The Biden administration proposed a plan Thursday for Native American tribes to help manage the Bears Ears National Monument, emphasizing conservation and tribal knowledge in protecting the natural and cultural resources at the Utah site.
The Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service announced they have completed a final environmental impact statement for the 1.35-million-acre national monument that marks the first time the two federal agencies have worked with Native American tribal leaders as equal partners to develop a resource management plan for a monument site.
The proposed resource management plan for Bears Ears “emphasizes resource protection and maximizing the consideration and use of Tribal perspectives,” according to an advance notice in Thursday’s Federal Register.
The plan mirrors the draft plan that was released in March to praise from Native American tribal leaders and conservation groups seven years after former President Donald Trump slashed the size of the site by more than half, primarily to allow for more energy development and mining.
