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Commentary: Where are the local voices making the Bears Ears plan?

Related Topics: Bears Ears, The Local, Utah, Donald Trump

In so doing he said, “Some people think that the natural resources of Utah should be controlled by a small handful of very distant bureaucrats located in Washington … [and that] this very historic action will reverse federal overreach and restore the rights of this land to your citizens. 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.”

Supporters of this unprecedented reduction of a national monument thanked the president for listening to “local voices.” But which voices?

Trump’s proclamation reducing Bears Ears kept intact President Barack Obama’s direction to establish an advisory committee to provide for “maximum public involvement” in the development of the monument’s management plan.