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SALT LAKE CITY — The deadline for Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to make a recommendation to President Donald Trump on the fate of Utah's Bears Ears National Monument is today, with an announcement expected soon.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who pushed Trump for a review of controversial monument designations, said the second look at Bears Ears gave Utah a critical chance to provide input.
"The president’s executive order on public lands has given Utahns — especially the residents of San Juan County — a powerful voice in the process of protecting these sacred lands," he said. "I commend the president for acting decisively to right the wrongs of his predecessor. I’m prepared to support whatever recommendation Secretary Zinke offers to the president at the conclusion of a thoughtful and inclusive review process."
Zinke's anticipated recommendations follow a four-day tour to Utah in which he visited the remote and rugged region of San Juan County and also traveled to see key areas of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument designated in 1996.
Overall, 27 monuments of 100,000 acres or more are under a review by Zinke's department as the result of an executive order Trump issued in late April.
Trump's order specifically set in motion an accelerated review of Bears Ears with a recommendation to be made in 45 days, while the rest of the recommendations are due within 120 days of the order.
Trump wants to know if the large monument designations meet with the requirements of the 1906 Antiquities Act, which gives the U.S. president the authority to "reserve" lands to protect cultural resources.
His order asks Zinke to also consider the impacts on land use within the monument boundaries and on lands adjacent to monuments and if local input was sufficiently considered.
The Bears Ears landscape has been politically charged due to the monument debate that squares Utah's GOP leaders against members of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and conservation groups.
Native American tribal leaders say the land's cultural resources need to be protected from looting; critics say enforcement of federal existing federal laws will address those needs.
Members of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition are meeting in the Bears Ears region at Comb Wash this weekend for a gathering to celebrate the landscape and their heritage.
