Bears Ears National Monument

As others have said, the main positive of this designation in my eyes is that it protects the area from oil and gas drilling. Those of you who've driven out around the Aneth/Hovenweep/Cortez area will know what a depressing sight it is out there with all those rigs.

I don't believe a new monument is suddenly gonna massively increase visitation and turn the area into another Zion. Some monuments and Park Service units don't lend themselves to the "every day tourist" - I believe GSENM and BENM are two such units, Hovenweep and Dinosaur to a lesser extent. Places like this require work and effort to get to "the goods", you can't just go in there and gawk at something from an overlook or take a shuttle along a scenic drive. I don't for one minute imagine the BLM, USFS or whoever's in charge of this one will be planning on blasting miles of new asphalt down into Grand Gulch for example. I'll be surprised if visitation increases significantly in the next five years against what it is now, for 75% of people it'll just be a place they blaze through on Highway 95 as part of their Grand Circle vacation between Capitol Reef/Moab and Monument Valley.
 
Yes, good news. Received a mail from SUWA today about the two new NMs.
 
I have to agree with others here who don't expect much increase in traffic due to this. If you compare GSENM to non monument areas like San Rafael, North Wash, Robbers Roost, etc, I highly doubt you see much difference in visitation over the past 20 years.

I would bet in 10 years you could still hike from point lookout down to the San Juan and out Slickhorn and probably not see another person.
 
uintafly said:
I have to agree with others here who don't expect much increase in traffic due to this. If you compare GSENM to non monument areas like San Rafael, North Wash, Robbers Roost, etc, I highly doubt you see much difference in visitation over the past 20 years.

I would bet in 10 years you could still hike from point lookout down to the San Juan and out Slickhorn and probably not see another person.
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Not a fair comparison.....that's somewhat tougher than most will do ... I suspect GG drainage itself, arch, fish, owl, road, baker, comb, the roads on top will all have a increase. Expect more permitting, restrictions for the main season....... some areas may even get closed to access
 
Glad I spent a ton of time in that country before it "was discovered" ................................
 
Nanda said:
I will gladly take more visitors than oil and gas industries in/around the area.
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This is really the name of the game here.

I'm all for it. If it would have happened via a State Park, THAT would have made all our fears come true. Ever been to Snow Canyon, or Kodachrome. That is the worst of both worlds. Pavement everywhere, huge cut trails, and signs in front of every stupid thing. Don't forget the cows! With land management it's always about picking your poison. Federally managed land, particularly a monument is a massive improvement over private, or state.
 
Bob said:
Not a fair comparison.....that's somewhat tougher than most will do ... I suspect GG drainage itself, arch, fish, owl, road, baker, comb, the roads on top will all have a increase. Expect more permitting, restrictions for the main season....... some areas may even get closed to access
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With all due respect, the roads to almost all of the canyons you mentioned (not familiar with Baker) are already accessible with a normal passenger car. With this designation I don't believe your conclusion, without any real evidence, is accurate. Moonhouse road was already improved and extended to the canyon edge. Permits are already required now in most areas. These places are off the beaten track, so to speak. Not near any big highway, it takes a little time and effort to reach these areas. Not what the normal mechanized tourist will want to do. I don't see how you can reach any of the conclusions you are making. Glad you had the chance to visit these soon to be trashed, closed areas.
 
With all due respect to Bob I'm with the 60% of Americans that reportedly gave President Obama a favorable rating before the election and don't see the need for pejoratives, especially when any "reason" for them is far from substantiated to put it incredibly kindly.

I commend the President for taking this action on behalf of each and every American, more than 300,000,000 strong that own each and every acre of Federal Land in equal measure. There is nothing to "give back." The 8 Western States in question with the current management/ownership "dispute" NEVER had title to ANY of these Federal Lands, they forever forfeited the prospect of title to these lands in their State Constitutions as a precondition of Statehood. Just say no to deceitful charlatans and demagouges.

Let freedom ring! For everyone.
 
IntrepidXJ said:
...and that you are old enough to have had that opportunity...
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LOL get off his lawn

but it was not all that long ago that there was a trailer at the Kane Ranger Station, not the state of the art building and no permits needed so its easy to be a bit discouraged over some of the population gains out in some specific areas where there used to be none. Nothing is permanent. People are drawn to these areas by the photography that is captured and shared so maybe you are part to blame Randy. LOL and all of us along with you...

everybody wants to play

I'm not too worried about crowds. We learned decades ago how to leave the throngs behind in National Parks and I mean see nobody at all... so a Monument with so many off trail opportunities will be easy still. It just takes a little foot work and navigational skills...99% don't know what to do without some kind of trail...
 
With the Bundy clan just outside Gold Butte, Lyman and his rebels in Blanding next door to BENM, armed 'patriots' up every driveway in the west... could be interesting.
 
I'm going to make some predictions about the Bears Ears. They are not positive and I hope that am wrong.

The state of Utah and Republicans at national levels as well as key members of the San Juan County Commission are inalterably opposed to the monument and one can expect the following outcomes:

A. No budget for the Bears Ears. You may see the Kane Creek Ranger Station close, BLM staff reduced (if that's possible) or removed entirely.
B. Bundy style protests and occupations. This is a virtual certainty. Expect trash ups of Lower Fish Creek and lower Mule Canyon, more poaching, illegal wood cutting, crypto crimes, etc.
C. More visitation against the back drop of no management. This means more vandalism and pot hunting.

Remember that the federal government is owned by a single party now. That party is generally hostile to the concept of public land and more so to the idea of preserving land from development. Further, 33 states are owned by Republicans with the same point of view.

What you can do.
-First of all make your reps know what you think and make sure your friends, dirt bag compatriots, hunters...heck anyone who cares about open , free, public land, to contact their reps as well.

-Put your $ and skin in the game by giving specifically to Friends of Cedar Mesa and consider participating in a site stewardship program being developed through FOCM.

http://www.friendsofcedarmesa.org/
 
Now SkLund, this with your prediction for No budget for the Bears Ears N.M. is a very much a distinct possibility. The reason for this is that I have been visiting the Greater Escalante area for years with even before it was a monument. And this is exactly what they did for this area with no budget for the Escalante Staircase NM for many many a year in protest. They even might be able to right a bill revocating the proclamation.
 
Kmatjhwy said:
Now SkLund, this with your prediction for No budget for the Bears Ears N.M. is a very much a distinct possibility. The reason for this is that I have been visiting the Greater Escalante area for years with even before it was a monument. And this is exactly what they did for this area with no budget for the Escalante Staircase NM for many many a year in protest. They even might be able to right a bill revocating the proclamation.
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This document is the best I have found on the issue.
http://congressionalresearch.com/RS...nt+to+Modify+or+Eliminate+a+National+Monument

Based on it, no monument has ever been revoked (but we've never had a reality TV star as President either.) You can expect to see general wind bag proclamations about this. It appears to be a constitutional issue that will go to the courts. I predict that the monument status will be revoked by a US district court. Without a stay on new development, that development will ensue thus removing the conditions for which it was designated as a monument in the first place. This is of course while the court case is on appeal to the Supremo. The Supremes are the last arbiter of this issue and one can't predict where they will go on it even with new appointees.

Bottom Line: Give money to environmental organizations and buy less gear. They will need the $$ to fight the developers, state governments, Trumps, and "Patriots". This is my humble opinion.
 
SKLund said:
Bottom Line: Give money to environmental organizations and buy less gear. They will need the $$ to fight the developers, state governments, Trumps, and "Patriots". This is my humble opinion.
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This ... and even more importantly, volunteer some time with them. They'll have a lot to deal with over the next four years -- not just Antiquities Act issues, but Endangered Species, dirty fuels, and even threats to the public ownership of wild lands in general.
 
I figure this may be of interest, given the discussion we've had here.

I called last Thursday to get permits for Cedar Mesa next month, and they didn't call me back until today. The employee I spoke with on the phone was a manager of some sort there, and she said they've been insanely busy all over Cedar Mesa recently. She said the number of people coming to the visitor center this spring has more than doubled compared to spring last year (800/week last year as opposed to 1800/week this year, if I recall correctly). I asked if she attributed it to the national monument designation, and she seemed pretty sure that's the primary cause.

Lucky for me, we're not going in at a popular trailhead, so our destination was wide open.
 
Jackson said:
I figure this may be of interest, given the discussion we've had here.

I called last Thursday to get permits for Cedar Mesa next month, and they didn't call me back until today. The employee I spoke with on the phone was a manager of some sort there, and she said they've been insanely busy all over Cedar Mesa recently. She said the number of people coming to the visitor center this spring has more than doubled compared to spring last year (800/week last year as opposed to 1800/week this year, if I recall correctly). I asked if she attributed it to the national monument designation, and she seemed pretty sure that's the primary cause.

Lucky for me, we're not going in at a popular trailhead, so our destination was wide open.
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I will go into this more when I do my trip report but there is a BLM employee working there now (this is a week ago exactly). It wasn't too crowded then but but on our way out on Saturday the lot for Kane Gulch was completely full. I want to note that we did not have to see the film or get informed about impact. That is a concern.

There is no doubt that The Bears Ears have become a brand and you can fully expect to see the crowds descend on the place. I can't compare reliably to how things have been in the recent past but there were six parties camping at the Government Trail Polly's Canyon confluence. That's a lot for me. Multiple people asking me, "where's the Big Man Panel", gives me a bad feeling.
 
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