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U.S. NEWS Thursday 25 april 2019

National monument advisory panel new flashpoint in debate

Continued from Front Several committee mem- by Obama and kept by
bers defended the selec- Trump, who revised it to in-
They include San Juan tions, while making clear clude a spot for a county
County Commissioner they aren’t responsible for commissioner from San
Bruce Adams, ranchers Zeb overall composition. Juan County, Utah. The co-
Dalton and Gail Johnson, The conservation represen- alition —which includes the
resident Jami Bayles and tative, Miles Moretti, CEO of Hopi, Ute Indian, Ute Moun-
the two people selected the Mule Deer Foundation, tain Ute, Zuni tribes and
for tribal spots on the com- said he wants to help find Navajo Nation — is not par-
mittee: Ryan Benally and areas of consensus about ticipating in the commis-
Alfred Ben. They are the lands he grew to love while sion as part of its protest of
only Native Americans on he spent countless hours in the shrinkage. Adams, the
the committee. the 1980s horseback riding county commissioner, said
Many monument support- doing wildlife surveys for he has a hard time empa-
ers applied but weren’t the Utah Division of Wildlife. thizing about the lack of In this Dec. 4, 2017, file photo, President Donald Trump signs
chosen, said Josh Ewing, “I’m not coming with an tribal representation on the the hat of Bruce Adams, chairman of the San Juan County
Commission, after signing a proclamation to shrink the size of
executive director of the agenda,” Moretti said. new panel because the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante national monuments,
Friends of Cedar Mesa en- Ben, a vice president for coalition didn’t nominate in Salt Lake City.
vironmental group, and the Aneth Chapter of the anyone.q Associated Press
Gavin Noyes, executive di- Navajo Nation, called it an
rector of Utah Dine Bikeyah, honor to be on the panel
a tribal group that pushed and speak for his ances-
for Obama’s designation. tors. He was among Native
“Many of the people seem Americans who opposed
to be involved for political the monument designation
purposes, and not their ex- because he felt it would
pertise,” Ewing said. add unnecessary restric-
Bureau of Land Manage- tions on sacred lands.
ment spokeswoman Kim- “I’m a community leader,
berly Finch said in a state- and I know how the grass-
ment that the committee roots people think,” Ben
members were chosen by said.
the Department of the Inte- The Bears Ears Inter-Tribal
rior after a careful review of Coalition that advocated
a pool of 58 applications to for the monument didn’t
“reflect a wide variety ex- nominate anyone for the
pertise, experiences, and two tribal spots as part of
interests regarding public its continued protest of the
land management and the downsizing of the monu-
resources within the Bears ment, coalition co-chair
Ears National Monument.” Carleton Bowekaty said.
Each spot was earmarked They have repeatedly
for a certain group, such called for the BLM to halt
as paleontology, private the planning process be-
landowners, cattle grazing, cause of their pending law-
recreation, conservation suits challenging the legal-
and archaeology. ity of Trump’s decision.
The members were given Ben said the coalition has
one, two and three year- no place on this new ad-
terms to stagger when they visory committee because
will be replaced. The com- they already have their
mittee is expected to meet own advisory panel.
for the first time this sum- That separate six-person
mer. commission was created