Ears Commission and federal officials. 

Raena Garcia, Senior Fossil Fuel and Lands Campaigner at Friends of the Earth, offered the following statement: 

This is an encouraging sign by the federal government on their commitment to protecting public lands and prioritizing Indigenous knowledge in those protections. Sustainable land management is only possible if there’s collaboration with the land’s rightful stewards. We commend our Tribal partners for their unrelenting advocacy for the past two years. Furthermore, we encourage the BLM and Forest Service to uphold their obligation to safeguard Tribal resources and ensure our ecosystems are protected from industry interests.

The full press release from the Bears Ears Coalition can be found here. 

Communications contact: Erika Seiber, [email protected]
Ruben Pacheco, Communications and Partnerships Director for Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, [email protected]