1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

National parks and monuments such as Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante are among the country’s most precious places. Tribal Nations, alongside local communities worked to protect these national monuments in order to preserve thousands of cultural sites and areas sacred to Indigenous peoples, outdoor recreational opportunities, sensitive wildlife habitat, local watersheds, and vulnerable ecological resources. These places should remain protected. I join the majority of voters who support the protection of public lands, including those who live in the communities that surround these beloved national monuments. Eighty-nine percent of Westerners from all political identities oppose any changes to national monument protections. In Utah, voters - Republicans and Democrats – overwhelmingly support Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, with over 70 percent in favor of keeping them as national monuments.  Shrinking national monument boundaries threatens critical watersheds, cultural heritage sites, wildlife habitat, and outdoor recreation opportunities. Each of these monuments was explicitly supported by Tribal Nations, local communities and residents, businesses, scientists, adjacent landowners, and elected officials representing the areas. Allowing mining, drilling, and other destructive development will irrevocably decimate these irreplaceable landscapes. Once they are destroyed by industrial development or sold off, they will be lost forever. Please keep America beautiful by upholding the protection of our most treasured public lands.