Foundation News

On December 28, the Obama administration announced the designation of two new national monuments, Gold Butte in Nevada and Bears Ears in Utah, totaling 1.6 million acres of permanently protected public lands. The new monuments safeguard cultural and historic resources from looting and destruction as well as spectacular landscapes and wildlife.

At the start of President Obama’s second term, the Sierra Club set a goal to compel the President to protect six million acres as national monuments under the Antiquities Act of 1906 by the time he leaves office. With this announcement, the President has designated a total of 26 new sites and 5.6 million acres.

The Gold Butte National Monument recognizes the history and role the lands have in the culture of the Nuwuvi (Southern Paiutes) people. It serves as vital plant and wildlife habitat and a connecting corridor between other protected lands like the Lake Mead Recreation Area and the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument. The nearly 300,000 acres of the monument protects rock art, archaeological artifacts, and rare fossils that faced increasing damage from destruction and vandalism in recent years.

The campaign to get Bears Ears designated as a national monument was led by the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition. With this 1.35 million acre designation, Obama is protecting natural, cultural, and archaeological resources, including sacred sites for numerous tribes, and has established a Bears Ears Commission to ensure co-management of the national monument by tribes and federal agencies.

Thank you, President Obama, for responding to tribal advocacy and helping to build the inclusive future we envision for public lands.