Dear Bears Ears Partnership Community,
Visit With Respect was created in 2016 to raise awareness and encourage responsible visitation. For Bears Ears Partnership and our supporters, Visit With Respect is more than education; it’s an actionable goal in protecting sacred Ancestral landscapes and preventing degradation to sensitive cultural sites. Through our 20 guidelines, Visit With Respect educates the public about being responsible visitors, but also why Indigenous People and the local communities value the landscape so much.
The work is only beginning. Visit With Respect’s momentum is gaining traction through our amazing partners, word of mouth, social media, websites, informative materials, and educational content, which includes our recently released short Visit With Respect documentary, Respecting the Past, Preserving the Future. We’ve updated our program materials that weave together Traditional Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science to implement cohesive guidelines that everyone can digest and easily remember when they’re doing their favorite recreational activity. Thanks to our partnership with the Bears Ears Commission, Visit With Respect can further incorporate Indigenous insights and perspectives.
Our vision is to continue preserving our beautiful homeland for future generations, and friendly conversation on the landscape was determined to be one of the best ways to mitigate degradation – so we developed the Ambassador Program. Visit With Respect Ambassadors are trained volunteers who greet and educate visitors by providing resources, tips, and a friendly face to educate and inspire respectful visitation at the region’s most visited and sensitive sites across the monument. Visit With Respect is growing, and we have high hopes that this program will help preserve the sacred landscape we all connect with.
With your support, Visit With Respect can continue to protect the sacred landscape of Bears Ears. This week, our goal is to raise $5,000 to continue to train eager Ambassadors and provide the program with much-needed resources. Our work is continuous and we want everyone across the world to experience the all-encompassing beauty of Bears Ears - but by always visiting with respect.
Your donations this month will make a direct impact on our programming and overall success. Thank you!
SUPPORT THE AMBASSADOR PROGRAM TODAY!
With gratitude,
Semira Crank, Visit With Respect Program Director
Interested in learning more about the Visit With Respect Ambassador program, or becoming an Ambassador?
Our next Ambassador training will be hosted in Bluff on September 14, 2024 - stay tuned, registration will be open soon!
In the words of our ambassadors...
“The only chance of us keeping Bears Ears National Monument for generations to come is Education - through interaction with visitors, sharing our passion for preservation, and helping them understand how to Visit With Respect. These simple keys will help ensure our great grandchildren can also have this experience. Get out, Volunteer and feel the power of human interaction!” - Dennis Hochwender
“From my perspective, the Ambassador Program is a great opportunity to learn about the amazing environment we monitor but also teach these things through the interactions we have with visitors. The Ambassador training is not limited to archaeology, but it also includes having interesting discussions and activities related to the important contributions of the bird, butterfly, plant and animal communities in the area and how it is related to the Ancestral landscape and the current biodiversity of the region. Our land managers, archaeologists, and Bears Ears Partnership staff are highly skilled and involved in our work with both classroom and field training and are incredible resources for our work. Their support is a key component to our success sharing the Visit With Respect program.” - Rob Elliot
“Being an Ambassador in the Greater Bears Ears is an honor and a joy. I have spent many happy hours hiking and exploring there and I’m grateful for the opportunity to give back. No site visit is ever the same - the visitors, the scent of flowers, the shifting light and changing sky, the deep quiet, the sense of wonder - all are a gift." - Rachel Smith