Dear Bears Ears Partnership Community,
Just a couple of weeks ago, we shared the exciting news that our litigation and settlement over the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) March and December 2018 oil and gas lease sales in The Lands Between has resulted in the cancellation of 25 of the 28 parcels - a major win for this tremendously significant campaign and for descendent communities across the region. I’m writing today to give you some additional insight into the steps Bears Ears Partnership (BEP) took to make this major win possible, and how you can support similar efforts we have planned for the months to come.
Photo by Josh Ewing.
This time last year, we hosted the Third Tribal Gathering for The Lands Between on June 8, 2023, alongside our partners at Pueblo of Acoma and National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA). We were joined by leadership from Acoma Pueblo, Picuris, Ute Mountain Ute, the All Pueblo Council of Governors, and Tribal members from numerous other nations who gathered with us in Albuquerque to express their concerns for The Lands Between and develop possible solutions for future protections.
In the months following the Tribal gathering, BEP and NPCA then hosted the Ute Mountain Ute, Hopi, and Zuni Tribes at The Lands Between. Each of the Tribes, in their own manner, in their own space, acknowledged their ancestral ties to sites within TLB. Councilman Malcolm Lehi expressed his desire to share this landscape with Ute youth. Hopi Vice-Chair Craig Andrews was joined by members of the Hopi Cultural Resource Advisory Task Team (CRATT), expressing their desire to learn more about the landscape. Learn and share, share and learn; both on the landscape and at home with older and younger generations.
Gatherings such as these - and the Tribal working groups they create - have led to many accomplishments, including the establishment of Bears Ears National Monument and this major win we experienced just weeks ago.
We are planning another Tribal Gathering for September 2024, where many of the same nonprofit partners and Tribal leadership will be coming together again - this time, in The Lands Between. This September Gathering will be spent making connections, spending time on the landscape, and developing solutions.
Our goal is to raise $10,000 to make this vital Tribal Gathering possible. For many Tribes, there isn't the capacity to plan and execute Tribal visits on their own; this funding would allow Bears Ears Partnership to bring Tribal representatives to the landscape, facilitate a setting in which concerns can be expressed and solutions can be developed, and ultimately strategize for the future of the campaign to protect The Lands Between.
This is a pivotal moment in the campaign to protect The Lands Between - I hope you’ll join us with your support to help us make this essential Tribal Gathering possible and continue us on the successful path to protect The Lands Between.
With gratitude,
Carleton Bowekaty, BEP Policy Director