Now that we’ve collectively taken a month or so to deeply breathe in full restoration of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments to their original boundaries: what comes next? We’ve invited SUWA’s Legal Director, Steve Bloch to explain the current state of things. Steve has guided SUWA’s work through legal and administrative challenges on both monuments over the years, and he’s here to bring us up to date on the process, answer your questions, and explain what you can do to reinforce protections for these outstanding places.

Take Action After this Episode:

Sign a thank you card to President Biden and Interior Secretary Haaland for restoring Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments!

Attend an upcoming webcast with Oregonians of Wild Utah, Washington Friends of Wild Utah, and Jacqueline Keeler to further unpack the future of Bears Ears.

Resources:

Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition Statement on Bears Ears National Monument restoration 

SUWA Statement on Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument restorations

Learn more about SUWA’s stance on Bears Ears here

Learn more about SUWA’s stance on Grand Staircase-Escalante here

Highlights In the News: 

KSLTV: Tribes, advocates praise Bears Ears restoration

High Country News: Bears Ears is back-- but don’t celebrate just yet

Washington Post Opinion: Bears Ears is protected again. But for how long?

Deseret Opinion: It’s time to deflate the Bears Ears political football

Huffington Post: Utah Republicans Shamelessly Invoke Tribes to Condemn Bidens Monument Restorations

ABC 7 Denver: Native stewards of Bears Ears hope for more Indigenous voices to be included in federal land management

KUTV2: Utah AG challenging orders over Bears Ears, Grand Staircase National Monuments

Outside Magazine Op-Ed: There’s more work to do at Bears Ears

Thank you to our show supporters!

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Theme music is by Haley Noel Austin, with interlude music by Larry Pattis.

Dave Pacheco is the host of Wild Utah.

Post studio production and editing is by Laura Borichevsky.

A transcript of this episode can be found here.