Students discuss public lands issues at screening of ‘Battle Over Bears Ears’

With public input on Bears Ears closed and Grand Staircase-Escalante’s public comment deadline approaching, Rylee Jensen wanted to create an easy way for students to learn more about Utah’s public lands and get involved.

Jensen, a Utah State University student currently enrolled in the honors think tank class on public lands, said she wanted to find a way to condense the things she had learned in class into one concise presentation or event for students. Upon hearing about “Battle Over Bears Ears,” a new documentary premiered by KUED on Monday, Jensen got permission from the station to show the documentary on campus. She collaborated with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and the National Park Conservation Association to put on the event Wednesday night.

Professor of the think tank Keri Holt compared the Bears Ears controversy to another public land debate about the Colorado River Storage Project in Dinosaur National Monument decades ago.

“Back then there was a lot of public outrage and yet no mechanisms for the public to weigh in, so people went to the media,” said Holt. “Now, the public has that opportunity, but it’s difficult. There are a lot of documents to go through.”

The documentary explored opinions for and against the Bears Ears designation from San Juan county locals, indigenous tribes in Utah, local politicians, archeologists and outdoor recreationists. Proponents for the national monument, argue that the designation is necessary to preserve the cultural and ecological value of the landscape while those arguing against, interpret the designation to be federal overreach, restricting access for locals.

Utahns had mixed but strong reactions to former President Barack Obama’s designation in 2016 and public reactions resurfaced in 2017 when President Donald Trump announced plans to reduce the national monuments. The Trump Administration officially reduced the monuments in December of 2017, shrinking Bears Ears by 85 percent and Grand Staircase-Escalante by about half.

Now, the Bureau of Land Management is gathering public input to prepare plans for land use and management. Though the submission deadline for comments about Bears Ears ended Thursday, comments about Grand Staircase-Escalante can be submitted through Nov. 30.

Cory McNulty, the associate director of the National Park Conservation Association, said there is a large focus on oil and gas development.

“This administration is focused on energy dominance and speeding up the process of selling oil and gas leases,” McNulty said. “The reason why we’ve been really interested in Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante is because the original designation connected all this land.”

The Grand Staircase-Escalante monument connects to Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef and Glen Canyon.

McNulty expressed concern that industrial use of oil, gas, coal, and even the possibility for renewable energy projects, create a potential for pollution and “a myriad of other activities not compatible with national parks.”

In the discussion following the screening, members of the audience brought up an argument made by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke in the documentary – that Bears Ears really isn’t about oil and gas because the agency’s report states that there is little potential for drilling in the area.

McNulty said not only is the BLM’s proposed plan less restrictive to energy development, but the rush to sell leases for oil, gas and coal leaves millions of acres already leased and not developed.

“Companies can come and buy land for mere dollars an acre in some places and then, whether they develop it or not, they have 10 years that they’re holding that land,” McNulty said. “It creates uncertainty in the landscape.”

Whatever their opinion, Jensen said the goal of the event was to encourage people to participate in the public commenting process.

Kaden McArthur, an intern for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said it’s important for Utahns to be actively involved in issues concerning public lands like Bears Ears and Grand Staircase.

“Management decisions affect the land near us and people that care about that land should take the time to use their voice,” McArthur said.

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