Wednesday’s designation of Bears Ears National Monument in southeast Utah has sparked anger among many who see it as a governmental overreach, but many others praised President Obama’s proclamation.
In a statement, the executive director of the Utah-based nonprofit Friends of Cedar Mesa, Josh Ewing, said, “There’s no place more deserving or needing of protection.” Ewing said the landscape would have been protected long ago if it were not located in Utah. And the nonprofit Utah Dine Bikeyah said the proclamation marks the first time Native American tribes have succeeded in protecting their ancestral homelands through a presidential monument designation.
