[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 197 (Friday, October 15, 2021)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 57321-57334]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-22672]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 197 / Friday, October 15, 2021 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 57321]]
Proclamation 10285 of October 8, 2021
Bears Ears National Monument
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
President Barack Obama's establishment of the Bears
Ears National Monument in Proclamation 9558 of December
28, 2016, represented the culmination of more than a
century of efforts to protect the ancestral homeland of
Tribal Nations that all refer to the area by the same
name--Hoon'Naqvut (Hopi), Shash Jaa' (Navajo),
Kwiyagatu Nukavachi (Ute), and Ansh An Lashokdiwe
(Zuni): Bears Ears. Preserving the sacred landscape and
unique cultural resources in the Bears Ears region was
an impetus for passage of the Antiquities Act in 1906.
As early as 1904, advocates for protection of cultural
landscapes described for the Congress the tragedy of
the destruction of objects of historic and scientific
interest across the American Southwest and identified
the Bears Ears region as one of seven areas in need of
immediate protection. Nevertheless, for more than 100
years, indigenous people, historians, conservationists,
scientists, archaeologists, and other groups advocated
unsuccessfully for protection of the Bears Ears
landscape. It was not until the Hopi Tribe, Navajo
Nation, Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray
Reservation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and Pueblo of Zuni
united in a common vision to protect these sacred lands
and requested permanent protection from President Obama
that Bears Ears National Monument became a reality. Few
national monuments more clearly meet the Antiquities
Act's criteria for protection than the Bears Ears
Buttes and surrounding areas. This proclamation
confirms, restores, and supplements the boundaries and
protections provided by Proclamation 9558, including
the continued reservation of land added to the monument
by Proclamation 9681 of December 4, 2017.
As Proclamation 9558 recognizes, the greater Bears Ears
landscape, characterized by deep sandstone canyons,
broad desert mesas, towering monoliths, forested
mountaintops dotted with lush meadows, and the striking
Bears Ears Buttes, has supported indigenous people of
the Southwest from time immemorial and continues to be
sacred land to the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute
Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, Ute
Mountain Ute Tribe, and Pueblo of Zuni. Approximately
two dozen other Tribal Nations and Pueblos have
cultural ties to the area as well.
Describing as much as 13,000 years of human occupation
of the Bears Ears landscape, Proclamation 9558
contextualizes the compelling need to protect one of
the most extraordinary cultural landscapes in the
United States. The proclamation describes the
landscape's unique density of significant cultural,
historical, and archaeological artifacts spanning
thousands of years, including remains of single family
homes, ancient cliff dwellings, large villages,
granaries, kivas, towers, ceremonial sites, prehistoric
steps cut into cliff faces, and a prehistoric road
system that connected the people of Bears Ears to each
other and possibly beyond. Proclamation 9558 also
describes the cultural significance and importance of
the area, exemplified by the petroglyphs, pictographs,
and recent rock writings left by the indigenous people
that have inhabited the area since time immemorial.
In addition to cultural and historic sites,
Proclamation 9558 describes the Bears Ears landscape's
unique geology, biology, ecology, paleontology, and
[[Page 57322]]
topography. The proclamation identifies geologic
formations rich with fossils that provide a rare and
relatively complete picture of the paleoenvironment,
striking landscapes, unique landforms, and rare and
important plant and animal species. While not objects
of historic and scientific interest designated for
protection, the proclamation also describes other
resources in the area, historic grazing, and world
class outdoor recreation opportunities--including rock
climbing, hunting, hiking, backpacking, canyoneering,
whitewater rafting, mountain biking, and horseback
riding--that support a booming travel and tourism
sector that is a source of economic opportunity for
local communities.
To protect this singular and sacred landscape,
President Obama reserved approximately 1.35 million
acres through Proclamation 9558 as the smallest area
compatible with protection of the objects identified
within the boundaries of the monument. He also
established the Bears Ears Commission to ensure that
management of the monument would be guided by, and
benefit from, expertise of Tribal Nations and
traditional and historical knowledge of the area.
On December 4, 2017, President Donald Trump issued
Proclamation 9681 to reduce the lands within the
monument by more than 1.1 million acres. In doing so,
Proclamation 9681 removes protection from objects of
historic and scientific interest across the Bears Ears
landscape, including some objects that Proclamation
9558 specifically identifies by name for protection.
Multiple parties challenged Proclamation 9681 in
Federal court, asserting that it exceeds the
President's authority under the Antiquities Act.
Restoring the Bears Ears National Monument honors the
special relationship between the Federal Government and
Tribal Nations, correcting the exclusion of lands and
resources profoundly sacred to Tribal Nations, and
ensuring the long-term protection of, and respect for,
this remarkable and revered region. Given the unique
nature and cultural significance of the objects
identified across the Bears Ears landscape, the threat
of damage and destruction to those objects, their
spiritual, cultural, and historical significance to
Tribal Nations, and the insufficiency of the
protections afforded in the absence of Antiquities Act
protections, the reservation described below is the
smallest area compatible with the proper care and
management of the objects of historic and scientific
interest named in this proclamation and Proclamation
9558.
The Bears Ears landscape--bordered by the Colorado
River to the west, the San Juan River and the Navajo
Nation to the south, low bluffs and high mesas to the
east and north, and Canyonlands National Park to the
northwest, and brimming with towering sandstone spires,
serpentine canyons, awe-inspiring natural bridges and
arches, as well as the famous twin Bears Ears Buttes
standing sentinel over the sacred region--is not just a
series of isolated objects, but is, itself, an object
of historic and scientific interest requiring
protection under the Antiquities Act. Bears Ears is
sacred land of spiritual significance, a historic
homeland, and a place of belonging for indigenous
people from the Southwest. Bears Ears is a living,
breathing landscape, that--owing to the area's arid
environment and overall remoteness, as well as the
building techniques that its inhabitants employed--
retains remarkable and spiritually significant evidence
of indigenous use and habitation since time immemorial,
including from the Paleoindian Period, through the time
of the Basketmakers and Ancestral Pueblos, to the more
recent Navajo and Ute period, and continuing to this
day. There are innumerable objects of historic or
scientific interest within this extraordinary
landscape. Some of the objects are also sacred to
Tribal Nations, are sensitive, rare, or vulnerable to
vandalism and theft, or are dangerous to visit and,
therefore, revealing their specific names and locations
could pose a danger to the objects or the public. The
variety, density, and prevalence of these objects, such
as prehistoric roads, structures, shrines, ceremonial
sites, graves, pots, baskets, tools, petroglyphs,
pictographs, and items of clothing, all contribute
[[Page 57323]]
to the uniqueness of this region and underscore its
sacred nature and living spiritual significance to
indigenous people.
Many of the Tribal Nations that trace their ancestral
origin to this area and continue their spiritual
practices on these lands today view Bears Ears as a
part of the personal identity of their members and as a
cultural living space--a landscape where their
traditions began, where their ancestors engaged in and
handed down cultural practices, and where they
developed and refined complex protocols for caring for
the land. The Bears Ears region is also a tangible
location that is integral to indigenous ceremonial
practices, cultural traditions, and the sustainment of
the daily lives of indigenous peoples. Since time
immemorial, the lands of the Bears Ears region have
fostered indigenous identity and spirituality.
Indigenous people lived, hunted, gathered, prayed, and
built homes in the Bears Ears region. As a result, each
geographic subregion and the mountains, canyons, mesa
tops, ridges, rivers, and streams therein that make up
the Bears Ears landscape hold cultural significance.
These individual locales come together as objects of
historic and scientific interest--many of which have
spiritual significance to indigenous people and are
located across this living landscape--to tell stories,
facilitate the practice of traditions, and serve as a
mnemonic device that elders use to teach younger
generations where they came from, who they are, and how
to live. Resources found throughout the Bears Ears
region, including wildlife and plants that are native
to the region, continue to serve integral roles in the
development and practice of indigenous ceremonial and
cultural lifeways. From family gatherings, dances, and
ceremonies held on these sacred lands, to gathering
roots, berries, firewood, pinon nuts, weaving
materials, and medicines across the region, Bears Ears
remains an essential landscape that members of Tribal
Nations regularly visit to heal, practice their
spirituality, pray, rejuvenate, and connect with their
history.
The Bears Ears region is also important to, and shows
recent evidence of, non-Native migrants to the area.
From the smoothed-over surfaces of the Hole-in-the-Rock
Trail to the historic cattle-ranching cabins, and the
convoluted series of passages and hideouts used by men
like Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and other members
of the Wild Bunch on the Outlaw Trail, including
Hideout Canyon, the Bears Ears landscape conveys the
story of westward expansion of European Americans and
the settlement of Latter-day Saint communities in
southern Utah. Hispanic sheep herders from New Mexico
also migrated into this area during the late 1800s, and
many of their descendants continue to live in local
communities.
Despite millennia of human habitation, the Bears Ears
landscape remains one of the most ecologically intact
and least-roaded regions in the contiguous United
States. As a result, the area continues to provide
habitat to a variety of threatened, endangered,
sensitive, endemic, or otherwise rare species of
wildlife, fish, and plants. The area also contains a
diverse array of species that benefit from the
preservation of the landscape's intact ecosystems.
The Bears Ears landscape also tells the stories of
epochs past. The area's exposed geologic formations
provide a continuous record of vertebrate life in North
America as well as a rich history of invertebrate
fossils. The Chinle Formation, and the Wingate,
Kayenta, and Navajo Formations above it, demonstrate
how the Triassic Period transitioned into the Jurassic
Period and provide critical insight into both how
dinosaurs dominated terrestrial ecosystems and how our
mammalian ancestors evolved. The discovery of several
taxa, including a prosauropod that gets its name from a
Navajo word tied to the region where it was found, the
archosauromorph Crosbysaurus harrisae, and a unique
phytosaur, have occurred exclusively within Bears Ears
or have significantly extended an extinct species'
known range. While paleontologists have only recently
begun to systematically survey and study much of the
fossil record in this region, experts are confident
[[Page 57324]]
that scientifically important paleontological resources
remain to be discovered, and future exploration will
greatly expand our understanding of prehistoric life on
the Colorado Plateau.
The landscape itself is composed of several areas, each
of which is unique and an object of scientific and
historic interest requiring protection under the
Antiquities Act. Near the center is the Bears Ears
Buttes and Headwaters, the location of the iconic twin
buttes, which soar over the surrounding landscape and
maintain watch over the ancestral home of numerous
Tribal Nations. Containing dense fir and aspen forests
that provide firewood to heat homes as well as powerful
medicines and habitat for wild game species, Tribal
Nations view the high elevation oasis as the key to
life in the Bears Ears region. The Bears Ears Buttes
also hold historical significance to the Navajo people,
as the landscape and natural cliff dwellings served as
hiding places to escape the United States military
during the forced Long Walk, where more than 11,000
Navajo were marched up to 450 miles on foot to
internment camps in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Many
Navajo hid in the remote canyons to avoid the forced
removal from their traditional homelands in the
Southwest by the United States from 1864 to 1868.
In the northern part of the Bears Ears landscape lies
Indian Creek, the home of a world-renowned canyon
characterized by sheer red cliffs and spires of exposed
and eroded layers of Navajo, Kayenta, Wingate, and
Cedar Mesa Sandstone, including the iconic North and
South Six-Shooter Peaks. The canyon includes famous
vertical cracks striating its sandstone walls and the
area provides important habitat for a multitude of
plant and animal species. Indian Creek's palisades
provide eyries for peregrine falcons and potential
nesting sites for bald and golden eagles, and the
Lockhart Basin area and Donnelly Canyon contain Mexican
spotted owl habitat. The Indian Creek area further
provides critical winter grounds for big-game species
such as mule deer, elk, and bighorn sheep and potential
habitat for endangered fish and threatened plant
species. The prominent Bridger Jack and Lavender Mesas
are home to largely unaltered relict plant communities
composed of pinyon-juniper woodlands interspersed with
small sagebrush islands. It is also in Indian Creek
that one can find Newspaper Rock, a massive petroglyph
panel displaying a notable concentration of rock
writings from persons of the Basketmaker and Ancestral
Pueblo periods, the Ute and Navajo people who still
live in the Four Corners area and beyond, and early
settlers of European descent. Indian Creek also
contains possible evidence of trade with cultures
extending into Mesoamerica, including a thousand-year-
old ornamental sash found in the area made from azure
and scarlet macaw feathers as well as a petroglyph
featuring a macaw-like bird figure. Shay Canyon is a
side canyon that houses extensive, well-preserved
petroglyph panels from multiple prehistoric periods.
The panels contain a unique rock writing style that is
believed to be both Freemont and Ancestral Pueblo in
origin. Harts Point is an escarpment that provides
spectacular views of the Indian Creek Canyon. These
mesa tops also contain evidence of historic connections
of indigenous people to the region. Additionally,
Indian Creek provides fossilized trackways of early
tetrapods and fossilized traces of marine and aquatic
creatures such as clams, crayfish, fish, and aquatic
reptiles dating to the Triassic Period.
Southwest of Indian Creek and geographically nestled
between the Needles District of Canyonlands National
Park, the Dark Canyon Wilderness area, and the Glen
Canyon National Recreation Area, lie Beef Basin and
Fable Valley, areas characterized by well-preserved
Ancestral Pueblo surface sites--including freestanding
Pueblo masonry structures and towers--as well as
petroglyphs and pictographs. The areas are unique in
their high concentration of large, mesa-top Pueblo
structures. Sites in this region may also provide
evidence of some of the furthest north migration of
Pueblo in the Mesa Verde region.
Just south of Indian Creek, the westernmost edge of the
Abajo Mountains forms the eastern boundary of the Bears
Ears landscape. An island laccolith
[[Page 57325]]
series of peaks and domes known also as the Blue
Mountains due to the appearance of their heavily
forested slopes contrasted against the red desert that
surrounds them, the Abajo Mountains are rich in
wildlife and home to several rare and sensitive plant
species. As a result of the breadth of species, the
Abajo Mountains have long been a traditional hunting
ground for the indigenous people that have lived in the
area and are held sacred by a number of Tribal Nations,
including the Navajo Nation, Pueblo of Zuni, and Ute
Indian Tribes. These peaks represent the highest
elevations in the Bears Ears landscape and provide
unbroken views of the entire region.
South of Beef Basin and Indian Creek, the landscape
contains a number of sandstone canyons that drain the
northern edge of the Abajo Mountains and Elk Ridge,
including the Tuerto, Trough, Ruin, and North
Cottonwood Canyons, at the bottom of which runs a
perennial creek. Ancestral Pueblo sites within this
area have special significance to the Pueblos of New
Mexico, who identify these sites as part of their
ancestral footprints that extend their traditional
territory north of the Abajo Mountains. The area, which
is composed of both Cedar Mesa Sandstone and Chinle
Formation deposits, has a very high potential for
Permian and Triassic fossils.
The South Cottonwood Canyon region, characterized by
prominent sandstone escarpments surrounded by forests
of pinyon, juniper, and Gambel oak, interspersed with
stands of ponderosa pine and mixed conifers, is
situated west of the Abajo Mountains and south of the
prominent sandstone towers known as the Chippean Rocks.
The isolated area contains intact cultural landscapes
of early Ancestral Pueblo communities. Some sites are
organized as a larger central village surrounded by
smaller family-sized dwellings, while others are large
and inaccessible granaries. This region is home to a
diversity of wildlife, including Townsend's big-eared
bats, beavers, and ringtail cats, as well as the Cliff
Dwellers Pasture Research Natural Area, an ungrazed box
canyon with a unique vegetative community and an
imposing sandstone arch and natural bridge. The area
also contains excellent big game habitat and is
considered prime mule deer, elk, and black bear hunting
grounds.
Further west, South Cottonwood Canyon is home to a
unique density of Pueblo I to early Pueblo II village
sites that are considered important to both
archaeologists and Tribal Nations. One site, a
collapsed two-story block masonry structure that
appears to be an early version of a great house, was
built during a time when the development of this kind
of community structure was only beginning in Chaco
Canyon. More recently, the South Cottonwood Canyon area
proved critical to the survival of the White Mesa Ute
during Anglo settlement of southern Utah.
Paleontologically, there is high potential fossil yield
on both the west side of the area, which contains
portions of the Triassic Period Chinle and Moenkopi
Formations, and the east side, which is composed of
Jurassic Period Glen Canyon Group Kayenta Formation.
The area also provides critical habitat for Mexican
spotted owls, peregrine falcons, golden eagles, and
spotted bats.
The Dark Canyon, Dry Mesa complex, located between Beef
Basin and White Canyon, is wild and remote. In Dark
Canyon--a canyon system that includes Peavine,
Woodenshoe, and other minor tributaries--rock walls,
which tower 3,000 feet above the canyon floor, provide
a sense of solitude and isolation from the surrounding
mesa tops. The canyon system, one of the only entirely
intact and protected canyons from its headwaters on the
Colorado Plateau to its confluence with the Colorado
River, includes numerous hanging gardens, springs, and
riparian areas and provides habitat for a wide range of
wildlife, including known populations of Mexican
spotted owl. Dry Mesa is relatively flat with stands of
ponderosa pine, oak, and pinyon and juniper that
provide foraging habitat for golden eagles and
peregrine falcons. Many Tribal Nations have strong
connections to sites in the area from three specific
time periods: ancient hunter-gatherers during the
Archaic period, Ancestral Pueblos during the Pueblo III
period, and
[[Page 57326]]
finally, Navajo, Ute, and Paiute families just before
and during European migration into the Four Corners
area. Visitors to the Dark Canyon Wilderness area will
find the Doll House, a fully-intact and well-preserved
single-room granary. Located at the bottom of Horse
Pasture Canyon and Dark Canyon, visitors will also find
Scorup Cabin, a line cabin originally built in Rig
Canyon and later moved to its current location, that
cowboys used as a summer camp while running cattle in
the area. The area also contains exposures of Permian
Period Cutler Group deposits that have a high potential
to contain both vertebrate and invertebrate fossils.
The White Canyon region, west of Dark Canyon, is a
remote area featuring an extensive complex of steep and
narrow canyons cut through light-colored Cedar Mesa
Sandstone. Once used by outlaws to evade authorities,
the area's slot canyons, including the Black Hole, Fry
Canyon, and Cheesebox Canyon, now draw adventurers in
search of multi-day, technical canyoneering
opportunities. The entire White Canyon area has a rich
paleontological history. Research in the area is
ongoing, but recent discoveries of track sites in the
Triassic Moenkopi Formation and an assemblage of
invertebrate burrows suggest that a diverse fauna once
thrived here. Mollusks, phytosaurs, and possible
theropod and ornithischian fossils have also been found
in White Canyon.
Located between the Abajo Mountains and the Colorado
River, the high plateau of Elk Ridge provides stunning
views of the surrounding canyons and the Bears Ears
Buttes to the south. Visitors passing through the
Notch, a naturally occurring narrow pass between north
and south Elk Ridge, are treated to spectacular vistas
of Dark Canyon to the west and Notch Canyon to the
east. The area's higher elevations, which contain
pockets of ancient Engelmann spruce, rare stands of
old-growth ponderosa pine, aspen, and subalpine fir,
and a genetically distinct population of Kachina daisy,
provide welcome respite from the higher temperatures
found in the region's lower elevations, especially
during the summer. There is evidence that indigenous
people have hunted and gathered plants on Elk Ridge for
at least 8,000 years, a practice that continues today
and is considered sacred by the Navajo Nation. Elk
Ridge also has a long history of livestock grazing by
Navajo and Ute families and later Anglo settlers. While
the mesa top is primarily dry, water naturally occurs
at the area's seeps and springs, as well as the
ephemeral Duck Lake, a seasonal wetland located on top
of Elk Ridge that results from snowmelt. The upper
reaches of the ridge also contain Upper Triassic
formations with a high potential to contain fossils.
To the east of Elk Ridge lies a major system of canyons
on National Forest System lands, including Hammond
Canyon, Upper Arch Canyon, Texas Canyon, and Notch
Canyon. This deeply incised canyon system is composed
of stunning red sandstone walls, white pinnacles, lush
green foliage, and several small waterfalls. Uniquely,
the area also contains large sandstone towers and
hoodoos in a forested setting. The Hammond Canyon area,
which is central to the history of the White Mesa Utes,
contains numerous Ancestral Pueblo sites, including
cliff dwellings. Hammond Canyon also contains an
Ancestral Pueblo village with structures and pottery
from multiple Ancestral Pueblo periods. High fossil
potential exists in both the Upper Triassic and Lower
Jurassic Glen Canyon Sandstone of Hammond Canyon's
lower half as well as the Permian Period Cedar Mesa
Sandstone found in its upper half.
Just south of Elk Ridge, Arch Canyon is a 12-mile long
box canyon containing numerous arches, including
Cathedral Arch, Angel Arch, and Keystone Arch. The area
is teeming with fossilized remains, including numerous
specimens from the Permian and Upper Permian eras.
Cliff dwellings and hanging gardens are located
throughout the canyon. Arch Canyon Great House, which
spans the Pueblo II and III periods and contains
pictographs and petroglyphs ranging from the Archaic to
the historic periods, is located at the canyon's mouth.
A perennial stream that provides potential habitat for
sensitive fish
[[Page 57327]]
species and for the threatened Navajo sedge is located
in the canyon's bottom.
Mule Canyon, a 500-foot deep, 5-mile long chasm, is
situated northeast of the Fish Creek area and southeast
of the Bears Ears Buttes. Throughout the canyon, cliff
dwellings and other archaeological sites are sheltered
by rock walls composed of alternating layers of red and
white sandstone. Among those are the stunning House on
Fire, which has different masonry styles that indicate
several episodes of construction and use. The area's
rich archaeological history is also evidenced on the
nearby tablelands, where the Mule Canyon Village site
allows visitors to view the exposed masonry walls of
ancient living quarters and a partially restored kiva.
Recent research suggests that Ancestral Pueblos in this
area may have cultivated a variety of plants that are
uncommon across the wider landscape and persist to this
day, such as the Four Corners potato, goosefoot,
wolfberry, and sumac. Although similar cultivation may
have been occurring near Ancestral Pueblo sites across
the Bears Ears landscape, it appears to have been
particularly prevalent in and around the Mule, South
Cottonwood, Dry, Arch, and Owl Canyons.
Tilted at almost 20 degrees and running along a north-
south axis from the foothills of the Abajo Mountains,
past the San Juan River, and onto the Navajo Nation,
the serrated cliffs of the Comb Ridge monocline are
visible from space and have both spiritual and
practical significance to many Tribal Nations. It is in
this area that one can find a series of alcoves in
Whiskers Draw that have sheltered evidence of human
habitation for thousands of years, including the site
where Richard Wetherill first identified what we know
today as the Basketmaker people, as well as Milk Ranch
Point, where early Ancestral Pueblo farmers found
refuge when the climate turned hotter and dryer at
lower elevations. Comb Ridge, flanked on the west by
Comb Wash and on the east by Butler Wash, holds
additional evidence of centuries of human habitation,
including cliff dwellings, such as the well-known
Butler Wash Village and Monarch Cave, kivas, ceremonial
sites, and rock writings, like the Procession Panel,
Wolfman Panel, and Lower Butler Wash Panel, a wall-
sized mural depicting San Juan Anthropomorph figures
dating to the Basketmaker period that is considered
important for understanding the daily life and rituals
of the Basketmaker people. Chacoan roads as well as the
handholds and steps carved into cliff faces found in
this area formed part of the region's migration system
and are integral to the story of the Bears Ears
landscape. The Comb Ridge area also contains a rich
paleontological history, including an Upper Triassic
microvertebrate site with greater taxonomic diversity
than any other published site of the same nature in
Utah, and the earliest recorded instance of a giant
arthropod trackway in Utah. Paleontologists have also
found phytosaur and dinosaur fossils from the Triassic
Period and have identified new species of plant-eating
crocodile-like reptiles and rich bonebeds of lumbering
sauropods in the area.
South Cottonwood Wash is an extensive drainage just
east of Comb Ridge that extends from the Abajo
Mountains to the San Juan River near Bluff, Utah. The
drainage contains at least three great houses as well
as a number of alcove sites, and it has a high density
of petroglyphs and pictographs, including a cave with
more than 200 handprints in a variety of colors. There
is also evidence of a Chacoan road that connected
multiple great houses and kiva sites. These prehistoric
transportation systems in the Bears Ears region are
critical to understanding the trading patterns,
economy, and social organization of ancient Pueblo
communities and the other major cultural centers with
whom they interacted, such as Chaco Canyon.
At the far southern end of the Bears Ears landscape
lies Valley of the Gods, a broad expanse of sandstone
monoliths, pinnacles, and other geological features of
historic and scientific interest. Towering spires of
red sandstone that rise from the valley floor are held
sacred by the Navajo people, who view the formations as
ancient warriors frozen in stone and places
[[Page 57328]]
of power in which spirits reside. The austere valley,
which is noteworthy in both its geology and ecology,
provides habitat for Eucosma navajoensis, an endemic
moth that lives nowhere else. The Mars-like landscape
also contains evidence of our own planet's distant
past, including early tetrapod trackways, Paleozoic
freshwater sharks, ray-finned fishes, lobe-finned
fishes, giant primitive amphibians, and multiple unique
taxa of mammal-like reptiles. Paleontologists have also
uncovered notable plant macrofossils including
ancestral conifers, giant horsetail-like plants, ferns
the size of trees, and lycopsids (similar to modern
clubmoss).
The San Juan River forms the southern boundary of the
Bears Ears landscape. One of the four sacred rivers
that Tribal Nations believe were established by the
gods to act as defensive guardians over their ancestral
lands, the river is closely tied to traditional stories
of creation, danger, protection, and healing. The Lime
Ridge Clovis site demonstrates that the history of
human occupation within the river corridor dates back
at least 13,000 years. The Sand Island Petroglyph Panel
presents petroglyphs primarily from the Basketmaker
through the Pueblo III periods as well as more modern
Navajo and Ute carvings. There are also a number of
Ancestral Pueblo structures that are accessible by
river, such as River House. Nearby San Juan Hill was
the last major obstacle for the Hole-in-the-Rock
expedition and presents visible evidence of the weary
expedition's effort to cross Comb Ridge, including
parts of a road, wagon ruts, and an inscription at the
top of the ridge. The river corridor also contains a
number of unique geologic formations, such as the well-
known balancing rock at Mexican Hat, and provides
important habitat for the threatened yellow-billed
cuckoo and the endangered southwestern willow
flycatcher. The river itself is home to two endangered
fish species: Colorado pikeminnow, the largest minnow
in North America, which is believed to have evolved
more than 3 million years ago, and the razorback
sucker, the only member of its genus.
Cedar Mesa is located in the heart of the Bears Ears
landscape, west of Comb Ridge and north of the San Juan
River. Ranging from approximately 4,000 to 6,500 feet
in elevation, the approximately 400-square mile plateau
is of deep significance to Tribal Nations.
Characterized by pinyon-juniper forests on the mesa
tops and canyons along its periphery, the entirety of
Cedar Mesa is an object of scientific and historic
interest, providing a broader context for the
individual resources found there. It is the density of
world-class cultural resources found throughout the
remote, sloping plateau and its numerous canyons that
make Cedar Mesa truly unique. For example, an open-
twined yucca fiber sandal believed to be more than
7,000 years old was discovered in a dry shelter located
in a narrow slickrock canyon in Cedar Mesa. Moon House
is an example of iconic Pueblo-decorated architecture
and was likely the last occupied site on Cedar Mesa. On
the top of the plateau, Chacoan roads connect several
Ancestral Pueblo great houses that show architectural
influence from the Chaco Canyon region as well as
ceramics that demonstrate both historic and modern
Pueblo connections. And in the heart of Cedar Mesa, a
multi-room, multi-story great house contains kivas with
distinctive Chacoan features that are much larger than
kivas found elsewhere on Cedar Mesa. Today, Cedar Mesa
is home to bighorn sheep, but fossil evidence in the
area's sandstone has revealed large, mammal-like
reptiles that burrowed into the sand to survive the
blistering heat of the end of the Permian Period, when
the region was dominated by a seaside desert. Later,
during the Upper Triassic Period, seasonal monsoons
flooded an ancient river system that fed a vast desert
here. Salvation Knoll, a point from which lost Latter-
day Saint pioneers were able to obtain their bearings
on Christmas Day in 1879, is also located in the area.
Cedar Mesa is striated with deep chasms housing
remarkably intact Ancestral Pueblo sites. John's Canyon
and Slickhorn Canyon, which empty into the San Juan
River in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area to
the south, contain numerous petroglyphs, pictographs,
and Ancestral Pueblo structures built into elongated
alcoves on buff-colored cliffs. Similarly, the canyons
on the east side of Cedar Mesa hold a significant
density of archaeological
[[Page 57329]]
sites providing a glimpse into the region's past,
including rock writings and Ancestral Pueblo dwellings.
The Citadel cliff dwelling is just one example of the
striking Ancestral Pueblo sites located in Road Canyon,
while other sites include painted handprints and
evidence of daily life left by Ancestral Pueblos.
Located to the north of Road Canyon, the Fish Canyon
area contains a number of Pueblo structures. The Fish
Canyon area also contains one of the few perennial
streams in the area and an important potential habitat
for the Mexican spotted owl. Finally, the rust-colored,
145-foot span of Nevills Arch awaits those who make the
challenging trek down Owl Canyon. Opening to a height
of 80 feet and named after Norman Nevills, the first
boatman to take paying customers on the Colorado River
through the Grand Canyon, the arch creates a striking
window to the sky on the upper reaches of the canyon
walls.
Grand Gulch, a mostly dry canyon that meanders for
nearly 50 miles on the western edge of Cedar Mesa and
is replete with thousands of cliff dwellings and rock
writing sites, likely contains the highest
concentration of Ancestral Pueblo sites on the Colorado
Plateau. Initially occupied in the Basketmaker II and
III periods, Grand Gulch's initial inhabitants left
pictographs and constructed shallow pithouses and camps
on the mesa top and dry shelters for storage. One
pictograph dating from this time period depicting two
large, anthropomorphic figures is of special religious
significance to Tribal Nations. Grand Gulch also
contains a multitude of Pueblo II to III sites and was
one of the first prehistoric national historic
districts designated on the National Register of
Historic Places. The area contains the Turkey Pen site,
which is believed to provide some of the earliest
evidence of turkey domestication in North America, a
pristine kiva in a remote canyon bend, and countless
other unique Pueblo structures, such as Junction
Village, a large Pueblo habitation site; Split Level
Village, a multi-level Pueblo habitation; and Bannister
House, a habitation consisting of two relatively intact
structures and a spring at the base of the cliff face.
Grand Gulch also contains unique artifacts, such as a
tattoo needle, a site containing a multichromatic
pictograph of a mask, important historic archaeological
inscriptions from the Wetherill expedition, and a
multitude of other rock writings.
Kane Gulch is a tributary canyon of Grand Gulch incised
through Cedar Mesa Sandstone and clogged with house-
sized boulders. The canyon houses an aspen grove--an
uncommon occurrence at such elevations in the desert--
and contains a number of archaeological sites that are
perched on canyon walls high above cottonwood trees
that provide welcomed shade to the riparian areas in
the canyon bottom. Nearby, Bullet Canyon, which
intersects with the upper reaches of Grand Gulch, also
holds numerous structures, petroglyphs, pictographs,
and other artifacts, such as the well-preserved Perfect
Kiva--a partly restored kiva, accompanied by several
rooms and other smaller structures.
To the west of Cedar Mesa, the Clay Hills, Red House
Cliffs, and Mike's Canyon form the southwest corner of
the Bears Ears landscape. This remote and rarely
visited area remains largely unstudied by scientists.
Tool- and arrowhead-making sites, dwellings, and
granaries in the lower reaches of the canyons indicate
that they sustained Archaic, Basketmaker, and Ancestral
Pueblo cultures. The area's unforgiving topography,
composed of expansive stretches of slickrock
periodically interrupted by deep canyons, challenged
Latter-day Saint settlers that traveled along the Hole-
in-the-Rock Trail and left wheel ruts and other traces
of pioneer life. The harsh ecosystem still supports a
herd of desert bighorn sheep throughout the year, and
in the canyon bottoms, including Mike's Canyon,
intrepid beavers can be found in small areas of
riparian habitat. The Clay Hills area contains the
first discovery of vertebrate fossils from the Bears
Ears region, which was also the first occurrence of a
phytosaur identified in Utah.
Standing alone west of Cedar Mesa and adjacent to the
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Mancos Mesa is
likely the largest isolated slickrock mesa
[[Page 57330]]
in southern Utah. Covering approximately 180 square
miles, Mancos Mesa's roughly triangular shape is
bounded by towering cliffs, some reaching more than
1,000 feet high. The entire area is dominated by Navajo
Sandstone and is incised with canyons, including Moqui
Canyon, a 20-mile canyon with sheer walls rising over
600 feet. The mesa, an ecological island in the sky,
contains a relict plant community that supports Native
perennial grasses, shrubs, and some cacti. Mancos Mesa
also contains archaeological remains dating back 2,000
years and spanning across the Basketmaker II and III
and Pueblo I, II, and III periods.
Protection of the Bears Ears area will preserve its
spiritual, cultural, prehistoric, and historic legacy
and maintain its diverse array of natural and
scientific resources, ensuring that the prehistoric,
historic, and scientific values of this area remain for
the benefit of all Americans. For more than 100 years,
and sometimes predating the enactment of the
Antiquities Act, Presidents, Members of Congress,
Secretaries of the Interior, Tribal Nations, State and
local governments, scientists, and local
conservationists have understood and championed the
need to protect the Bears Ears area. The area contains
numerous objects of historic and scientific interest
and also includes other resources that contribute to
the social and economic well-being of the area's modern
communities as a result of world-class outdoor
recreation opportunities, including unparalleled rock
climbing available at places like the canyons in Indian
Creek; the paradise for hikers, birders, and horseback
riders provided in areas like the canyons east of Elk
Ridge; and other destinations for hunting, backpacking,
canyoneering, whitewater rafting, and mountain biking,
that are important to the increasing travel- and
tourism-based economy in the region.
WHEREAS, section 320301 of title 54, United States Code
(known as the ``Antiquities Act''), authorizes the
President, in his discretion, to declare by public
proclamation historic landmarks, historic and
prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic
or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands
owned or controlled by the Federal Government to be
national monuments, and to reserve as a part thereof
parcels of land, the limits of which shall be confined
to the smallest area compatible with the proper care
and management of the objects to be protected; and
WHEREAS, Proclamation 9558 of December 28, 2016,
designated the Bears Ears National Monument in the
State of Utah and reserved approximately 1.35 million
acres of Federal lands as the smallest area compatible
with the proper care and management of the objects of
historic and scientific interest declared part of the
monument; and
WHEREAS, Proclamation 9681 of December 4, 2017,
modified the management direction of the Bears Ears
National Monument and modified the boundaries to add
approximately 11,200 new acres of Federal lands, and
the objects of historic and scientific interest
contained therein, and to exclude more than 1.1 million
acres of Federal lands from the reservation, including
lands containing objects of historic and scientific
interest identified as needing protection in
Proclamation 9558, such as Valley of the Gods, Hideout
Canyon, portions of the San Juan River and Abajo
Mountains, genetically distinct populations of Kachina
daisy, and the Eucosma navajoensis moth; and
WHEREAS, December 4, 2017, was the first time that a
President asserted that the Antiquities Act included
the authority to reduce the boundaries of a national
monument or remove objects from protection under the
Antiquities Act since passage of the Federal Land
Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended (43
U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); and
WHEREAS, the entire Bears Ears landscape is profoundly
sacred to sovereign Tribal Nations and indigenous
people of the southwest region of the United States;
and
WHEREAS, I find that the unique nature of the Bears
Ears landscape, and the collection of objects and
resources therein, make the entire landscape
[[Page 57331]]
within the boundaries reserved by this proclamation an
object of historic and scientific interest in need of
protection under 54 U.S.C. 320301; and
WHEREAS, I find that all the historic and scientific
resources identified above and in Proclamation 9558 are
objects of historic or scientific interest in need of
protection under 54 U.S.C. 320301; and
WHEREAS, I find that there are threats to the objects
identified in this proclamation; and
WHEREAS, I find, in the absence of a reservation under
the Antiquities Act, the objects identified in this
proclamation and in Proclamation 9558 are not
adequately protected by otherwise applicable law or
administrative designations because neither provide
Federal agencies with the specific mandate to ensure
proper care and management of the objects, nor do they
withdraw the lands from the operation of the public
land, mining, and mineral leasing laws; thus a national
monument reservation is necessary to protect the
objects of historic and scientific interest in the
Bears Ears region for current and future generations;
and
WHEREAS, I find that the boundaries of the monument
reserved by this proclamation represent the smallest
area compatible with the protection of the objects of
scientific or historic interest as required by the
Antiquities Act; and
WHEREAS, it is in the public interest to ensure the
preservation, restoration, and protection of the
objects of scientific and historic interest on the
Bears Ears region, including the entire monument
landscape, reserved within the boundaries of the Bears
Ears National Monument, as established by this
proclamation;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of
the United States of America, by the authority vested
in me by section 320301 of title 54, United States
Code, hereby proclaim the objects identified above and
in Proclamation 9558 that are situated upon lands and
interests in lands owned or controlled by the Federal
Government to be the Bears Ears National Monument
(monument) and, for the purpose of protecting those
objects, reserve as part thereof all lands and
interests in lands not currently reserved as part of a
monument reservation and that are owned or controlled
by the Federal Government within the boundaries
described on the accompanying map, which is attached to
and forms a part of this proclamation. These reserved
Federal lands and interests in lands consist of those
lands reserved as part of the Bears Ears National
Monument as of December 3, 2017, and the approximately
11,200 acres added by Proclamation 9681, encompassing
approximately 1.36 million acres. As a result of the
distribution of the objects across the Bears Ears
landscape, and additionally and independently, because
the landscape itself is an object in need of
protection, the boundaries described on the
accompanying map are confined to the smallest area
compatible with the proper care and management of the
objects of historic or scientific interest identified
above and in Proclamation 9558.
All Federal lands and interests in lands within the
boundaries of the monument are hereby appropriated and
withdrawn from all forms of entry, location, selection,
sale, or other disposition under the public land laws
or laws applicable to the United States Forest Service
(USFS), from location, entry, and patent under the
mining laws, and from disposition under all laws
relating to mineral and geothermal leasing, other than
by exchange that furthers the protective purposes of
the monument.
This proclamation is subject to valid existing rights.
If the Federal Government subsequently acquires any
lands or interests in lands not currently owned or
controlled by the Federal Government within the
boundaries described on the accompanying map, such
lands and interests in lands shall be reserved as a
part of the monument, and objects identified above that
are situated upon those lands and interests in lands
shall be part of the monument, upon acquisition of
ownership or control by the Federal Government.
[[Page 57332]]
The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the
Interior (Secretaries) shall manage the monument
through the USFS and the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM), respectively, in accordance with the terms,
conditions, and management direction provided by this
proclamation and, unless otherwise specifically
provided herein, those provided by Proclamation 9558,
the latter of which are incorporated herein by
reference. The USFS shall manage that portion of the
monument within the boundaries of the National Forest
System (NFS), and the BLM shall manage the remainder of
the monument. The lands administered by the USFS shall
be managed as part of the Manti-La Sal National Forest.
The lands administered by the BLM shall be managed as a
unit of the National Landscape Conservation System. To
the extent any provision of Proclamation 9681 is
inconsistent with this proclamation or Proclamation
9558, the terms of this proclamation and Proclamation
9558 shall govern. To further the orderly management of
monument lands, the monument will be jointly managed as
a single unit consisting of the entire 1.36 million-
acre monument.
For purposes of protecting and restoring the objects
identified above and in Proclamation 9558, the
Secretaries shall jointly prepare and maintain a new
management plan for the entire monument and shall
promulgate such regulations for its management as they
deem appropriate. The Secretaries, through the USFS and
BLM, shall consult with other Federal land management
agencies or agency components in the local area,
including the National Park Service, in developing the
management plan. In promulgating any management rules
and regulations governing the NFS lands within the
monument and developing the management plan, the
Secretary of Agriculture, through the USFS, shall
consult with the Secretary of the Interior, through the
BLM. The Secretaries shall provide for maximum public
involvement in the development of that plan, including
consultation with federally recognized Tribes and State
and local governments. In the development and
implementation of the management plan, the Secretaries
shall maximize opportunities, pursuant to applicable
legal authorities, for shared resources, operational
efficiency, and cooperation.
In recognition of the importance of knowledge of Tribal
Nations about these lands and objects and participation
in the care and management of the objects identified
above, and to ensure that management decisions
affecting the monument reflect expertise and
traditional and historical knowledge of Tribal Nations,
a Bears Ears Commission (Commission) is reestablished
in accordance with the terms, conditions, and
obligations set forth in Proclamation 9558 to provide
guidance and recommendations on the development and
implementation of management plans and on management of
the entire monument.
To further the protective purposes of the monument, the
Secretary of the Interior shall explore entering into a
memorandum of understanding with the State of Utah that
would set forth terms, pursuant to applicable laws and
regulations, for an exchange of land owned by the State
of Utah and administered by the Utah School and
Institutional Trust Lands Administration within the
boundary of the monument for land of approximately
equal value managed by the BLM outside the boundary of
the monument. Consolidation of lands within the
monument boundary through exchange in this manner
provides for the orderly management of public lands and
is in the public interest.
The Secretaries shall manage livestock grazing as
authorized under existing permits or leases, and
subject to appropriate terms and conditions in
accordance with existing laws and regulations,
consistent with the care and management of the objects
identified above and in Proclamation 9558. Should
grazing permits or leases be voluntarily relinquished
by existing holders, the Secretaries shall retire from
livestock grazing the lands covered by such permits or
leases pursuant to the processes of applicable law.
Forage shall
[[Page 57333]]
not be reallocated for livestock grazing purposes
unless the Secretaries specifically find that such
reallocation will advance the purposes of this
proclamation and Proclamation 9558.
Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke
any existing withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation;
however, the monument shall be the dominant
reservation.
Warning is hereby given to all unauthorized persons not
to appropriate, injure, destroy, or remove any feature
of the monument and not to locate or settle upon any of
the lands thereof.
If any provision of this proclamation, including its
application to a particular parcel of land, is held to
be invalid, the remainder of this proclamation and its
application to other parcels of land shall not be
affected thereby.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty-one, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
sixth.
(Presidential Sig.)
Billing code 3395-F2-P
[[Page 57334]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD15OC21.006
[FR Doc. 2021-22672
Filed 10-14-21; 8:45 am]
Billing code 4310-10-C