Image copyright AP Image caption Bears Ears national monument in Utah will encompass 1.3 million acres

President Barack Obama has unilaterally designated two new "national monument" nature preserves in the western US states of Nevada and Utah.

The Bears Ears National Monument and the Gold Butte National Monument will protect areas rich in Native American artefacts from energy drilling.

Some Republicans in those states are opposed to the move and say it amounts to a federal land-grab.

It comes as Mr Obama attempts to secure his environmental legacy.

Since the election of Republican Donald Trump as next US president, Mr Obama has moved to block new mining claims by Yellowstone National Park and new oil drilling in the vulnerable Arctic Ocean.

The Hawaiian-born president has protected more land and water acreage than any other US president.

Image copyright AP Image caption The Colorado River flows through the northern edge of Bear Rocks in the US Four Corner region

But experts say it will be hard for Mr Trump to reverse it when he takes power.

Christy Goldfuss, managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said a sitting president cannot undo a previous president's national monument designations.

However, western lawmakers reacted with outrage to the announcement, which came as Congress was in recess for the holiday season.

They see it as government overreach and a block to potential energy development.

"This arrogant act by a lame duck president will not stand," said Utah Senator Mike Lee about Bears Ears, which is named for a set of rock formations.

In what Native American tribes view as a victory, the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah will cover 1.35 million acres in the Four Corners region.

It will protect the estimated 100,000 archaeological sites in the area including ancient cliff dwellings.

Image copyright AP Image caption Interior Secretary Sally Jewell hikes among the cliff dwellings known as the Moonhouse

Image copyright AP Image caption Newspaper Rock features rare petroglyphs

In Nevada, the 300,000-acre Gold Butte National Monument outside Las Vegas will protect rock art, fossils and recently discovered dinosaur tracks.

Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye praised the announcement.

"We have always looked to Bears Ears as a place of refuge," Mr Begaye said.

"The rocks, the winds, the land - they are living, breathing things that deserve timely and lasting protection."</s>SALT LAKE CITY – President Barack Obama designated two national monuments Wednesday at sites in Utah and Nevada that have become key flashpoints over use of public land in the U.S. West, marking the administration’s latest move to protect environmentally sensitive areas in its final days.

The Bears Ears National Monument in Utah will cover 1.35 million acres in the Four Corners region, the White House said. In a victory for Native American tribes and conservationists, the designation protects land that is considered sacred and is home to an estimated 100,000 archaeological sites, including ancient cliff dwellings.

It’s a blow for state Republican leaders and many rural residents who fear it will add another layer of unnecessary federal control and close the area to energy development and recreation, a common refrain in the battle over use of the American West’s vast open spaces.

In Nevada, a 300,000-acre Gold Butte National Monument outside Las Vegas would protect a scenic and ecologically fragile area near where rancher Cliven Bundy led in an armed standoff with government agents in 2014. It includes rock art, artifacts, rare fossils and recently discovered tracks.

The White House and conservationists said both sites were at risk of looting and vandalism.

“Today’s actions will help protect this cultural legacy and will ensure that future generations are able to enjoy and appreciate these scenic and historic landscapes,” Obama said in a statement.

His administration has rushed to safeguard vulnerable areas ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. It has blocked new mining claims outside Yellowstone National Park and new oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean.

Obama’s creation and expansion of monuments covers more acreage than any other president.

But Trump’s upcoming presidency has tempered the excitement for tribal leaders and conservationists, with some worrying he could try to reverse or reduce some of Obama’s expansive land protections.

U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah, who opposes the Bears Ears Monument, has suggested presidents have the power to undo monuments, though it has not been done before.

A coalition of tribes pushed for the creation of Utah’s eighth national monument, though they asked Obama to make it about 500,000 acres larger than the monument he named Wednesday.

Tribal members visit the Bears Ears area to perform ceremonies, collect herbs and wood for medicinal and spiritual purposes, and do healing rituals.

Navajo Nation President ?Russell Begaye called it an exciting day for his tribe and people of all cultures.

“We have always looked to Bears Ears as a place of refuge, as a place where we can gather herbs and medicinal plants, and a place of prayer and sacredness,” Begaye said. “The rocks, the winds, the land — they are living, breathing things that deserve timely and lasting protection.”

The Navajo Nation is one of five tribes that will get an elected official on a first-of-its-kind tribal commission for the Bears Ears monument. The panel will provide federal land managers with tribal expertise and historical knowledge about the area, federal officials said.

Tucked between existing national parks and the Navajo reservation, the proposed monument features stunning vistas at every turn, with a mix of cliffs, plateaus, towering rock formations, rivers and canyons across wide expanses covered by sagebrush and juniper trees.

Opponents agree the area is a natural treasure worth preserving but said the federal designation would create restrictions on oil and gas development as well residents’ ability to camp, bike, hike and gather wood.

No new mining and oil and gas development will be allowed within the monument boundaries, said Christy Goldfuss, managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Members of Utah’s all-GOP congressional delegation had backed a plan to protect about 1.4 million acres at Bears Ears, while opening up other areas of the state for development.

To many residents in the small, predominantly Mormon town of Blanding that sits near the new monument, the proposal is a thinly veiled, repackaged push from environmental groups who recruited tribes after previous attempts at the designation fizzled out.

In Nevada, retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Harry Reid has pushed for protections at Gold Butte, a remote area northeast of Lake Mead, but GOP members of the state’s congressional delegation have been vocal opponents.

Bundy is one rancher who does not recognize federal jurisdiction in the area. He was accused of illegally allowing his cows to roam there after failing to pay more than $1.1 million in fees and penalties.

He has pleaded not guilty to charges in the 2014 standoff with U.S. agents trying to round up his cattle.</s>President Barack Obama continued putting the final touches on his environmental legacy as he designated two new national monuments yesterday. 1.35 million acres of federal land surrounding the Bears Ears Buttes in southeastern Utah and 300,000 acres around Gold Butte in Nevada were protected by the president’s declaration. To date, Obama has designated about 553 million acres of public lands and waters as parks, monuments or wilderness areas, more than any previous president.

The Bears Ears National Monument, located to the east of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and to the south of Canyonlands National Park, has more than 100,000 Native American cultural and archaeological sites and is regarded as one of the most significant archaeological areas in the United States. Bears Ears, named for the twin buttes that thrust above the horizon, is home to a diverse southwestern landscape that includes red-rock formations, mountain peaks, sandstone canyons, and piñon- juniper mesas.

The declaration is a victory for local Native American tribes and conservation groups. With the designation of Bears Ears as a National Monument, a first-of-its-kind tribal commission will be created to advise the monuments federal managers. The commission will be comprised of representatives from the five Native American tribes that inhabit the region.

Not everyone was happy with the Bears Ears designation, however. Utah’s statewide elected officials and congressional delegation opposed the president’s decision. Lawmakers in Utah have vowed to work towards repealing the designation. While Utah lawmakers may have an ally in the fight to repeal the designation, as President-elect Donald Trump has promised to undo Obama’s environmental agenda, no president has undone a predecessor’s designations in the 110 year history of the Antiquities Act, the law which gives the president the power to create monuments.</s>President Barack Obama created two new national monuments on Wednesday, setting aside 1.65 million acres in southeastern Utah and southern Nevada, a move sure to anger Republicans who have sought to curb the power the outgoing president has wielded to protect record amounts of sensitive and historic lands and waters.

Obama's aggressive use of the Antiquities Act to create national monuments has drawn scathing criticism from Republicans, who say the White House has abused the law to override local opposition and restrict development and usage of the lands. The new Bears Ears monument in Utah, in particular, has been at the center of those complaints, with local officials and conservative groups decrying pressure from conservationists and tribes on the White House to protect the site.

In creating the Bear's Ears National Monument in Utah and Gold Butte National Monument in Nevada, Obama said in a statement he was protecting desert landscapes that contain "some of our country’s most important cultural treasures, including abundant rock art, archeological sites, and lands considered sacred by Native American tribes."

Obama has used his power under the Antiquities Act to to protect more land than any previous president, from underwater canyons and mountains off Cape Cod to the vast Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in the Pacific Ocean. With the nearly 2,600 square miles he added Wednesday, he's added at least 757,578 square miles to the nation's protected lands.

For Obama, creating the monuments is part of his environmental legacy, and one that's likely to be more permanent than his administration's regulations to fight climate change, like EPA's Clean Power Plan, which is likely to be gutted under the Trump administration.

“The Antiquities Act gives the president the authority to create monuments but does not provide explicit authority to undo them,” said Christy Goldfuss, managing director at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, when asked by reporters whether she was concerned the Trump administration would scrap the Bears Ears monument.

The designations, Goldfuss said, would block any new mining or oil and gas development on the land.

Lawmakers from Utah have been among the president's most vocal critics on monuments. Rep. Rob Bishop, chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, has blasted the Antiquities Act as "past its prime" and philosophically and intellectually wrong, while the state's GOP Sens. Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee introduced legislation (S. 3317) in September that would prevent presidents from using the Antiquities Act in their state.

But retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid told reporters in Las Vegas in August that Gold Butte was expected to get the president’s blessing.

In his statement, Obama said the new designations were designed to preserve the sites and give tribes a voice in their management.

"Today’s actions will help protect this cultural legacy and will ensure that future generations are able to enjoy and appreciate these scenic and historic landscapes. Importantly, today I have also established a Bears Ears Commission to ensure that tribal expertise and traditional knowledge help inform the management of the Bears Ears National Monument and help us to best care for its remarkable national treasures."

The Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition — a partnership between the Hopi, Navajo, Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute, and Zuni governments — welcomed the new designation for the site, which lies between Canyonlands National Park and the San Juan River and is named for twin buttes that resemble a bear raising its head above the horizon.

“Our connection with this land is deeply tied to our identities, traditional knowledge, histories, and cultures. We look forward to working with the current and future administrations to fully and properly administer these lands for all to enjoy,” Alfred Lomahquahu, vice chairman of Hopi Tribe and co-chairman of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, said in a statement.

Mathew Gross, spokesman for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said the tribes' joining together on the issue was itself historic.

In the 110 years of the Antiquities Act, "it’s the first time that tribes have come together to ask the president to use the act on sacred sites on their behalf," he said.</s>SALT LAKE CITY - President Barack Obama has designated two new national monuments in Utah and Nevada at sites that have become key flashpoints over public land in the U.S. West.

 

The announcement Wednesday marks the administration's latest move to protect environmentally sensitive areas in its final days.

 

The White House says Bears Ears National Monument in Utah will cover 1.35 million acres of tribal land in the Four Corners region. A coalition of tribes pushed to ensure protections for lands that are home to an estimated 100,000 archaeological sites, including ancient cliff dwellings.

 

Critics called it another layer of unnecessary federal control that would close the area to development and recreation.

 

The 300,000-acre Gold Butte National Monument outside Las Vegas also was named. It's an ecologically fragile area near where Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy led an armed standoff with government agents in 2014.</s>President Barack Obama designated two national monuments Wednesday at sites in Utah and Nevada that have become key flashpoints over use of public land in the U.S. West, marking the administration’s latest move to protect environmentally sensitive areas in its final days.

The Bears Ears National Monument in Utah will cover 1.35 million acres in the Four Corners region, the White House said. In a victory for Native American tribes and conservationists, the designation protects land that is considered sacred and is home to an estimated 100,000 archaeological sites, including ancient cliff dwellings.

It’s a blow for state Republican leaders and many rural residents who fear it will add another layer of unnecessary federal control and close the area to energy development and recreation, a common refrain in the battle over use of the American West’s vast open spaces.

In Nevada, a 300,000-acre Gold Butte National Monument outside Las Vegas would protect a scenic and ecologically fragile area near where rancher Cliven Bundy led an armed standoff with government agents in 2014. It includes rock art, artifacts, rare fossils and recently discovered dinosaur tracks.

The White House and conservationists said both sites were at risk of looting and vandalism.

“Today’s actions will help protect this cultural legacy and will ensure that future generations are able to enjoy and appreciate these scenic and historic landscapes,” Obama said in a statement.

His administration has rushed to safeguard vulnerable areas ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. It has blocked new mining claims outside Yellowstone National Park and new oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean. Obama’s creation and expansion of monuments covers more acreage than any other president.

But Trump’s upcoming presidency has tempered the excitement of tribal leaders and conservationists, with some worrying he could try to reverse or reduce some of Obama’s expansive land protections.

Utah’s Republican senators vowed to work toward just that.

“This arrogant act by a lame duck president will not stand,” U.S. Sen. Mike Lee tweeted about Bears Ears.

Sen. Orrin Hatch said Obama showed “an astonishing and egregious abuse of executive power” and that “far-left special interest groups matter more to him than the people who have lived on and cared for Utah’s lands for generations.”

Christy Goldfuss, managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said the Antiquities Act that allows a president to create monuments does not give a president authority to undo a designation, a rule the courts have upheld. She acknowledged that Congress could take action, though.

Opponents agree the area is a natural treasure worth preserving but worried that the designation would create restrictions on oil and gas development as well residents’ ability to camp, bike, hike and gather wood.

New mining or energy development will be banned, but existing operations won’t be affected, federal officials said. Wood and plant gathering is still allowed as well as hunting, fishing and other recreation, they said.

Members of Utah’s all-GOP congressional delegation had backed a plan to protect about 1.4 million acres at Bears Ears, while opening up other areas of the state for development.

The boundaries of the monument are roughly based on that plan and significantly smaller than what a coalition of tribes had sought.

But Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye called it an exciting day for his tribe and people of all cultures.

“We have always looked to Bears Ears as a place of refuge, as a place where we can gather herbs and medicinal plants, and a place of prayer and sacredness,” Begaye said. “The rocks, the winds, the land — they are living, breathing things that deserve timely and lasting protection.”

The Navajo Nation is one of five tribes that will get an elected official on a first-of-its-kind tribal commission for the Bears Ears monument. The panel will provide federal land managers with tribal expertise and historical knowledge about the area, federal officials said.

Tucked between existing national parks and the Navajo reservation, the proposed monument features stunning vistas at every turn, with a mix of cliffs, plateaus, towering rock formations, rivers and canyons across wide expanses covered by sagebrush and juniper trees.

In Nevada, retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Harry Reid pushed for protections at Gold Butte, a remote area northeast of Lake Mead, but GOP members of the state’s congressional delegation have been vocal opponents.

The “designation is a wonderful capstone to a career of fighting to protect Nevada’s pristine landscapes,” Reid said in a statement.

Republican Nevada Sen. Dean Heller expressed disappointment, saying land designations should be done by Congress and not by presidential decree.</s>President Barack Obama has named two new national monuments in Utah and Nevada, sites considered sacred lands by Native Americans and that each boast thousands of cultural artifacts that are at risk.

The designations Wednesday were not without controversy, however, as the western United States has become a flashpoint over use of public lands.

Administration and conservation officials who support the measure say both sites have cultural relics that are threatened by looting and vandalism.

But the national monument designation is a blow for Republican leaders in Utah and Nevada, and many rural residents who see it as adding another layer of federal control. They say it would not only close the areas to gas and oil development, but to some recreational uses as well.

The Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah will cover nearly 550,000 hectares (1.35 million acres), the White House said. The move is considered a victory by Native American tribes and conservationists.

The Bears Ears site is considered sacred land by local tribes, and is also home to more than 100,000 cultural sites that include ancient cliff dwellings, burial sites and rock carvings. Tribal members currently use the site to perform ceremonies and healing rituals, and to collect herbs and wood for medicinal and spiritual purposes.

The Gold Butte National Monument, located outside Las Vegas, will preserve more than 120,000 hectares (300,000 acres), according to the White House.

The area is an ecologically fragile region that includes rock art, artifacts and rare fossils, and also is currently used by tribes for traditional purposes, the White House said.

“Today’s actions will help protect this cultural legacy and will ensure that future generations are able to enjoy and appreciate these scenic and historic landscapes,” Obama said in a statement announcing the new national monuments.

In making the decision to protect the two sites, “President Obama has taken unprecedented steps to elevate the voices of native peoples in the management of our natural resources,” a White House statement said. (read White House proclamation)

Obama has the power to set aside the areas through the Antiquities Act, which was signed in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt. The law allows the president to establish that archeological sites on public lands are important public resources.

Utah’s governor and state lawmakers condemned the designation, with Governor Gary Herbert saying in a statement that Obama “has misused his authority,” and promising an aggressive challenge of the order.

U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah called Obama’s action an “attack on an entire way of life” and an “astonishing and egregious abuse of executive power” that far exceeds the intent of the Antiquities Act.

“In the next Congress under President[-elect Donald] Trump, I will do everything in my power to reverse this travesty,” Hatch told The Salt Lake Tribune.

Meanwhile, Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye praised the designation, calling it an exciting day for his tribe and people of all cultures.

“Today, President Barack Obama has signed a proclamation to protect this land as a national monument for future generations of Navajo people and for all Americans. Thanks to his action, this land will be finally given the legal reverence and protection it deserves,” Begaye said in a statement.

In Nevada, retiring Democratic Senator Harry Reid has been opposed by Republicans in his state as he pushed for protections at Gold Butte.

Governor Brian Sandoval said he would have preferred a more collaborative approach that included opinions of those affected, but said he worked with federal officials “to mitigate any disruption a potential designation may cause the surrounding private land owners, communities and recreationists.”

The site is near where rancher Cliven Bundy and his followers were in an armed standoff over public land use with government agents in 2014. Bundy does not recognize federal jurisdiction in the area.

Earlier in 2016, Bundy’s sons, Ryan and Ammon Bundy, also led a group of armed, anti-government militants in staging a 41-day occupation of an eastern Oregon wildlife refuge in a protest against federal control of lands.

Obama, who leaves office in less than a month, has used the Antiquities Act and other measures to protect more land and water than any other administration in history, a White House statement said. Most recently, he banned offshore oil and gas drilling in an area off the Alaska and Atlantic coasts.</s>Obama designates two big new national monuments in Utah, Nevada

President Barack Obama, putting finishing touches on a big-scale environmental legacy, on Wednesday designated two big new national monuments in the mountains, deserts and canyon lands of southern Utah and southern Nevada.

The President created a 1.35 million acre Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, at the urging of five Native American tribes, as well as a 300,000 acre Gold Butte National Monument in Nevada not far from the ranch of anti-government warrior Cliven Bundy.

"The rock art, ancient dwellings and ceremonial sites concealed within these breathtaking landscapes help tell the story of people who have stewarded these lands for hundreds of generations," said U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.

The 44th President has left an imprint from the San Juan Islands to the central Pacific Ocean, from the Mojave Desert to Alaska's Chukchi Sea to the Stonewall Tavern in New York where the LGBT rights movement began in 1969.

Obama has used the Antiquities Act, first deployed by President Theodore Roosevelt to protect the Grand Canyon and the heart of Washington's Olympic Mountains.

While Republican presidents designated monuments in Utah that later became great national parks -- Bryce Canyon and Zion -- the Utah congressional delegation reacted with fury to Wednesday's designation.

"This arrogant act by a lame duck president will not stand," said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, quoted in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, reacted with the same fury he showed in 1996 when President Clinton designated a 1.7 million acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southwest Utah, putting federal lands off limits to coal mining.

"In the next Congress under President Trump, I will do everything in my power to reverse this travesty," Hatch said in a statement.

Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye had a far different reaction. "President Obama has been consistent in his commitment to work with Tribal governments, and this historic designation builds on his legacy," said Begaye.

Native Americans will be given a collaborative role with the federal government in managing the new monument.

"It reaffirms President Obama's fundamental commitment to human rights and equity in voice," Begaye added. "While the land will be protected, our local Utah-based tribal members will continue to have access to the land for gathering ceremonial herbs. The land has always been a place of sacredness and fortitude for our people."

Industry-allied politicians have attacked presidents for creating monuments, all the way back to 1908. Mining companies with eyes on the Grand Canyon bitterly opposed Roosevelt's action, as did timber companies operating on the Olympic Peninsula.

Actually, despite yelping from Utah's congressional delegation, the Bears Ears National Monument follows closely a preservation proposal by Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.

Bishop has proposed a "grand bargain" under which two national conservation areas and a wilderness area would be created, much of the area in Utah's San Juan County, while other federal lands would be opened to development.

Conservation groups and the tribes wanted to preserve a substantially larger area in its natural state.

The monument proclamation instructs the Interior Secretary to explore within 30 days a land exchange with the state of Utah, which would transfer Utah School Trust lands within the Bears Ear boundary in exchange for Bureau of Land Management land outside the boundary.

Obama has been building both a legacy and barriers to the incoming Trump administration. The President-elect has promised to throw open the public domain to mining, oil and gas leasing, and other development.

A week ago, Obama used a 1953 law (the work of a Republican Congress) to put 95 percent of offshore lands in Alaska's Chukchi and Beaufort Seas off limit to oil and gas exploration.

Major oil companies have already relinquished their lease holdings, after Shell's unsuccessful 2015 well-drilling in the Chukchi Sea, but the petroleum industry and Alaska lawmakers churned out press releases denouncing the President's action.

Sixteen presidents, starting with Teddy Roosevelt, have used the Antiquities Act to protect historic places and natural land forms.

Such great national parks as Death Valley, Katmai, Glacier Bay, Grand Teton and Joshua Tree began as national monuments.

Obama has protected more than 550 million acres of public lands and waters -- including 955 acres in our San Juan Islands National Monument -- more than any other American president. The largest chunk of land is underwater, a vast national monument in the Central Pacific near Midway Island.

National monuments are managed with more latitude than national parks.

With the Bears Ears National Monument, for instance, the area's tradition of ranching will continue. Grazing permits and leases will continue to be issued by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.</s>SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — President Barack Obama names new national monuments on sacred tribal lands in Utah and archaeological sites in Nevada.</s>President Barack Obama has designated the Bears Ears buttes in southern Utah as a national monument with 1.35 million acres of protected Federal Land.

In a White House conference call Wednesday afternoon, Chrissy Goldfuss, managing director at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Navajo President Russell Begaye confirmed President Obama would designate Bears Ears as a National Monument under the Antiquities Act of 1906 at 5 p.m. He also declared the Bears Ears Commission, with representation from local tribes, to help manage the new monument.

“Today is a great day for the Navajo Nation, tribal and elected officials (who are) part of the Bears Ears Inter-tribal Coalition,” said Begaye cheerfully.

The Inter-tribal coalition is comprised of the tribes of Navajo, Hopi, Ute Mountain Ute, Pueblo of Zuni and the Ute Indian Tribe.

Begaye added Bears Ears National Monument will serve as a cultural and recreational site for all tribes who use the land and under the resolution from President Obama, all local tribes will have access to the land for gathering plants and saying prayers.

The legislation was passed after the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Obama Administration reviewed hundreds of applications for destinations of national monuments. The narrowed them down to two locations: Bears Ears and Gold Butte, Nevada, according to Goldfuss.

“The Obama Administration has worked closely with the Department of Interior and local governments in selecting sites,” said Goldfuss. She added she, along with other members of the Obama Administration and Department of Interior gathered with members of the Inter-tribal Coalition back in July.

Begaye said this was a great day for all Diné, as the area holds rich history and is a sacred area for many Diné, whose ancestors once lived in the area and hid there from the U.S. Calvary during the Long Walk.

“Chief Manuelito was born here and it holds many history for our people,” said Begaye.

Begaye acknowledged the Bear Ears Inter-tribal Coalition for its tireless effort to protect the area.

The five tribes will also make up the Bears Ears Commission, with each tribe designating a representative to make decisions to best implement the protection and governing of the Bears Ears National Monument.

“Having a seat at the table is important, to make choices, work hand-in-hand and to have a voice,” said Begaye, adding the commission will work closely with the Department of Interior and White House.

“This is monumental, has never been done before, a coalition for a National Monument,” Begaye added.

Goldfuss said the incoming Presidential administration will not be able to dissolve the legislation to designate Bears Ears a national monument.

Under the Antiquities Act, a President can create a national monument, but not destroy it. Only by Congress can the resolution be overturned, but no such act has ever been done according to Goldfuss.

“The Trump Administration cannot overturn this decision,” said Goldfuss.

Begaye also acknowledged the Utah Diné Bikéyah Organization, President Obama, Chrissy Goldfuss and the Department of Interior.

He said he’d also like to thank Navajo Nation Council delegates Walter Phelps and Davis Filfred.

“He is the leader for the Utah area of the reservation and strongly represents his area,” said Begaye of Filfred, adding he was a driving force is getting support for the coalition.

Although the Inter-tribal Coalition originally proposed 1.9 million acres of land, after reviews from the Department of Interior and local governments, 1.2 was proposed, but all agreed on 1.35 million to be sufficient for all tribes.

Since the Bears Ears National Monument is in place, Begaye would like to see other sacred sites designated, especially Dibé Nitsaa (Hesperus Peak), as it has a lot of history and is sacred to the Diné.

“It’s our Place of Emergence and we need to protect more sacred sites,” said Begaye.

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U.S. President Barack Obama declares the Bears Ears in Utah and Gold Butte area of Nevada as National Monuments. Both are known for the presence of Native American populations and archaeological sites.