Bears Ears National Park.

A recent topic of debate due to the Trump administration aiming to reduce the size of
the national park, in hopes to open facilities for oil, coal mining, and expanse. This is all
in disregard to the ancient history and culture that rest in these lands. There is
irreparable damage that will come of this. With the access that reduces the size of this
park, private corporations will be able to begin digging and drilling, aiding in the high
chance of whipping out a large portion of history. And with these portions becoming
unprotected, looting and vandalism will surely follow.

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“Trump announced Monday at the Utah State Capitol that Bears Ears National Monument
will be reduced to 228,784 acres from 1.35 million acres”

This is a huge chunk that will be lost to the destructive endeavor of piping, drilling,
and mining. Historical sights and thousands upon thousands of archaeological sights will
be lost. Tribes have spent almost a hundred years in a joint effort to preserve the land.
Five years ago, they amped this up with the help of the Obama administration. “According
to Natalie Landreth, senior staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund. The land
has historical and modern importance for tribes, she said. More than 100,000
archaeological sites rest there.”

There will be disregard to the efforts of these people, and to the history that has
been preserved and buried here for centuries.
Corporations will be able to have free reign on these
open, designated areas to begin work that will be
corrosive to the history that is kept here. The
protection that was secured by the Obama
administration was in part a reaction to the looting and
vandalism that was already taking place. “In the past
decade alone, truckloads of Native American artifacts
were confiscated, and 24 people were arrested in
June 2009 in Utah. The undercover sting operation
cited 256 artifacts as direct evidence of the illegal
looting--but experts estimated that more than 40,000
artifacts were seized. A 2,000-year-old pictograph site
was vandalized in 2014. The following year, four burial
sites were dug up and looted and prehistoric walls torn
down. In January 2016, a petroglyph was removed
with a rock saw and chisel, damaging ancient rock art.
Names were scratched into ancient caves that March-
-the same month a fire ring was made from material
from a 2,000- to 3,000-year-old archaeological site.”

This damage that has already taken place is irreparable. History cannot be
replaced. Now imagine what mining and drilling could do to this monument; let alone the
area and the already steep air quality we battle. The efforts that were put into place were
to aid in keeping the monument in one piece, and now that is being threatened. Now
image your ancestor’s history was being threatened on top of this. Centuries of work, art,
and historical tools lost to the industry that would take over. I imagine this would provoke
an immense amount of anger, or even pride in one’s heritage.

With the land reduction, this allows many corporations to begin the process of gathering
resources in the area or building more public roads. This would provide a great deal of
jobs in an area that is already facing an 8.4% unemployment rate, which is more than
double the states rate for unemployment. To create a new monument could affect some

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of the local ranchers too, with federal land restrictions, this could mean less free land
grazing for cattle.

“The president said in April his order would end “Another egregious abuse of federal
power" and "give that power back to the states and to the people where it belongs." – “To
create a new monument out of Bears Ears "would be almost un-American," Mr. Adams
said. Val Dalton, a rancher who grazes cattle almost exclusively on federal land, said new
federal protections "would put us out of business."

This all however doesn’t change the ethos. The population in that region is
significantly smaller in size than one of the larger cities. Providing far to reach and hard
to access jobs wouldn’t increase the productivity of the work force. The effort to obtain
more sources of energy is mute when you consider the large vast wealth of resources
that is in the country that is not apart of a monument; and most of these resources are
untapped. It is almost showing a disregard to the native population and their heritage.

In a Q. and A. Pamphlet released by the park, the park will largely not be affected
recreationally. Visitors will still be able to hike, use off road vehicles, hunt, fish, and
camp. The two national agencies will be forming a comity that will aim to address and
make restrictions to protect the parks natural resources. “The plan will be developed
with maximum public involvement, including tribal, local and State governments, permit
holders, and other stakeholders. To ensure management decisions reflect tribal
expertise and traditional and historical knowledge, a Bears Ears Commission comprised
of one elected officer from each of the five tribes that formed the Inter-Tribal Coalition to
support permanent protection of the Bears Ears will be established.

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 Despite this information, there is a risk that their voices wouldn’t be heard if there
were ever a proposal to reduce more land or to start digging. With the tribes as a minor
figure at the coalition, it aims to quell the tribes and to enforce a form of political
dominance. When it comes down to it, the State, Permit Holders, and especially the
stakeholders will have the largest say, and inevitably overrun the tribe representatives
with their rulings. This is the product of how big business works. Taking into little
account what truly matters, the people, the history, and the ancestry that will be lost.
Many have sided with the tribes and voiced their concerns, and their anger towards this
decision.

Historical artifacts are a

rarity and at all costs
should be preserved and
respected, especially sites
such as these that are
irreplaceable. Buildings
and foundations that
people had domesticated
for centuries should be
preserved. We do it all
across the globe and
make it a large priority to
protect them. Why is it
now that this one will be
disregarded? Especially
for the sake of energy production and big business. There will be sections of the park
still preserved, but for the rest that is undiscovered that could be buried underground, or
is now free reign to the public, will face the turmoil’s of modern societies disrespect for
ancient constructs in America. The history in this country is not merely 300 years old, it
is thousands. It is in our hands to protect the ancient lands that the native tribes had first
called home. It is in our hands to protect the ancient history that would never be
retrieved again. Our origins are just as important as our future.