Tribal leaders are blasting Rep. John Curtis over a bill he contends would empower them to manage the new Shash Jaa National Monument, the 130,000-acre preserve President Donald Trump carved out of the former Bears Ears National Monument.
Appearing before a House committee Tuesday, Navajo President Russell Begaye said his tribe was never consulted about Curtis’ proposal, which seeks to write into law Trump’s Dec. 4 action dismantling Bears Ears into two smaller monuments covering just 15 percent of the 1.35-million-acre monument that President Barack Obama designated in southeast Utah at the request of five Indian tribes.