by Emily Davis
The State of Utah is filled with beautiful, red-rock wilderness that a group called Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) in partnership with Sierra Club has been working to protect for many years.
You might remember news about Bear’s Ears National Monument (part of the area) back in 2017. At the end of President Obama’s second term, he signed a proclamation creating the Bear’s Ears National Monument. This action was the culmination of 10 year’s work and created the first National monument that would be managed by tribes that originally called this area home. Members of 5 tribes -- the Hopi Tribe, the Navajo Nation, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe , the Pueblo of Zuni, and the Ute Indian Tribe -- formed the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition in 2015 to lead the work on developing a management plan for the monument. All of that progress was challenged when President Trump significantly scaled back the size of Bear’s Ears National Monument (and Grand Staircase-Escalante) to permit mining and drilling. But the fight for both National Monuments goes on.
Never been there? Have a virtual visit. Patagonia produced a video that allows you to take a virtual look at Bear’s Ears. It takes a bit of time to load, but it’s worth the wait. This is Bear’s Ears National Monument
A group of volunteers from Sierra Club called National Utah Wilderness Team has been helping SUWA with support from a Sierra Club Grassroots Network grant. Anne McKibbin, a volunteer from Chicago, who leads the team, has received several Grassroots Network grants including a new one to support future work. The team has members from all over the country and some of those members will gather in Washington D.C. this spring to lobby our US Senate and House members for support for the America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act. They will then return home and continue working to gather support from senators and representatives.
SUWA’s legislative person in DC, Jen Ujifusa, sent out a request for us to ask our representatives in Congress to co-sponsor America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act. Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) is the sponsor in the House. The house bill is expected to be introduced in May. Dirk Durbin (D-IL) is the sponsor in the Senate where it was introduced in December. Senator Casey is an original co-sponsor.
Action: I ask you to join the effort and send a letter to your representative asking them to become a co-sponsor. There is no easy click and send here, but you can cut and paste the sample letter below into the “send email” place of your representative’s website. To make it a bit easier, I have included helpful information, links, and a sample letter:
Why Save Utah’s Red Rock Wilderness?
The world-renowned lands included in America's Red Rock Wilderness Act contain outstanding scenic vistas and recreational opportunities, priceless archaeological resources, and dozens of threatened and rare plant and animal species. These lands surround and buffer some of our most important national parks -- including Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef and Zion -- and are beloved by Americans across the country. But they are also under constant pressure from oil and gas drilling, mining, and unchecked off-road vehicle use. Without this bill we could lose some of the wildest places still remaining in the continental United States.
Sample Letter:
I am writing to urge you to become a cosponsor of America's Red Rock Wilderness Act in the 116th Congress. This important bill would protect 8.4 million acres of the stunning canyons, mesas and rivers of southern Utah as wilderness. The lands in the bill are already owned and managed by the Bureau of Land Management and belong to all Americans, which makes your cosponsorship of this legislation so important.
If you have questions or would like to be an original cosponsor, please contact Emily Strombom in Rep. Lowenthal’s office at Emily.Strombom@mail.house.gov.
Find your representative with your zip code here.