By Amber Penn-Roco
On October 7, 2021, immediately prior to Indigenous Peoples’ Day, President Biden signed a proclamation restoring protections to three National Monuments, the Bears Ears National Monument, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.
Following President Biden’s Proclamation, the Bears Ears National Monument will be restored to 1.36 million acres, and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to 1.87 million acres.
Both of those National Monuments had previously seen drastic reductions in size under the Trump administration, leaving the areas open to exploitation by companies seeking to develop the public lands that were rich in oil, gas, coal, and uranium. The Proclamation also restores protections at Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument that prohibit commercial fishing in the National Monument.
The Biden administration, in particular, emphasized the importance of the restoration of the Bears Ears National Monument, stating:
Restoring these protections will conserve a multitude of sites that are culturally and spiritually important to Tribal Nations— including petroglyphs, pictographs, cultural sites, dwellings, and areas used for traditional rituals, gatherings, and tribal practices — as well as paleontological objects, landscape features, historic objects, and plant and animal species. Restoring the Monument’s boundaries and conditions restores its integrity, upholds efforts to honor the federal trust responsibility to Tribal Nations, and conserves these lands and waters for future generations.
The Proclamation comes after several years of public outcry following the Trump administration’s reductions. Especially instrumental in the fight to restore these protections were Indigenous peoples, to whom the lands hold great cultural and spiritual significance.
The Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, an entity comprised of delegates from the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and the Zuni Tribe and an organization that was responsible for the initial creation of the Bears Ears National Monument, issued a statement in response to the Proclamation, stating:
By taking this action, President Biden will be recognizing the deep and enduring ancestral and cultural connections that Tribes have to this landscape and taking a step toward honoring his commitment to Indigenous People by acknowledging their original place in this country that is now our shared home.
In 2018, I published an article in the National Lawyers Guild Review, “Trump’s Dismantling of the National Monuments: Sacrificing Native American Interests on the Altar of Business”, which provides background on the importance of the Bears Ears National Monument and the Trump administration’s effort to diminish National Monuments throughout the United States.
Although there is much more work to be done to protect Indigenous sacred places and the environment at large, President Biden’s decision to restore these monuments is a notable step in the right direction. Hopefully, it indicates a momentum shift within the federal government towards honoring the sacred.
Amber’s practice focuses on environmental protection in Indian Country. Her practice also includes tribal sovereignty issues, including economic development and tribal governance matters.
