1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

They cut almost three million acres from Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante. It is the largest rollback of protected public land in American history. They said you couldn’t hunt there. You could. Clinton’s proclamation says hunting and fishing stay under Utah’s control. They said you couldn’t hike or climb or graze cattle there. You could. Obama’s proclamation lists those activities by name. Nothing was ever locked up. The only thing monument status blocked was new mining claims, new oil and gas leases, and new coal leases. That is the entire list. And the land does not go to Utah. It stays federal. All that changed today is that mining companies can stake claims on it again. This was never about your hiking boots. It is about uranium under Bears Ears and coal under the Kaiparowits Plateau. Seven in ten Utah voters want these monuments kept whole, including most Utah Republicans. Mike Lee tried to gut Grand Staircase through Congress this spring and lost. So he went around us to the president instead. There was no tribal consultation, public comment or vote. They went around us because they knew they could not beat us. I am tired of politicians playing games with our land. We want the full monuments back, and we want them protected permanently by Congress so no president of any party can ever do this again! These lands are not theirs to sell. They are ours to defend.