We demand better protection for #BearsEars and all of its treasures. Tell the Interior Department: Reject the new uranium drilling planned outside of Bears Ears.

https://environmental-action.webaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=55067&supporter_KEY=6230117&uid=6e4205d258b4eaa27d3fd92bbbc27089&utm_source=salsa&utm_medium=email&tag=email_blast:121992&utm_campaign=EAC4-FCNS:SPECPLCCNS-0623&utm_content=EM9:01C:0HH-AAP/

The #WhiteMesa uranium mill, located just a mile outside of #BearsEars, has 700 million pounds of #ToxicWaste stored in ponds on-site -- an ecological sword of Damocles that's already hanging over the monument.

https://thehill.com/policy/equilibrium-sustainability/598471-uranium-mill-adjacent-to-bears-ears-has-become-a/

Some things are priceless. They're what national monuments are supposed to protect. And #BearsEars is full of priceless treasures, including:

- the #ValleyOfTheGods, with rock formations so rare and strange that it supplied a backdrop for episodes of the science-fiction show "Doctor Who,"

- the #CaliforniaCondor, one of the most #endangered birds in the world, with only a few hundred left in the wild

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/american-treasure-risk-bears-ears-national-monument-stacks-u-s-national-parks/

UPDATE: Many tribal, environmental groups now SUPPORT a proposed land swap between Utah and the feds over land in Bears Ears National Monument. They're normally at odds with Utah political leaders: https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/tribal-coalition-backs-bears-ears-land-swap-between-utah-feds #utpol #Utah #BearsEars

JUST IN: The Bears Ears Commission, made up of tribal leaders with stakes in Bears Ears National Monument, announces it will SUPPORT a land swap between Utah and the feds: https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/tribal-coalition-backs-bears-ears-land-swap-between-utah-feds #utpol #Utah #BearsEars

ICYMI, a major land swap involving Bears Ears National Monument has been approved by Utah's legislative leadership and it's now headed to Congress: https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/major-land-swap-involving-bears-ears-national-monument-is-moving-forward #utpol #Utah #BearsEars

This is a SIGNIFICANT amount of land the state of Utah would trade with the U.S. Department of Interior. And it's getting support from pretty much everyone (environmental and tribal groups haven't taken a position but some have been supportive in concept in the past): https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/major-land-swap-involving-bears-ears-national-monument-is-moving-forward #utpol #Utah #BearsEars

I sat in a meeting of the Utah State Legislative Management Committee (made up of Republican and Democratic House & Senate leaders) on the *chance* what was discussed could be a story.

It sure did: https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/major-land-swap-involving-bears-ears-national-monument-is-moving-forward #utpol #Utah #BearsEars

https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/environment/tribes-v-donald-trump/

The #Tribes vs. Donald Trump

Last December, when the #Trump administration announced its decision to shrink #BearsEars National #Monument

Valley of the Gods
Bears Ears National Monument, UT

A view of a few of the pinnacles at the head of the valley near where I camped last October.

This area is where the fictitious action takes place in Anne Hillerman's latest novel, The Way of the Bear (see yesterday's toots.)

#photo #landscape #BearsEars #Utah

Comb Ridge
Bears Ears National Monument, Utah

A sandstone monocline running north-south in southern Utah and into Arizona. This photo looks north along the steep western face near US-163 west of Blanding. This is the edge of the uplift. Cedar Mesa is to the left.

The eastern side of the ridge is deeply-bedded white Cedar Mesa sandstone and forms a more gradual slope down to Butler Wash. Many Ancestral Puebloan ruins can be found in this area.

#photo #landscape #BearsEars #NationalMonument #Utah

The Painted Hand ruin is part of the Cutthroat Castle unit of Hovenweep National Monument. Sleeping Ute Mountain is visible in the background. Sadly, this area has been closed since 2018 because a private property owner refuses to allow access through their property.

#Ruin #Utah #CanyonCountry #AncestralPueblo #BearsEars #VisitwithRespect #HonorTribes

A pristine ruin in the canyon country of SE Utah (2020).

#Utah #CanyonCountry #Ruin #AncestralPueblo #BearsEars #VisitwithRespect #HonorTribes

MEDIA RELEASE: Conservation groups granted intervention in lawsuit over Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments.

#NationalMonument #BearsEars #GrandStaircase #BearEarsInterTribalCoalition

“The Biden administration is doing the right thing by fighting these attacks on these public land crown jewels, and we are eager to join them, and Indigenous groups, in rallying to the defense of these lands.”

https://www.westernwatersheds.org/2023/03/conservation-groups-granted-intervention-to-defend-utah-national-monuments/

Directly behind me, at the terminus of this narrow rimrock finger, is an Ancestral Puebloan ruin. It was probably a defensive position in which a small family group lived. I am mesmerize every time I stand on this precipice, looking back at the connecting mesa top, imaging what it was like ~800yrs ago to see a marauding band scrambling down from the distant mesa. I imagine the back & forth conversations that took place here.

#SouthWest #Utah #FourCorners #BearsEars #Archaeology #Photography

#photomonday here's a quick shot from #bearsears. This was one of my first half-way decent #astrophotography shots.

@AdamMSowards
As a #Utahn, I totally disagree with your driver.

A truly disgusting pasttime of way too many Southern Utahns is "pot hunting".

https://www.aspentimes.com/news/a-utah-towns-love-of-indian-artifacts-backfires/

Bears Ears should have been protected from these people. Instead our state is supporting them in the name of fossil fuels and uranium mining.

#BearsEars

Sunset at Sixshooter Peaks, Bears Ears National Monument, Utah (10/20/2020).

#Sunset #Butte #BearsEars #CanyonCountry #Utah #RedRock #SlickRock #LinuxPhotography #Darktable #VisitWithRespect #StandWithBearsEars #HonorTribes

My latest #newsletter is up on #Substack. Check it out!

This week, the #AntiquitiesAct, #PublicLands, and opposing #Conservation is the focus with trips to #GrandCanyon, #JacksonHole, and #BearsEars. I hope you enjoy and subscribe.

https://adamsowards.substack.com/p/opposing-conservation-the-classroom

My latest #newsletter is up on #Substack. Check it out!

This week, the #AntiquitiesAct, #PublicLands, and opposing #Conservation is the focus with trips to #GrandCanyon, #JacksonHole, and #BearsEars. I hope you enjoy and subscribe.

https://adamsowards.substack.com/p/opposing-conservation-the-classroom