Friends of Cedar Mesa welcomes the news of a bipartisan effort to create a task force to explore the creation of a visitor center for Bears Ears National Monument.
FCM moved quickly to create the Bears Ears Education Center in 2017 to address growing, unmanaged visitation in Bears Ears – the number one threat to the fragile cultural resources of the region considered sacred by many Tribes and Pueblos. At the time, we knew government funding for educational and visitor resources was likely years away. We hoped our grassroots center would serve as a stopgap that would give way to a Tribally-led effort with secure, ongoing funding.
The bill, proposed in the Utah House of Representatives by Rep. Doug Owens and Rep. Phil Lyman, calls for Indigenous leadership, which is critical to any effort to protect this landscape. In fact, according to a press release on the legislation, the only voting members of the Bears Ears Visitor Center Advisory Committee would be leaders from Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Indian Tribe of Uintah Ouray, Hopi Nation, and Zuni Pueblo.
There is a significant need for collaboration between Tribes, federal land managers, local governments, businesses and non-profits to have a unified, comprehensive strategy for visitor management and education.
Friends of Cedar Mesa welcomes these conversations about how visitor management issues at Bears Ears can be best addressed positively and collaboratively. We certainly appreciate the proposed task force would include Tribal leadership, and we hope robust stakeholder involvement will yield a roadmap for collaboration going forward.
The committee will provide recommendations to the Legislature’s Economic Development and Workforce Services Interim Committee in November, according to the release.
While the exploratory process will be lengthy and the potential of a new center likely years away, the Bears Ears Education Center will continue efforts to educate the growing number of visitors to the region. While the center is closed due to the ongoing pandemic, visitors can find information on how to #VisitWithRespect on our website, BearsEarsMonument.org, through social media, or by calling the center at (435) 672-2402.