Meet the woman who knows Bears Ears best

Junipers333 said:
Please include in the guide book information pertaining to the The Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 (ARPA).
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Wait, you mean ARPA is enough to "protect" this region? Then why the need for a monument designation?

Yes, I know I'm being an a-hole. But all this exposure was completely foreseeable and even predicted by some, and I wish monument supporters would admit that things are worse off now than they were before the designation.

Also, my apologies for not having a funny Brent Spiner photo to go along with this post.
 
Sometimes I think Cactus Ed was right, we need to just designate areas where nobody is allowed. At least not for a century or two (assuming we're not all extinct by then).
 
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Ah yes, I agree and I do tell folks that its just fine the way it is/was, with it's dirt roads, permits needed for the gulch and moon house. Sadly, been looted....yes its in the press so much, the poster child for this monument movement... So very complicated in more ways than one !
 
This is a great and thoughtful discussion, a testament to the quality of this site and its members.

Just three quick thoughts to add this morning, honestly not meant as criticisms of other posts here:

  1. I think many folks in the environmental community would agree that a major (or the major) reason Bears Ears is needed is not to draw attention to the are's natural or cultural resources -- or to protect then from visitors. It's to protect the place from extractive industry, which has the potential to be extremely and permanently destructive. In the American public lands management system, National Monument status is the only realistic way to get that done.
  2. If there's an archaeological or scenic site that needs to be kept secret for its own protection, the only way to do that is to actually keep it completely secret ... even without giving locational information, announcing that it exists and posting pictures of it is putting it at real risk. There are plenty of folks out there who take semi-cryptic messages like those as tempting challenges, including pot hunters and archaeological site looters.
  3. In a similar vein: it's bad enough with visitors disrespect historic and scenic sites, but it's much worse when web and print publications normalize those actions through their articles. Publications need to be called to task for that ... though I don't see that situation changing, because people are drawn in by stuff like that, and clicks equal money.
 
Junipers333 said:
My letter to the editor :
To whom it may concern:

I came across the recent Men’s Journal article, “Meet the Woman Who Knows Bears Ears Best” which highlighted Morgan Sjogren and her recent upcoming guidebook The Best Bears Ears National Monument Hikes, being published by Mountaineers Books with support from Colorado Mountain Club.

After reading the article, I was curious who Morgan Sjogren was and intrigued. I viewed her webpage, Twitter, and Instagram account. What I read and gathered from her writings and photographs, was not exactly what I had hoped to see. To say the least, I was very disappointed in how she is promoting Bears Ears National Monument in rural Utah.

Sjogren has a very powerful position with the task of writing a guide book for a controversial area and her media presence. What concerns me most is that she has very little to say about the importance of these archaeological and cultural sites and the native culture located within Bears Ears. She barely mentions any ethics of how to treat archaeological sites. I read very little mention of leaving no trace hiking/camping ethics, not destroying crypto-biological soil, not touching the walls of ruins, not entering ruins unless you are permitted to, not touching rock art, and/or not removing any pieces of pottery or any other artifact on her social media. Her photos and writings are tacky, immature, nonprofessional, and even incorrect in some places. Her push for corporate sponsorship is adding to the ridiculousness and is what makes people not take her seriously. Is she really concerned about the protection of Bears Ears National Monument or is she more concerned about selling items with Patagonia, Sufferfest Beer Company, REI, or La Sportiva?

With big media and Sjogren’s Instagram account having over 19,000 followers, this is only going to bring more and more attention to this highly sensitive area. It creates impacts beyond what we will ever know for now and the future generations. These companies that stand behind her she hold her accountable that she is advocating for Bears Ears in the ut-most ethical and mindful sense. I demand that she write the guide book with the highest standards and showcasing the proper respect of visiting of these sites. She hardly even mentions the cultural aspect and native voices that are involved in this controversial subject. I highly suggest she pays the utmost respect to the Native tribes of the Ute, Navajo, Zuni, and others in the area who have called this place home way before us.

After viewing her Instagram photos, I came across at least four photos were Sjogren was climbing out of a ruin via ladder, stepping in the doorway of a ruin, entering a ruin, and holding a large piece of pottery. I was able to recognize some of these ruins and locations, as I live in the area and have visited Cedar Mesa several times. Sjogren failed to mention in her posts that this was a legal place to do so. She failed to mention any sort of ethic of how to protect and respect ruins or archaeological artifacts. If the common lay person, does not know or understand the rules of archaeological sites, they might assume that is actually OK to behave in a similar manner among archaeological sites. Sjogren is not setting a good example.

It is well known that Bears Ears does not have the resources or law enforcement to protect the rich and sensitive archaeological sites for such a huge area, especially in this time of government budget cuts. This is public land and for all of us. I do not want to see our ruins, rock art, or other artifacts get destroyed. Once we lose them, we have lost these treasures forever, as they are irreplaceable.

As Erin Alberty states in her Salt Lake City Tribune article, "This used to be a place that almost no one knew of, with no name and minimal human impact. But things change fast. Social media makes an easy brag of every adventure. We want to share the excitement, to be helpful, to inspire, to develop community with other fun-seekers. Much has been made of Instagram’s role in driving unmanageable crowds to remote natural wonders.” Certainly a newspaper/magazine article/ or Instagram Photo of Sjogren climbing around a ruin could do the same.
  • Please work closely with the Bureau of Land Management-Monticello Field Office to ensure that GPS points and exact locations of highly sensitive rock art or ruins that are protected under federal land are not published for the public. Please include in the guide book information pertaining to the The Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 (ARPA).
Thank you for your time and hopefully Megan Sjogren can portray herself more professionaly with these complex issues.
A concerned citizen and public land lover,

Crystal
Please read these following articles as well:
http://www.sltrib.com/artsliving/ou...bears-ears-better-than-anyone-living-or-dead/
http://www.terraincognitamedia.com/features/cultural-appropriation-in-the-outdoors-bears-ears2017
http://www.sltrib.com/artsliving/ou...s-a-natural-wonder-too-secret-to-write-about/
https://thepetroglyph.com/the-running-bum-lost-in-the-bears-ears-national-monument-area-27b306ea8c7c
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We need a hand-clap emoji. Thank you!
 
Trail running does not equate to seeing and exploring a place.... A bit of a stretch ..... Wanting attention and readership
 
And it starts... Let's all welcome the swarms.... Money in publishers pockets
 
Nick said:
No preview pages! Want to buy to criticize but don't want to support! What to do...
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Amazon won't put up the "Look Inside" (preview) until the book is actually published on Feb 1. Neither will any of the other booksellers. Gotta either wait to see that, or cave and buy it. Note that the preview sometimes shows nothing of the actual writing of the book. The front matter can take up almost all of the Look Inside.

I doubt swarms will show up because of one book (many more people are checking out Bears Ears because of the media coverage, not hiking books), and it's not going to make a ton of money for anyone. Hiking books don't.
 
I think the guide can be a "weapon" in the fight for re-designation that will come with the political shift to the left the xenophobic folks are unwittingly facilitating. Hopefully the courts can put the disenfranchisement of more than 300,000,000 Americans that own each and every acre of Federl Land in equal measure on hold long enough.
 
The CMC post on Facebook (only reason I even saw the book release info) made sure to point out that all hikes are still within the reduced monument boundaries and accessible with a proper permit.

I was sort of surprised CMC published this given their catalog is almost entirely Colorado specific, but I did see a couple out of state hike books.
 
Absarokanaut said:
I think the guide can be a "weapon" in the fight for re-designation that will come with the political shift to the left the xenophobic folks are unwittingly facilitating. Hopefully the courts can put the disenfranchisement of more than 300,000,000 Americans that own each and every acre of Federl Land in equal measure on hold long enough.
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For eight straight years, the "Conservation in the West" poll of residents in eight Western states has shown growing support for public lands and protecting those wild places — so much so, that across those states brimming with public land, three-quarters of them described themselves as conservationists this year, up from a little more than 60 percent in 2016.

That's a significant swing because people tend not to change how they think of themselves, said Public Opinion Strategies pollster Lori Weigel, who this month helped interview 3,200 residents in the states for the annual survey by Colorado College's State of the Rockies Project.

"I think we are seeing a boost in intensity from what we have seen in the past," Weigel said.

That vigor seems to be stemming from President Donald Trump. The poll shows disapproval for Trump's call to carve almost 2 million acres from national monuments in Utah, with 70 percent of Colorado residents saying the shrinking of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments was a bad call. Coloradans have a strong affinity for national monuments, with 86 percent of those polled saying the protected federal lands help nearby economies.

Still, while more than 90 percent of Colorado respondents said the state's national monuments were treasures worthy of conservation, about a quarter of them said the monuments injure the local economy and tie up land that could be used for other purposes.

https://www.postindependent.com/new...nk-national-monuments-harm-the-local-economy/
 
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