Will a Bears Ears Monument Declaration Lead to Armed Rebellion?

Will a Bears Ears Monument Declaration Lead to Armed Rebellion?
For centuries, humans have used the red sandstone canyons here as a way to mark their existence. First came archaic hunter-gatherers who worked in Glen Canyon Linear, a crude geometrical style dating back more than 3,500 years. Then about 2,000 years later, early ancestral Pueblo farmers of the Basketmaker period used more subtle lines to produce a man in headdress. A little more than 700 years ago came their descendants, who used the same kind of hard river stone to make drawings of bighorn sheep and a flute player in the ancient rock. Now, President Obama is weighing whether and how he can leave his own permanent imprint on history by designating about 2 million acres of land, known as the Bears Ears, as a national monument. http://wapo.st/1sB9m7Y – Washington Post

Anti-Bears Ears Screeds Only Make the Case for Monument Designation Stronger
This is far from the first time that offensive efforts to support a political position have won no friends and redoubled the resolve of opponents. No, this is nothing to do with the fact that one person who opposes the anti-pornography crusade of certain members of the Utah Legislature somehow thinks he’s making any friends by sending every member of the House and Senate copies of his porn rag. Though the result is likely to be the same. Offense is given. Battle lines are more definitely drawn. No hearts won. No minds changed. http://bit.ly/1Ude3Oq – Salt Lake Tribune

Bluff Communities Rally to Stop Sale of Comb Ridge Parcel
Tuesday night in our tiny town of fewer than 100 households, more than 100 people attended a public meeting to express their concerns and ask questions about the proposed sale of a 640-acre parcel of SITLA land on the Comb Ridge. The property in question is just west of Bluff where the Comb Ridge is bisected by Highway 162. It’s the most accessible part of the Comb, and Bluff residents consider the land their local park. To people from across Utah, the country and abroad, this section of the Comb is an integral part of a connected landscape, a jewel of our national public lands. If sold to the highest bidder in a SITLA auction this October, it would be the only privatized section of the sandstone spine. http://bit.ly/1UuF8tK – Friends of Cedar Mesa

An Overview of the Antiquities Act
As Americans anticipate summer vacation, many are planning trips to our nation’s iconic national parks, such as the Grand Canyon, Zion, Acadia and Olympic. But they may not realize that these and other parks exist because presidents used their power under the Antiquities Act, enacted on June 8, 1906, to protect those places from exploitation and development. The Antiquities Act has saved many special places, but at times its use has angered nearby communities. Some critics argue that presidents have used the act to restrict natural resource development. Others simply do not like the fact that the president has such power – even though Congress gave it to presidents by passing the law. http://bit.ly/1PVu9gY – The Conversation

Editorial: It’s Time for A Great Bend of the Gila National Monument
This year marks the 240th anniversary of Juan Bautista de Anza leading an excursion of 240 settlers and a large herd of cattle across a 1,200-mile route from Nogales, Arizona to the San Francisco Bay Area. Anza is only one of the countless pioneers who trekked across the surrounding desert area that makes up the Great Bend of the Gila to settle the western frontier. His trail remains an integral part of the Southwest’s historic landscape more than two centuries later. http://bit.ly/1Pnt2kx – Arizona Daily Star

Despite Overwhelming Public Support, Colorado BLM Citizen Advisory Board Rejects Master Leasing Plan
On Friday, there was not enough support on a BLM citizen advisory council to recommend the BLM pursue a master leasing plan for future oil-and-gas development in eastern Montezuma County and western La Plata County. http://bit.ly/1U8i4aa – The Journal

Help Protect a Chacoan Pueblo
Prehistoric archaeological sites in the U.S. are dwindling in number as new construction and infrastructure are needed for our modern lives. But when opportunities arise to survey archaeologically important land and preserve the past for future generations, many people want to embrace them. The Archaeological Conservancy is enlisting in their new campaign everyone who wants to help save an endangered ancient Pueblo village near Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. http://onforb.es/1XhQKq4 – Forbes & http://bit.ly/1U3aoR7 – Archaeological Conservancy via Generosity.com

New Mexico Cuts Support for Historic Sites
The state Department of Cultural Affairs plans to cut its operating budget by eliminating the jobs of six of the seven managers who oversee historic sites across New Mexico. Only the manager of the Fort Sumner Historic Site will remain, according to one manager. Fort Sumner is where the American military kept the Navajo and the Mescalero Apache Indians in internment camps from 1863-68. http://bit.ly/233wKHU – Santa Fe New Mexican

Gila River Archaeology Fair
Meet with the staff and students of Archaeology Southwest/University of Arizona’s 2016 Preservation Archaeology Field School to share information about people’s lives in the Upper Gila River region in the distant past. The event will be held June 25 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Gila River Farm, a property owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy. Directions: Take Hwy. 180 approximately 30 miles west of Silver City. Drive past the turn-off on Hwy. 211 towards Gila. Take the second turn for Hwy. 211 in Cliff. After about a mile on 211, go left (north) on Hwy. 293 and drive to mile marker 4. Take a right immediately after the mile marker sign, turning into the driveway with a small sign that says “Gila River Farm.” http://bit.ly/1UKv4Q5

Preservation Archaeology on Elk Ridge
During the week of May 23, something wholly unremarkable and yet almost never talked about in the media took place in southeast Utah: a group of volunteers did important work and had a ton of fun doing it. For years, Bluff-based conservation and advocacy group Friends of Cedar Mesa (FCM) has organized and directed citizen efforts to protect cultural resources on public lands in the Bears Ears area of southeastern Utah. Past and ongoing projects include trail maintenance, fence and sign construction, research and guidance for land management agencies, organizing site stewardship, hosting celebratory events, and so on. Being focused on Cedar Mesa (obviously), most of this work has occurred on BLM-administered lands. The high uplands of nearby Elk Ridge—actual location of the eponymous Bears Ears formations—is engulfed almost entirely by the Manti-La Sal National Forest and is, thus, Forest Service land. http://bit.ly/1YkpFBZ – Archaeology Southwest

Lecture Opportunity – Santa Fe
Southwest Seminars Presents Dr. Matthew Liebmann, who will give a lecture, What Happened After 1492? on June 13 at 6pm at Hotel Santa Fe as part of the Voices From the Past Lecture Series held to honor and acknowledge The New Mexico History Museum. Contact Connie Eichstaedt tel:505 466-2775; email: southwest seminar@aol.com; website: http://bit.ly/YhJddr – Southwest Seminars

Lecture Opportunity – Santa Fe
Southwest Seminars Presents Dr. Mike Adler, Director, SMU-in Taos and Department of Anthropology Southern Methodist University; Editor, The Prehistoric World, A.D 1150-1350 and Co-Editor, Picuris Pueblo Through Time: Eight Centuries at a Northern Rio Grande Pueblo who will give a lecture June 20 at 6pm at Hotel Santa Fe as part of the Voices From the Past Lecture Series held to honor and acknowledge The New Mexico History Museum. Contact Connie Eichstaedt tel:505 466-2775; email: southwest seminar@aol.com; website: southwestseminars.org

Thanks to Cherie Freeman and Jim Bon for contributions to this week’s newsletter.