President Trump dismembered Bears Ears National Monument, shrinking it by 85 percent last month. This illegal act was followed the next day by Rep. John Curtis introducing a bill designed to pardon the president.
Curtis apparently cares little for the 10,000-plus Native Americans in his district. At community meetings this fall, 98 percent of Utah Navajos passed a resolution asking the president to keep Bears Ears intact. Rep. Curtis knows this view of native citizens in his district, but sadly he has not asked us why we care about these lands, or why we want them protected.
Additionally, when Utah Diné Bikeyah staff met with Curtis in September, he committed to meeting with tribes before taking any action on Bears Ears.