Bears Ears Monument Management Plan Roundly Denounced

Bears Ears Monument Management Plan Roundly Denounced
Nearly two years after dramatically shrinking the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, the Trump administration finalized a management plan Friday that would allow trees to be plowed down using heavy chains, as well as utility lines and more ranching, in the smaller area that is still preserved. The new plan for the nearly 202,000-acre expanse of public land, which removes five Native American tribes from the management board of a monument they fought to designate, drew immediate protest from conservation and tribal groups. https://wapo.st/2YG9S8I – Washington Post

The U.S. government has decided to allow off-road vehicles access to archaeologically sensitive land at a Utah national monument that houses sacred tribal sites under a plan announced Friday. The Bureau of Land Management’s plan for the Bears Ears National Monument says that certain historic sites most at risk will be off limits, but the agency chose an alternative that closes about 42 square miles to off-road vehicles. That’s far less than a different option that would have closed nearly 184 square miles. https://cbsn.ws/2YA248m – CBS News

“Bears Ears is a treasure that everyone should be able to enjoy and should be protected for future generations who hold it sacred,” said Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., head of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands and one of the first Native American women elected to Congress. “However, this administration’s management plan only reinforces its illegal action to steal huge swaths of land from the national monument so that oil and gas and mining companies can exploit the land. It puts sacred sites at risk of being lost forever.” http://bit.ly/2SQlyQO – Salt Lake Tribune

Commentaries on the Monument Management Plan
To be honest, Archaeology Southwest had low expectations for the final version of this plan. But, upon seeing it, we are further discouraged and disappointed by what it implies about broken processes and ruinous priorities for the management of our public lands. http://bit.ly/2K0zJ2T – Archaeology Southwest

Over all, despite the advocacy of FCM and many others, the final plan fails to provide the area with robust protections enjoyed by national monuments across the country. Conversely, in some cases, the plan actually reduces protections this internationally significant landscape enjoyed before being included in Trump’s monument. http://bit.ly/2Yw6pZZ – Friends of Cedar Mesa

Just as numerous reports have shown that the reductions were in fact focused on drilling and mining, this proposed plan shows that the BLM misled the public when claiming that a reduced boundary would allow them to better manage and protect what they considered to be the most important historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest monument objects in the Bears Ears region. http://bit.ly/2YxHDbT – Conservation Lands Foundation

New BLM Acting Head Is No Friend of Public Lands
An ardent critic of the federal government who has argued for selling off almost all public lands has been named the Trump administration’s top steward over nearly a quarter-million federally controlled acres, raising new questions about the administration’s intentions for vast Western ranges and other lands roamed by hunters, hikers and wildlife. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt on Monday signed an order making Wyoming native William Perry Pendley acting head of the Bureau of Land Management. http://bit.ly/2SSgRpC – Associated Press

Commentary: BLM Move Is Not a Good Thing
County commissioners in the rural American West possess the daunting authority of Afghan warlords, it’s been said. They wield their power by demanding federal agencies do their bidding in the vast expanse of public lands in which the counties are embedded. Too often, they have their way. Last week, the Trump administration announced a plan to move the Bureau of Land Management’s top officials out of Washington and into regional western offices. The scheme will only exaggerate the influence of county commissioners, to the detriment of most Americans. https://lat.ms/2YGo15P – Los Angeles Times

Study Reveals Problematic Pattern in Peer-Review Authorship
Male academics, who comprise less than 10 percent of North American archaeologists, write the vast majority of the field’s high impact, peer-reviewed literature. That’s according to a new study in American Antiquity by Washington State University archaeologists Tiffany Fulkerson and Shannon Tushingham. The two scientists set out to determine how a rapidly evolving demographic and professional landscape is influencing the production and dissemination of knowledge in American archaeology. http://bit.ly/2SPWb1i – Phys.org

Publication Announcement: Reframing the Northern Rio Grande Pueblo Economy
Reframing the Northern Rio Grande Pueblo Economy, edited by Scott G. Ortman. University of Arizona Press. http://bit.ly/3082ukm

Funding Opportunity, Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society
The Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society (AAHS) is pleased to announce the 2019 competitive subvention award program for AAHS members. The purpose of this program is to provide money in support of the publication of digital or print books or Kiva journal articles that further AAHS’s mission. Many sources of grant funding do not support publication costs. Through this program, AAHS can provide occasional funding to prevent this barrier to the sharing of research results. This year, awards up to $5,000 will be considered. The deadline is September 9, 2019. https://www.az-arch-and-hist.org/grants/subvention-awards/

Lecture Opportunity, Santa Fe NM
On August 5 at 6:00 p.m., at Hotel Santa Fe, Southwest Seminars Presents Ray Sumner, M.A., Doctoral Student and Graduate Teaching Assistant, Colorado State University, who will give a lecture, “150 Years Ago Today: John Wesley Powell and the 1869 Grand Canyon Expedition,” as part of the Voices From the Past Lecture Series held annually. Ray is great-grandson of Jack Sumner, marksman, boatman and chosen by Powell to lead the first boat of the expedition. Admission is by subscription or $15 at the door. No reservations are necessary. Refreshments are served. Seating is limited. Contact Connie Eichstaedt at tel: 505 366-2775; email: southwestseminar@aol.com; web: https://southwestseminars.org/

Thanks to Cherie Freeman for contributing.

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