FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Woody Lee – (928) 349-6452 , Reem Ikram – (385) 626-4831, Jesse Wyasket – (435)
724-0396
On August 24, 2022, the state of Utah, along with Kane County and Garfield county, filed a
lawsuit against the Biden Administration for violating the Antiquities Act of 1906. The
lawsuit states President Biden abused the Antiquities Act. The lawsuit also states that the
Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments are too large for proper
management. Utah’s exclusion of the recent signing of the co-management of the Five Tribes
in this lawsuit misrepresents Native Americans and limits their voices as well, demonstrating
their lack of meaningful and authentic consultation with the Tribes lacking Free, Prior, and
Informed consent.
The Bears Ears region is a sacred landscape. It is important to many Indigenous people
including the Five Tribes of the Bears Ears inter-tribal coalition, sovereign native nations in
and of themselves, place crucial ancestral ties to cultural and spiritual significance within the
area. Traditional knowledge is practiced by the Indigenous communities such as ceremonies
that take place here at Bears Ears, hunting, gathering of herbs and medicines, and so on. Our
ancestral land carries creation stories, sustainability, protection and healing that encompass
vital connections to Native existence, culture, language, and identity. It is our medicine
cabinet, pharmacy, and living classroom for generations to come. Indigenous cultures can not
be contained in a small portion of land as it reaches from border to border within Bears Ears
boundaries; it must remain all intact.
In Obama’s Bears Ears Restoration Proclamation, “The traditional ecological knowledge
amassed by the Native Americans whose ancestors inhabited this region, passed down from
generation to generation, offers critical insight into the historic and scientific significance of
the area. Such knowledge is, itself, a resource to be protected and used in understanding and
managing this landscape sustainably for generations to come.” We reiterate and stand by our
position that both tangible and intangible objects of heritage, especially this living cultural
landscape, deserve protection and are not limited to size in the opinion of the state of Utah.
Utah Diné Bikéyah (UDB) continues to advocate and protect our ancestral lands such as the
Bears Ears National Monument. UDB is an Indigenous conservation group composed of an
all-Native American board and leadership from the grassroots tribal communities on the
ground here. We still stand true to our mission statement and goals to protect our ancestral
lands and values in this lawsuit. As an organization we need to continue our unity through
prayers, fulfilling our responsibilities to our human and non-human relatives of stewardship,
and educating people about our mission statement which highlights our intent to “Preserve
and protect the cultural and natural resources of ancestral Native American Lands to benefit
and bring healing to people and the Earth.”
Elahkwa – Tog’oiak’ – Thank you – Ahéhee’ – Kwak kwai – Askwali
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