1. United States
2. Utah
3. Letter

Restore Bears Ears National Monument to its full 1.4 million acres immediately. The claims from Utah political leaders and the Trump administration that monument protections block recreation, hunting, and grazing are flat-out false. What the designation actually prohibits is destructive mineral extraction — and that is exactly the point. This land has been sacred to the Hopi, Navajo Nation, Zuni Pueblo, Ute Mountain Ute, and Ute Indian Tribe for over 13,000 years. These five nations united in 2015 specifically to win federal protection for their ceremonial sites, cliff dwellings, and rock art. Stripping the monument down to 201,876 acres — less than 15% of its original size — exposed irreplaceable cultural and ecological heritage to mining interests, despite studies showing only limited evidence of commercially viable mineral deposits in the area. The math doesn't add up unless the goal was always to hand the land to extractive industries. Dirty, destructive extraction cannot be allowed to threaten this environment. The monument shelters California condors, Mexican spotted owls, desert tortoises, and over 200 bird species. Protecting it costs nothing and destroys nothing. Opening it to mining risks everything. Stand with the tribes who fought for this land and defend the full monument boundaries.