Take Action: Stand with the Antiquities Act

(April 27, 2017)—An attack on one national monument is an attack on all national monuments.

On April 26, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order requiring the Department of the Interior to review national monument designations since 1996 that are greater than 100,000 acres or that might have occurred with inadequate public consultation.

Here is a link to footage of that proceeding, posted by the PBS News Hour. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UsMXjxUnyk

Here is the text of the executive order at whitehouse.gov. https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/04/26/presidential-executive-order-review-designations-under-antiquities-act

Here is a link to Archaeology Southwest’s official statement denouncing the executive order. https://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/2017/04/26/archaeology-southwest-stands-with-the-antiquities-act/

Here is a link to a fact-check by Jonathan Thompson at High Country News of claims made during the proceeding and in the order itself. http://www.hcn.org/articles/fact-checking-hatch-trump-on-bears-ears-national-monument

Here is a link to an article by Brian Maffly in the Salt Lake Tribune in which former Interior Secretary Sally Jewell refutes claims made by Bears Ears opponents and public lands opponents. http://www.sltrib.com/news/5216776-155/jewell-defends-bears-ears-monument-process

Here is a radio interview on KJZZ (Phoenix-area public radio) with Francis P. McManamon, an archaeologist and expert on the Antiquities Act, and a co-author of The Antiquities Act: A Century of American Archaeology, Historic Preservation, and Nature Conservation (with David Harmon and Dwight T. Pitcaithley, University of Arizona Press, 2006): http://theshow.kjzz.org/content/467662/antiquities-act-gains-attention-after-trumps-monuments-order

Now, are you ready to join us at Archaeology Southwest and Stand with the Antiquities Act? Are you ready to Stand with Bears Ears?

Good.

Here are some actions you might take:

UPDATE, MAY 12, 2017: To submit comments on the Bears Ears National Monument before the May 26 deadline, use this link from our friends at Monuments for All. They will archive all responses and ensure that they are delivered via the proper portal at regulations.gov: http://monumentsforall.org/takeaction/.

1: Contact your elected representatives and let them know that our public lands are sacrosanct. Speak to your experiences with and appreciation for public lands. You are welcome to use talking points from our official statement. This tool from our friends at the Society for American Archaeology will help you reach your elected representatives. http://saa.org/AbouttheSociety/CongressionalAction/tabid/1552/Default.aspx#/

2: National monuments—especially those managed by the Bureau of Land Management—have “Friends” groups that support and advocate for them. You can review a list of those (linked to their home pages) at the Friends Grassroots Network page at the Conservation Lands Foundation’s website (http://conservationlands.org/). Find a monument near or dear to you and donate. Contact them and find out how you might help them directly. http://conservationlands.org/friends

Other ideas? Let us know in the comments.

3: If you are on Twitter, join us in relentlessly tweeting to @SecretaryZinke and @POTUS letting them know that you #StandWithBearsEars and with #MonumentsForAll. It is especially important that you retweet messages that have the effect of amplifying Tribal voices. All your tweets are being tallied as “impressions” and will have an impact on the behavior of the media and elected representatives.

Some Twitter accounts to consider following:

@Arch_SW

@cedarmesafriend

@GoldButteNV

@LandscapeObserv

@NuestraTierraNM

@MonumentsMatter

@Patagonia

@PLSorg

@savebearsears

@WstrnPriorities

Other ideas? Let us know in the comments.

4: If you are on Facebook, please post and share information, statements, and media stories about this executive order and its potential impacts on our public lands. I have found it useful to counter misinformation with the High Country News fact-check (again, that link: http://www.hcn.org/articles/fact-checking-hatch-trump-on-bears-ears-national-monument).

Some Facebook pages to consider following:

Archaeology Southwest: https://www.facebook.com/ArchaeologySouthwest/

Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition: https://www.facebook.com/protectbearsears/

Conservation Lands Foundation: https://www.facebook.com/conservationlands/

Friends of Cedar Mesa: https://www.facebook.com/cedarmesafriends/

Friends of Gold Butte: https://www.facebook.com/GoldButte/

Friends of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks: https://www.facebook.com/FriendsOMDP/

Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project: https://www.facebook.com/NuestraTierraCP/

Utah Diné Bikéyah: https://www.facebook.com/utahdinebikeyah/

Other ideas? Let us know in the comments.

5: You might wish to comment via this contact page at the Department of the Interior: https://www.doi.gov/contact-us/

6: You might wish to call this hotline to the Department of the Interior: 1-888-434-0402; Secretary Zinke’s office: 1-202-208-7351

An attack on one national monument is an attack on all national monuments.