A HOUSE BILL WOULD EXPAND BEARS EARS TO 1.9 MILLION ACRES
Source: Pacific Standard
REBECCA WORBY11 HOURS AGO
Representative Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona) and Representative Deb Haaland (D-New Mexico) reintroduced legislation on Wednesday to expand Bears Ears National Monument, which a 2017 presidential proclamation by Donald Trump reduced by roughly 85 percent.
The bill would not only restore the areas excised from the monument by Trump, but also add additional land included in the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition's original proposal, bringing the monument from its current size of 200,000 acres to 1.9 million. That acreage would include more than 100,000 Native American archaeological sites of cultural and scientific value. "It is encouraging to see Congress working towards safeguarding our most cherished landscapes instead of dismantling them," the Hopi tribe said in a statement.
The legislation would also "restore tribal consultation by requiring federal land managers to use tribal expertise to manage the monument's lands," according to a press release from Gallego's office.
The downsizing of Bears Ears sparked outrage among environmental and tribal groups, who immediately sued the Trump administration, arguing that the president lacks the authority to take such an action. That lawsuit, along with a similar one concerning Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, is currently making its way through the courts.
Read more: https://psmag.com/news/a-house-bill-would-expand-bears-ears-to-nearly-2-million-acres
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Boot out the exploitation.
