As the leaders of two Native American tribes in California, we are raising our voices with outrage about recent actions by the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump just issued two proclamations to remove protections from more than 2 million acres of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah. This illegal action would be the largest elimination of protected areas in U.S. history.
The following day, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke released a report recommending changes to Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Northern California, and allowing “traditional” uses like mining, logging and drilling in protected areas. We are deeply concerned by these attacks on our nation’s public lands and sacred ancestral sites.
As tribal leaders, and as Californians, we stand in solidarity with the tribes and communities that will be affected by the president’s actions.
It’s now clear that over the coming weeks, President Trump will issue more proclamations that aim to eliminate protections for precious lands and ocean areas. Zinke’s report puts eight more national monuments in Trump’s crosshairs, meaning that tens of millions more acres of public lands and ocean areas could soon be sold out for mining, drilling, industrial-scale commercial fishing and logging.
The president’s decision to shrink Bears Ears National Monument rips Native American culture out of our history books. It also exposes tens of thousands of Native American cultural and archaeological sites to looting and grave robbing. According to The Washington Post, at least two dozen looting incidents have taken place in the Bears Ears region over the past five years, with half a dozen in the past six months alone.
Bears Ears National Monument is a homeland to many tribes, including the Hopi, Navajo, Ute Mountain Ute, Ute Tribe and Zuni. These tribal nations lived, hunted and prayed there. Their ancestors are buried there. And to this day, family gatherings, dances and ceremonies are held within the national monument.
Bears Ears was the first national monument protected at the request of tribes and is collectively managed by a commission of tribal members.
By eliminating protections for this sacred national monument, the president is saying that there’s nothing worth protecting in these lands. This is an outrageous suggestion, a slap in the face to the tribes that call Bears Ears home, and an affront to Native Americans all across the country.
Over the years, the two of us have successfully worked to protect national monuments, including Mojave Trails National Monument in the California desert near Los Angeles and the California Coastal National Monument, which runs the length of our state.
These monuments both include sacred and cultural sites for our tribes. Near Santa Cruz, the Amah Mutsun have traditionally held ceremonies and cultural practices on ancestral lands that are part of the California Coastal National Monument. In Mojave Trails National Monument and throughout the desert, Native Americans left a legacy of rock art and artifacts, including grinding stones, stone hammers and utensils.
With the Trump administration taking such irresponsible and ill-informed action against national monuments, it’s clear to us that no public lands are truly immune to their attacks.
That’s why we must join together against this attack on Bears Ears and the rest of our national monuments and public lands. We ask all Californians to join us in opposing the Trump administration’s actions.
We can’t stand by and see the history and culture of our peoples destroyed.
Valentin Lopez is the chairman of the Central Coast’s Amah Mutsun Tribe. Michael Madrigal is a member of the Cahuilla Band of Indians in the Southern California desert and president of the Native American Land Conservancy.
