Bears Ears National Monument

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Indian Creek and Sixshooter Peaks
Cedar-Mesa Plains

The Bears Ears National Monument is an American national monument in San Juan County in southeastern Utah . It was designated by President Barack Obama by a Presidential Proclamation on December 28, 2016 with an area of ​​1,351,849 acres (547,074 hectares ). The Presidential Proclamation also names the area name in the languages ​​of the local Indian tribes " Hoon'Naqvut , Shash Jáa , Kwiyagatu Nukavachi , Ansh An Lashokdiwe ". The National Monument covers land owned by the US government around the table mountains Bears Ears and Indian Creek Canyon . The Bears Ears National Monument is jointly cared for by the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service and the five local tribes Navajo Nation , Hopi , Ute Mountain Tribe , Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, and Zuñi . Even before it was designated a National Monument , parts of it were designated as Wilderness Area .

On December 4, 2017, President Donald Trump issued an order to reduce the area by 85 percent to 201,876 acres (81,696 hectares). As a result of the reduction in area, the National Monument would consist of the two sub-areas Indian Creek and Shash Jáa . The Indian Creek sub-area borders the Canyonlands National Park to the west . A federal court in Washington DC issued an interim order in September 2018, which means that the area reduction will not take effect for the time being. The Bureau of Land Management is obliged to notify the plaintiffs of all interventions in good time before the start, so that legal protection options remain.

History of the Bears Ears National Monument

Climber in Indian Creek

Designation of Bears Ears as a sanctuary has been proposed by members or staff of the United States Congress, the United States Department of the Interior , Utah politicians, tribal leaders, and local conservationists since the 1940s. Obama's Presidential Proclamation cites the reason for designating the Bears Ears National Monument to preserve its cultural, prehistoric and historical heritage and to preserve its diverse natural and scientific resources. The area includes numerous objects of historical and scientific interest and offers recreational activities such as climbing, hunting, hiking, canyoning, white water rafting, mountain biking and horse riding.

Administration and land ownership

Of the 1.35 million acres of the original demarcation, the Bureau of Land Management managed 1.06 million acres and the US Forest Service managed 289,000 acres. These areas are federally owned. 109,100 acres of land within the National Monument's lines of origin are owned by the state of Utah and 12,600 acres are privately owned. These state and private properties within the boundaries of the National Monument are not part of the Conservation Area. These state and private properties can only become part of the National Monument if they can be freely acquired by the United States. The designation of the National Monument has no influence on the rights of owners of properties that are not owned by the USA in or on the borders of the protected area.

Animal species

Prong Jacks in Indian Creek

Mammal species in the area include pronghorn , elk , mule deer , bighorn sheep , Audubon cottontail rabbit , donkey hare , prairie dog , mountain pocket rat , white-tailed antelope , Colorado chipmunk , canyon mouse, great badger , coyote , gray fox , black bobcat , puma and puma . The bison also occurred until the 19th century .

The birds of prey include the bald eagle , golden eagle , goshawk , red-tailed buzzard , king-footed buzzard, Hudson's harrier , peregrine falcon and great spotted falcon . The two species of great horned owl and ponderosa pygmy owl can be found in the area. More bird species are turkey , Williamson's Sapsucker , common nighthawk , Weißbrust sailors , violet-green swallow , Mourning Dove , pinyon jay and rock wren .

Among the snake species are species such as the western rattlesnake and the striped whip snake .

15 bat species were found in the sanctuary , including the silver- haired bat , spotted bat , Townsend long-eared bat , desert bat and greater free -tailed bat .

Archaeological and paleontological sites

Petroglyphs on Newspaper Rock
Cedar Mesa ruins

In the area of ​​the Obama designated Bears Ears National Monument are 9,000 proven archaeological sites and 100,000 archaeological sites are suspected. The finds range from the Clovis culture , around 9050 to 8850 BC. BC, beginning until the time of the white settlers. Early Indians left petroglyphs . In particular, there are numerous sites of the Anasazi with ruins of Pueblos in the area.

White settlers roamed the area. On their routes like the Hole-in-the-Rock-Trail , they smoothed parts of the rock surface of the paths. Remains of huts, paddocks and inscriptions in the rock also bear witness to the life of ranchers, prospectors and early archaeologists in the Bears Ears area . Outlaws have created a tortuous network of trails known as the Outlaw Trail . The Outlaw Trail is also said to have been used by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid . These outlaws used the confusing area, including Hideout Canyon (translated = hiding canyon), as a hiding place.

There are also many fossil finds in the area of ​​the original area . Bears Ears is one of the richest and most significant fossil sites in the United States. Of particular note is Arch Canyon , which is littered with fossils. Fossils there provide insight into the transition of vertebrate life from reptiles to mammals and from sea to land. Numerous fossils from the Permian period have been discovered, as well as other fossils from the late Paleozoic . Phytosauria and dinosaur fossils were found in the Triassic Chinle rock formation on Comb Ridge around Indian Creek . Paleontologists have identified new species of herbivorous, crocodile-like reptiles and mass graves of sauropods, as well as crocodiles and other dinosaur fossils. Fossilized traces of early tetrapods , fossilized ferns , horsetail, and cycads can be found in the Valley of the Gods and Indian Creek . The Chinle Formation, and the Wingate, Kayenta, and Navajo Formations above, provide one of the best continuous records of the Triassic- Jurassic transition in the world. The finds there provide insight into how dinosaurs dominated terrestrial ecosystems and how our mammalian ancestors developed. Scientists have found traces of mammoths , bears, ground sloths, primates, and camels in Pleistocene epoch sediments .

Area reduction by President Trump

President Trump signing Executive Order 13792
Bears Ears National Monument Map (March 2017)
Bears Ears National Monument Map (March 2018)

After the expulsion of the Bears Ears National Monuments in 2016 there was massive opposition from politicians of the Republican as the governor of the State of Utah Gary Herbert , businessmen and ranchers. Immediately after the expulsion in December 2016, some observers thought it possible that an elected President Donald Trump or other Republicans would try to overturn the expulsion, although there is no clear legal mechanism for the president to do this unilaterally.

On April 26, 2017, President Trump, with Executive Order 13792, instructed the United States Department of the Interior to review the area of ​​27 National Monuments, which were designated after January 1, 1996 and are at least 100,000 hectares in size. On June 10, 2017, Home Secretary Ryan Zinke presented an interim report on Executive Order 13792 , calling for the Bears Ears National Monument to be reduced in size. On August 24, Zinke submitted the final report on Executive Order 13792 . The final report called for land reductions in the Bears Ears National Monument, Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument , Gold Butte National Monument , Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument , Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, and Rose Atoll Marine National Monument . In addition, more traditional human uses such as grazing, logging, coal mining and commercial fishing are to be allowed within the protected areas for all National Monuments examined. Zinke justified this by saying that presidents had gone too far in recent decades to restrict commercial activities in the National Monuments. This report also suggested to check whether Camp Nelson, training camp for African-Americans in the American Civil War , Medgar Evers Home and Badgers Two Medicine with an area size of 130,000 acres in the Lewis and Clark National Forest are to be designated as national monuments.

The area reduction by President Trump on December 4, 2017 is controversial and affects not only the Bears Ears National Monument but also the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument . The right to reduce the area will be clarified in court. The land reduction was seen as a victory for oil and mining companies with the Republican Party over environmentalists and Indian tribes. In the area of ​​land reduction, there are deposits of crude oil , uranium and hard coal . In US history, sixteen national monuments have been reduced in area eighteen times by US presidents. There has been no reduction in area since 1962. Trump's reduction in the area of ​​the two National Monuments is the largest reduction in US history. Three different lawsuits have been filed against this reduction. They were submitted by the five local Indian tribes, the outdoor clothing company Patagonia and various nature and environmental protection associations. These non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are The Access Fund , The Wilderness Society , Sierra Club , Defenders of Wildlife , Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance , WildEarth Guardians , Society of Vertebrate Paleontology , National Trust for Historic Preservation , National Parks Conservation Association , Center for Biological Diversity and Natural Resources Defense Council . According to the lawsuits, Trump's land reduction is illegal.

On December 4, 2017, the deputies of the Republican Party of Utah brought John R. Curtis , Rob Bishop , Chris Stewart and Mia Love in the United States Congress a bill in order from the two faces of the Bears Ears National Monument the Shash JAA National Monument and to do the Indian Creek National Monument . Shash Jáa would be administered by a seven-member council, including four councilors from Native American tribes, while Indian Creek would be administered by a five-member council with only one member of the Indians.

Others

Moki Dugway

Highway Utah State Route 261 runs through the Bears Ears National Monument . A section of the highway is called the Moki Dugway . This section overcomes a height of 335 m over a length of 4.8 km. The upper part of the road is unpaved, but the lower part is paved.

literature

Web links

Commons : Bears Ears National Monument  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Presidential Proclamation - Establishment of the Bears Ears National Monument
  2. ↑ The Atlantic: A Setback for Trump's plan to slash Public Lands , October 1, 2018
  3. ↑ Information sheet from the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service Bears Ears National Monument Questions & Answers
  4. ↑ Burrilio, RE, 2017. "The Archeology of Bears Ears." The SAA Archaeological Record. 15, 5, pp. 9-18.
  5. ↑ Harry Bruinius: For Native Americans, new national monument a rare victory . In: The Christian Science Monitor , The Christian Science Publishing Society, December 29, 2016. 
  6. ↑ Uglesich, J., Gay, RJ and Stegner, MA, 2017. Paleontology of the Bears Ears National Monument: history of exploration and designation of the monument. PeerJ Preprints , 5, no. E3442v1.
  7. ↑ Reactions to Utah's new Bears Ears National Monument, from scathing to celebratory The Salt Lake Tribune, December 29, 2016
  8. ↑ Just How Hard Is It to Undo Bears Ears? Outside on December 29, 2016
  9. ↑ Executive Order 13792 of April 26, 2017 Review of Designations Under the Antiquities Act
  10. ↑ Interim Report EO 13792
  11. ^ Department of Interior: Secretary Zinke Submits 45-Day Interim Report on Bears Ears National Monument and Extends Public Comment Period . US Department of the Interior. June 12, 2017.
  12. ↑ Final Report Summarizing findings of the Review of Designations Under the Antiquities Act
  13. ↑ Shrink at least 4 national monuments and modify a half-dozen others, Zinke tells Trump Washington Post, September 17, 2017
  14. ↑ Josh Siegel: Trump announces he will shrink Bears Ears, Grand Staircase monuments in Utah . Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  15. ^ New York Times: Patagonia, REI and Other Outdoor Retailers Protest Trump's Decision to Shrink Utah Monuments , January 13, 2018
  16. ↑ Areas cut out of Utah monuments are rich in oil, coal, uranium . In: The Washington Post , December 7, 2017. Archived from the original on January 2, 2018. 
  17. ↑ Juliet Eilperin: Uranium firm urged Trump officials to shrink Bears Ears National Monument . In: The Washington Post , December 8, 2017. Archived from the original on January 13, 2018. 
  18. ^ "Antiquities Act 1906-2006: Maps, facts and figures" . nps.gov . US National Park Service list of designations, area enlargements and reductions.
  19. ↑ Keith Schneider, Trump dramatically shrinks two national monuments in Utah, assailing rule by 'distant bureaucrats' Los Angeles Times, December 7, 2017.
  20. ↑ To create the first Tribally managed national monument, and for other purposes ( Memento of the original from January 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 115th United States Congress HR 4532 Bill @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / naturalresources.house.gov

Coordinates: 37 ° 42 ′ 0 ″  N , 109 ° 55 ′ 12 ″  W.