[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 481]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      BEARS EARS NATIONAL MONUMENT

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, on December 28, 2016, President Obama 
designated the Bears Ears National Monument in Southern Utah, and I 
wish to commend him on protecting these important lands. This 
designation is an important step forward in the conservation of some of 
southern Utah's important national treasures.
  The 1.35-million acre monument, which spans from forested mesas to 
redrock canyons and plateaus, will protect the region's abundant 
cultural resources, including well-preserved cliff dwellings, rock and 
art panels, artifacts, and Native American burials.
  The Bears Ears National Monument, which derives its name from twin 
buttes that lie at the heart of the majestic Cedar Mesa, was requested 
by a coalition of five Native American tribes that united to protect a 
landscape revered in their shared histories and cultures. The Hopi 
Tribe, the Navajo Nation, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, the Pueblo of 
Zuni, and the Ute Indian Tribe have all passed through the area at some 
time, leaving behind scores of fragile dwellings, pottery, petroglyphs, 
and pictographs. The Bears Ears region is a living natural and cultural 
landscape, where the people of these tribes still use the lands to 
collect herbs and medicines and pass their stories to the next 
generation.
  I have fought to protect this area's resources through the America's 
Red Rock Wilderness Act, a bill I have introduced every Congress since 
1997. My bill would safeguard 9.2 million acres of wilderness in Utah--
some of the last great wild places in the lower 48 States.
  Historically, national monuments have been the first step in 
protecting some of our most beloved public lands--the Grand Canyon, the 
Grand Tetons, and indeed, four of Utah's five national parks. Not only 
do these monuments help preserve precious habitat, landscapes, and 
history, they create jobs and invigorate nearby communities.
  President Obama's decision to protect the Bears Ears came after 
significant public input in Utah, with the administration holding 
multiple listening sessions. Those sessions made clear that even 
diverse stakeholders agreed the Bears Ears is special and needs to be 
protected. It is the right decision for the present, and it is the 
right decision for the future.
  Republican President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act 
into law in 1906, and a review of its history and its controversy 
showed that, time and again, the temporary anger over designated lands 
was overshadowed by the long-term benefits to our Nation. Teddy 
Roosevelt said it best, ``Of all the questions which can come before 
this nation, short of the actual preservation of its existence in a 
great war, there is none which compares in importance with the great 
central task of leaving this land even a better land for our 
descendants than it is for us.''
  I urge my colleagues to join me in celebrating the Bears Ears 
National Monument and defending it and the Antiquities Act that made it 
possible.

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