The crooked boundary of the monument touched Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Canyonlands National Park, and Natural Bridges National Monument. Paleontologists have identified new species of plant-eating crocodile-like reptiles and mass graves of lumbering sauropods, along with metoposaurus, crocodiles, and other dinosaur fossils. The White House The Secretaries shall meaningfully engage the Commission or, should the Commission no longer exist, the tribal governments through some other entity composed of elected tribal government officers (comparable entity), in the development of the management plan and to inform subsequent management of the monument. The expertise of the Bears Ears Commission will help further the proclamation’s directive to provide access to Indigenous peoples for traditional and cultural uses of the land including the collection of medicinal plants and firewood, hunting, and ceremonial purposes. Rich in ancient and modern Native culture, and literally part of the homeland and history of the five Tribes in this case, it is known as Bears Ears National Monument. Against an absolutely black night sky, our galaxy and others more distant leap into view. Several southwestern tribes trace their ancestry to the ancient peoples who populated the region since time immemorial, building ancient roads, shrines, pit houses, pueblos, great houses, kivas, and cliff dwellings – the remains of which still grace the landscape today. The proposed Bears Ears national monument, named for the Bears Ears Buttes in south-eastern Utah, would cover up to 1.9m acres of land that is culturally significant to Native American tribes. If the Secretaries decide not to incorporate specific recommendations submitted to them in writing by the Commission or comparable entity, they will provide the Commission or comparable entity with a written explanation of their reasoning. The creating of the monument was a hallelujah moment. The area’s petroglyphs and pictographs capture the imagination with images dating back at least 5,000 years and spanning a range of styles and traditions. Archaeologists believe that these early people hunted mammoths, ground sloths, and other now-extinct megafauna, a narrative echoed by native creation stories. Ranchers have relied on the forests and grasslands of the region for ages, and hunters come from across the globe for a chance at a bull elk or other big game. It is a museum. Mesa tops include pinyon-juniper woodlands along with big sagebrush, low sage, blackbrush, rabbitbrush, bitterbrush, four-wing saltbush, shadscale, winterfat, Utah serviceberry, western chokecherry, hackberry, barberry, cliff rose, and greasewood. The Bears Ears monument is known for its Native American rock art as much as for its spectacular landscapes. Kenneth Maryboy (in blanket), a Navajo activist, leads members of Hopi, Zuni, Ute, and other tribes in a sunrise prayer. Like all national monuments, federal lands in Bears Ears are withdrawn from new mining, energy development and grazing; existing valid rights and leases will be honored. In a historic move, Bears Ears National Monument recognizes Native American traditional and historical knowledge through means of a Commission. The establishment of the monument is subject to valid existing rights, including valid existing water rights. The boundaries described on the accompanying map are confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected. The people that lived there and built the structures there and carved on the cliffs there, that created the ceramics and the baskets and other things that we see thereâthe blood of those people is in my veins. His band used the area’s remote canyons to elude capture by the U.S. Army and avoid the fate that befell many other Navajo bands: surrender, the Long Walk, and forced relocation to Bosque Redondo. But we still have very strong ties to the Bears Ears area, and when the opportunity comes we make our pilgrimages back to the area to visit and to affirm what our oral history tells us. App.) The monument is managed by these two agencies. Historic remnants of Native American sheep-herding and farming are scattered throughout the area, and pottery and Navajo hogans record the lifeways of native peoples in the 19th and 20th centuries. We can see our shared sensibilities: We are all village-dwelling people. Because visitors travel from near and far, these lands support a growing travel and tourism sector that is a source of economic opportunity for the region. The Chinle Formation and the Wingate, Kayenta, and Navajo Formations above it provide one of the best continuous rock records of the Triassic-Jurassic transition in the world, crucial to understanding how dinosaurs dominated terrestrial ecosystems and how our mammalian ancestors evolved. We are farming people. His proclamation cut the size of the monument by a staggering 85%. The Puebloan peoples have a shared and common history that goes back a long time, and we don't necessarily have to put years to it. They tell of times when there were certain animals that were living there, certain birds that were there, celestial events. Much of this landscape is still actively grazed by livestock, used for personal firewood collection, and is available for many forms of recreation. We were seen as not only citizens of this great nation, but indigenous to it and part of its original fabric. All rights reserved. Euro-Americans first explored the Bears Ears area during the 18th century, and Mormon settlers followed in the late 19th century. Jim Enote is a member of the Zuni tribe. The traditional ecological knowledge amassed by the Native Americans whose ancestors inhabited this region, passed down from generation to generation, offers critical insight into the historic and scientific significance of the area. Could you share some of the history of your tribe? Famed Navajo headman K’aayélii was born around 1800 near the twin Bears Ears buttes. This advisory committee shall consist of a fair and balanced representation of interested stakeholders, including State and local governments, tribes, recreational users, local business owners, and private landowners. Bears Ears National Monument has a rich cultural heritage and is sacred to many Native American tribes who rely on these lands for traditional and ceremonial uses. The paleontological resources in the Bears Ears area are among the richest and most significant in the United States, and protection of this area will provide important opportunities for further archaeological and paleontological study.