This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Utah delegation manipulated the president into signing an aggressive executive order demanding review of our recently proclaimed large national monuments. Sen. Orrin Hatch was "relentless," in the president's words. Citizens must be equally relentless in defense of these remarkable places.
Rep. Rob Bishop's contribution to this campaign of misinformation is jaw-dropping. In The Tribune (May 3), he says of Bears Ears: "No local tribe in San Juan County, Utah, supported this designation." Bishop knows better.
The Utah political elite foregrounds one Navajo woman who energetically repeats their talking points, San Juan County Commissioner Rebecca Benally. The delegation acts as if Benally speaks for the Navajo Nation. She does not. More than half of San Juan County citizens are members of the Navajo Nation. Six of seven of their Utah chapter-houses (the primary community unit of the Navajo Nation) support the Bears Ears monument. The Navajo Tribal Council supports the monument. Navajo Tribal President Russell Begaye speaks eloquently on behalf of Bears Ears.
The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, which also includes San Juan County residents, supports the monument.
The delegation contorts the facts to argue that we should abolish or shrink Bears Ears National Monument. Either would be an egregious act of disrespect to native people and an attack on tribal sovereignty.
Stephen Trimble
Torrey