Happy Saturday, and welcome to Inside Voices, a weekly newsletter that features a collection of ideas, perspectives and solutions from across Utah — without any of the vitriol or yelling that’s become all too common on other platforms. Subscribe here.
Earlier this summer, the U.S. Department of Justice released a legal opinion suggesting a president may be able to undo national monument designations.
Malcolm Lehi, a councilman for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and co-chair for the Bears Ears Commission who shared his perspective in an op-ed published this week, said the decision is “not just a bureaucratic threat, it’s a deeply personal one.”
“We don’t see Bears Ears as a partisan political issue,” he writes. “It is a place of prayer, healing and deep meaning. Efforts to shrink or weaken the Monument’s protections harm our culture, our rights and our future.”
Since its designation as a national monument in 2016, Bears Ears boundaries have been redrawn more than once. In 2022, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe worked in partnership with federal agencies to create a Resource Management Plan (RMP) that “reflects a new way of working together.”
“The plan centers Traditional Indigenous Knowledge and shared responsibility,” Lehi writes. “It protects sacred places and puts Tribal voices at the heart of its stewardship. This Tribal-informed management also benefits Utah’s economy. It supports outdoor recreation, tourism and small businesses. A healthy land means more jobs and local revenues.”
Lehi goes on to write that Bears Ears “needs a path that does not swing back and forth with elections. This living, sacred cultural landscape deserves lasting protection. That means continued protections and the continued recognition of Tribal Nations as collaborative management partners. It means implementing the RMP and maintaining ongoing engagement with the Tribes of the Bears Ears Commission.”
I’m grateful to the councilman for sharing his unique perspective, and I hope you’ll read his entire commentary.
Want to share your own experience? Take a look at our op-ed guidelines and reach out to voices@sltrib.com with any questions.
Utah Voices
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Dinosaur National Monument is a certified International Dark Sky Park as visitors learn about Utahs earliest inhabitants on Monday, July 10, 2021.
The following excerpts come from op-eds recently published in The Tribune.
Why one Utahn ‘fears’ for the future of Dinosaur National Monument
“The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ proposed a nearly $4 billion cut to national parks, national forests, wildlife refuges, wilderness and recreation areas, and more, which have already impacted staffing, maintenance, visitor services, resource protection and will likely impact paleontology research, which is central to the Dinosaur park’s mission,” writes Tom Elder in Vernal. “It is a bitter thing to see something so worthwhile and uplifting sabotaged and defunded by its own government. I thought (and still hope) that the vast reservoir of goodwill that people have for the National Park Service would protect these special places. I am not so sure anymore.” Read more.
Ballpark’s green space is ‘a matter of public health and historic inequity’
“Salt Lake City is circulating a draft plan for the Smith’s Ballpark site — a rare, nearly 15-acre stretch of public land that includes the stadium, a large parking lot and Fire Station 8 at Main Street and 1300 South,” writes Amy J. Hawkins and Robert Wilson. “This site could be transformative. But significantly cutting green space — especially in a neighborhood that already lacks it — would be a serious mistake. This isn’t just about losing a lawn. It’s about amplifying exposure to extreme heat, worsening public health and ignoring a neighborhood’s long history of being underserved. Utah has warmed twice as fast as the global average over the past 50 years, and the Ballpark neighborhood is especially vulnerable.” Read more.
Why it’s time for Utah to ‘reconsider what accountability looks like’
“Sigma Nu’s removal from campus may feel good; it may feel like justice. But I believe that real accountability is found when we imagine and enact something more transformative than punishment,” writes Tillie Powell, the graduation assistant at the McCluskey Center for Violence Prevention. “Accountability should not be reduced to removal or cancellation. True accountability means change, and change requires empathy, reflection and repair. If we want our communities to be safer and more just, we must start first by practicing accountability ourselves and with the people close to us, laying the groundwork for our institutions to do the same. We all deserve more than fear and secrecy. We deserve growth.” Read more.
Salt Lake’s public safety problem is ‘the product of a system-wide disconnect’
“The Salt Lake City Police Department is being asked to respond to a reality that goes far beyond traditional law enforcement,” writes Liddy Huntsman Hernández, a board member of the Salt Lake City Police Foundation. “Officers are now expected to act as mental health responders, addiction counselors, crisis mediators and more. All while handling routine calls for service with fewer resources ... As Chief Redd enacts his vision of policing with empathy, respect and integrity while enforcing the laws, the community it serves also needs to show the officers on the street empathy, respect and integrity. We’re already seeing early progress, but vision without infrastructure will fall flat.” Read more.
Utah must ‘cut through the fog of NIMBYism’
“No place will be perfect for the new center for services to the homeless, especially in the eyes of those who will find themselves living nearby,” writes the editorial board. “But it’s time to select a site, and to make it up to the surrounding community by funding services and police presence, so that whatever location is selected doesn’t just become another dangerous warehouse.”Read more.
Share Your Perspective
(Ted S. Warren|The Associated Press) The interior of an Alaska Airlines passenger flight on a Boeing 737-9 Max airplane glows with blue lights, Monday, March 1, 2021.
In light of recent aviation news, do you feel safe traveling by air? Tell me why or why not.
From Bagley’s Desk
Bears Ears | Pat Bagley
I’m always looking for unique perspectives, ideas and solutions that move our state forward. Learn more about our guidelines for an op-ed, guest essay, letter to the editor and more here, and drop me a note at voices@sltrib.com.