Bears Ears is Listening: We Are Still Here and the Land is Calling Us Back

Cynthia Wilson, (RPL Native and Indigenous Rights Fellow) and Angelo Baca (Cultural Resources Coordinator for Utah Diné Bikéyah) will speak from their experience as Indigenous community organizers helping to secure the protection of Bears Ears National Monument.Located in southeast Utah, Bears Ears was subjected to Proclamation 9681 by President Trump in 2017 to reduce protected lands by more than 1.1 million acres. Following an Indigenous-led movement to protect Bears Ears, a reparative proclamation to modify the boundaries was issued by President Biden in October, 2021. Cynthia Wilson and Angelo Baca will discuss lessons learned from listening, organizing, mobilizing, and planning from a placed-based approach while engaging local Tribal voices, advancing community priorities and goals of ancestral land protection.

Co-sponsored by Harvard University Native American Program 

Learn more in advance of this event:

• Opinion | Why Biden Must Save Bears Ears National Monument - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

• Opinion | Bears Ears Is Here to Stay

• https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/10/15/2021-22672/bears-ears-national-monument

Image Credit: Tim Peterson