Protecting the Bears Ears National Monument (BENM) is not just an environmental issue; for the Ute people this landscape is a vital aspect of our cultural, historical, and spiritual identity.
The Ute Indian Tribe, along with four other sovereign tribal nations, fought for the creation of the Bears Ears National Monument to protect and maintain our ancestral lands.
Opinion article by Shaina Oliver, Diné. "The BLM director is in charge of 250 million acres of America’s public land, including land sacred to my people, the Diné. To qualify for this enormous responsibility, Pendley should support stewardship of these public lands and possess some basic cultural competencies. But he hasn’t done this, and he never will."
