On December 4th, the state of Utah issued a multi-million dollar contract bid, furthering their plans to file a lawsuit challenging the restoration of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, possibly all the way to the Supreme Court. ⁠

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The state was clearly not listening to the people.⁠

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Two days prior, on December 2nd, Tribal and Indigenous community leaders, in addition to people from across Utah, protested at the state Capitol to discourage the irresponsible misuse of state tax dollars. ⁠

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Tune into the latest episode of the Wild Utah podcast to hear each of the speakers from that night, recorded live at the Capitol:⁠

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• Malcom Lehi, Councilman of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and Co-Chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition

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• Timothy Nuvangyaoma, Chairman of the Hopi Tribe⁠

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• David Filfred, Co-Chair of Utah Diné Bikéyah

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• Olivia Juarez, Latinx Community Organizer for SUWA⁠

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• Brooke Larsen, Utah community activist, organizer, & writer⁠

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Take Action After this Episode:

Send a message to Utah Governor Cox and Attorney General Reyes to let them know that pursuing this lawsuit would be another monumental mistake!

Resources:

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

Utah Diné Bikéyah 

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: 

KSL: ‘Stop the attacks’: Tribal leaders, activists plead for end to ‘political football’ over Utah monuments

Salt Lake Tribune: Utahns gather at State Capitol to protest Attorney General’s lawsuit against Bears Ears National Monument restoration

Salt Lake Tribune: Utah Attorney General’s office selects law firm in legal challenge over Bears Ears and Grand Staircase monuments

KSL: Utah AG's Office picks national law firm to assist in potential monuments lawsuit

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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.