America 
 
 County In Utah Threatens Takeover Of National Park Areas 
 
 i i itoggle caption Wanda Gayle/NPR Wanda Gayle/NPR 
 
 San Juan County has become the fifth county in Utah to declare a state of emergency in response to the closure of National Park areas. 
 
 But the San Juan County Commission has also decided to storm National Park Service barricades, take control of some parks, and reopen them to the public. 
 
 "This is civil disobedience," says Phil Lyman, a CPA and county commissioner from Monticello, Utah, in the southeastern corner of the state. "What's happening to us is wrong." 
 
 The commissioners had decided to take down the barricades at Natural Bridges National Monument as early as Thursday morning but put off that move to give Utah Governor Gary Herbert time to discuss the issue with Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. 
 
 "The decision has been made," Lyman adds. "But decisions change." 
 
 San Juan County also includes Hovenweep and Rainbow Bridge National Monuments, the Island in the Sky and Needles Districts of Canyonlands National Park and the Hite Marina inside the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. 
 
 In an emergency meeting Wednesday, the commissioners decided to mobilize Sheriff's deputies, search and rescue volunteers, firefighters, EMT's, portable toilets, garbage trucks and three mobile command centers. 
 
 At least 60 people would be involved, according to Rick Bailey, the county fire marshal. Bailey said the costs of the operation haven't been calculated but he said they're necessary. 
 
 "How do we let local businesses starve to death?" he asked. 
 
 The commissioners indicated in their Wednesday meeting that they are seeking financial assistance from the state of Utah. 
 
 Bailey says 70 percent of the county's businesses depend on visitors to the region's National Parks, Monuments and Recreation Areas, as well as public lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. 
 
 Ninety-one percent of the county is state, federal or Indian reservation land and the county has a history of protesting and resisting federal land management policies. 
 
 The county is also as big as Connecticut and Delaware combined and the National Park areas involved in the planned takeover are hundreds of miles apart. 
 
 Kate Cannon, the regional superintendant of the National Park Service, has been kept informed, the commissioners said in their meeting Wednesday. 
 
 "We have been advised by the Park Service...that it is against the law," Bailey says of the county's plans. "They have not indicated that they would make arrests or stop people." 
 
 Trespassing in a National Park can trigger a citation that is then adjudicated by a Federal Magistrate, who can levy fines of up to $500 and jail terms of up to six months. 
 
 A spokesman for the National Park Service says the agency plans to issue a statement soon. 
 
 "We don't want to threaten or intimidate federal employees," an unidentified commissioner said during a recorded conference call. "We're not strong-arming anybody. We're just getting people into these places." 
 
 This weekend and early next week are usually very busy for federal and state lands in the state because universities and public schools have fall break. 
 
 In their Wednesday meeting, the commissioners said they were prepared to provide or clean toilets, collect garbage, conduct search and rescue operations, staff park entrances and provide law enforcement. They also discussed maximizing media attention and staging photo opportunities. 
 
 They agreed that they would explain their actions by saying "we as a county are trying to do what is in the best interests of the public." 
 
 Gov. Herbert told reporters Wednesday he's also prepared to marshal funding and workers to open other National Park areas in the state. He's asked President Obama to immediately authorize state funding and/or staffing. 
 
 "This is just...common sense," Herbert said. "And frankly we ought to be finding solutions to keep them open rather than saying why they have to be closed." ||||| If only the sandstones could sing, imagine the stories they'd tell, of dinosaurs, mammoth hunters and the "ancient ones" known as the Anasazi. 
 
 All roamed southern Utah over the eons, long before Native Americans struggled to hold their land against Mormon settlers, modern life and now, Donald Trump. 
 
 As the President arrives in Utah Monday afternoon, this rocky corner of the Wild West is a battlefield once again, but this time the warriors will carry briefcases and lawsuits. 
 
 Trump, by signing two presidential proclamations on Monday, shrunk the size of Bears Ears National Monument by more than 80% and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by roughly 45%, fundamentally reshaping the two large national monuments. 
 
 The proclamations split the two national monuments into several smaller sections. Bears Ears will be shrunk from 1.35 million acres to 228,337 acres, according to the spokesperson for Interior, and split into two separate monument sections. Grand Staircase-Escalante, a monument designated by President Bill Clinton, will be split into three sections and shrunk from 1.9 million acres to just about 1 million acres. 
 
 Trump slammed past administrations -- namely Clinton's and President Barack Obama's -- for what he called "federal overreach." The two former Democratic president designated Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante for protection, hoping to preserve their culture, history and natural beauty. 
 
 Past administrations, Trump said, thought "the natural resources of Utah should be controlled by a small handful of very distant bureaucrats located in Washington. And guess what? They are wrong." 
 
 "The families and communities of Utah know and love this land the best and you know the best how to take care of your land," Trump said. "You know how to protect it. And you know best how to conserve this land for many, many generations to come." 
 
 President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore pose at the edge of the Grand Canyon, during the signing of a proclamation establishing Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. 
 
 Locals in the area saw the designations as nothing more than a 3-million-acre federal land grab. The drillers, miners and frackers who were shut out by Clinton's and Obama's use of the Antiquities Ac t would have new leases on life. Sen. Orrin Hatch and his fellow Utah Republicans would have a major victory to celebrate. 
 
 Hoodoos are among the natural wonders in Bears Ears National Monument. 
 
 But those who believe the rocks can talk, through countless fossils, sacred ruins and desert solitude, are bracing for a fight. 
 
 "I'm going to sue him," says Yvon Chouinard, founder and CEO of outdoor gear maker Patagonia. "It seems the only thing this administration understands is lawsuits. I think it's a shame that only 4% of American lands are national parks. Costa Rica's got 10%. Chile will now have way more parks than we have. We need more, not less. This government is evil and I'm not going to sit back and let evil win." 
 
 Chouinard led the effort to move a major outdoor show from Salt Lake City to Denver in protest of Utah's land use politics and he's been a big supporter of the historic coalition of the five local tribes, which put aside ancient rivalries and lobbied for monument protection. 
 
 Outdoor retailer Patagonia also lent its voice in opposition to the move Monday, setting the home page of Patagonia.com to a blacked-out page that says, "The President Stole Your Land," with the option to learn more about "the largest elimination of protected land in American history." 
 
 The site also gave visitors the option to support groups that are pushing back. 
 
 Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said he was unmoved by people like Chouinard who are threatening lawsuits. 
 
 "I don't yield to pressure, only higher principle," he said. "And I don't think public policy should be based on the threat of lawsuit ... I feel very confident." 
 
 San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman says the designation of Bears Ears as a national monument never felt right. 
 
 But Chouinard's arguments carry no sway at a pro-Trump, anti-monument rally in Monticello. Here, Chouinard represents all the liberal interests from outside, conspiring to pit neighbor against neighbor. "What's his net worth? One billion dollars? Two billion?" says San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman. "You got Patagonia in here waving the flag of environmentalism while he's completely exploiting the outdoors for industrialized tourism. For a person in that position to try and lecture morality to one of the poorest counties in the entire nation is wrong." 
 
 There has been opposition to Bears Ears as a monument since it was designated. 
 
 The size of New Jersey, San Juan is the biggest and poorest county in Utah and with this moment of political victory, Lyman finds kinship with the coal miners of Appalachia. 
 
 He points out that Bears Ears is the fifth national park or monument in his county and argues that oil and gas extraction would have less impact on the landscape than the brand of adventure tourism that has transformed nearby Moab. "By designating a monument, you are using a tool that will bring hordes of people to a place that is very sensitive," he says. 
 
 Mark Maryboy walks in Bears Ears, home to generations of his ancestors. 
 
 But according to former county commissioner and Navajo elder Mark Maryboy, cultural sensitivity is hard to find in San Juan County. "They didn't want to work with us," he says. "In fact, one of the county commissioners told me 'You guys lost the war so you have no business talking about the land planning process.'" 
 
 With efficient strides, he drops into a canyon near the San Juan River, past one of the 100,000 sacred ruins in Bears Ears, to a wall covered in 1,200-year old rock art. The spindly renderings of man and animal are the work of an artist they've dubbed "Wolfman" for the paw print signature that accompanies the pictoglyphs. And then he points out the modern bullet holes. 
 
 Ancient rock art is pockmarked by bullet holes. 
 
 To his Navajo faith, this canyon holds the spirits of his loved ones and these carvings are just as sacred as any art in the Vatican or any wall in Jerusalem, yet someone has been using it for target practice. 
 
 "The local white community members are determined to get rid of all the art rock," he says. "It stands in the way of progress for them. It stands in the way of a job. New cars. New clothes. Rolex watch." 
 
 He's heard the argument that his people need jobs and that the extraction industry could provide them while protecting the most important sites. 
 
 Native Americans built grain stores and other structures in what is now southern Utah. 
 
 But, he feels, history hasn't shown that to be true. 
 
 "The experience that Native Americans see in this county is discrimination," he says. "They are the last ones to be hired for any position. Even if there's a huge mining operation opening up, they will not be hired for that position. And they will be exposed to the toxic materials that are left on the ground or in the air." 
 
 Regardless of Trump's decision and unless Utah politicians can figure out a way to take them back and sell them off, the 3 million acres around Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante will remain public. 
 
 If you are an American, this is your land and these are your rocks. Pay them a visit sometime. You'll be amazed at the stories they tell.
– A southern Utah county isn't taking the government shutdown lying down: It's threatening to reopen its national parks to breathe life back into the area's struggling economy, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. With help from firefighters, EMTs, and search and rescue volunteers, San Juan County—where 70% of businesses rely on visitors to parks, monuments, and public lands—says it will remove barricades, bring in staff, public toilets, and other resources to operate. "How do we let local businesses starve to death?" the fire marshal asked. One wrinkle: The move is against the law. It will be "civil disobedience" done peacefully, the county commissioner says. "We’re watching one of our prime months fade away from us," he says. "It’s really painful. What's happening to us is wrong." Though the costs of the operation haven't been tallied up, the county, the fifth in Utah to declare a state of emergency due to closures, has appealed to the state for funding, NPR reports, adding that barricades could be down as early as today. It's not clear how the feds will respond, but these trespassers at national parks are now headed to court.