Bears Ears National Monument

• Citation: 86 FR 57321
• Record Number: 2021-22672
• Published date: 15 October 2021
• Section: Presidential Documents
• Court: Executive Office Of The President

Presidential Documents

57321

Federal Register

Vol. 86, No. 197

Friday, October 15, 2021

Title 3—

The President

Proclamation 10285 of October 8, 2021

Bears Ears National Monument

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

President Barack Obama’s establishment of the Bears Ears National Monu-

ment in Proclamation 9558 of December 28, 2016, represented the culmina-

tion of more than a century of efforts to protect the ancestral homeland

of Tribal Nations that all refer to the area by the same name—Hoon’Naqvut

(Hopi), Shash Jaa’ (Navajo), Kwiyagatu Nukavachi (Ute), and Ansh An

Lashokdiwe (Zuni): Bears Ears. Preserving the sacred landscape and unique

cultural resources in the Bears Ears region was an impetus for passage

of the Antiquities Act in 1906. As early as 1904, advocates for protection

of cultural landscapes described for the Congress the tragedy of the destruc-

tion of objects of historic and scientific interest across the American South-

west and identified the Bears Ears region as one of seven areas in need

of immediate protection. Nevertheless, for more than 100 years, indigenous

people, historians, conservationists, scientists, archaeologists, and other

groups advocated unsuccessfully for protection of the Bears Ears landscape.

It was not until the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Indian Tribe of the

Uintah and Ouray Reservation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and Pueblo of

Zuni united in a common vision to protect these sacred lands and requested

permanent protection from President Obama that Bears Ears National Monu-

ment became a reality. Few national monuments more clearly meet the

Antiquities Act’s criteria for protection than the Bears Ears Buttes and sur-

rounding areas. This proclamation confirms, restores, and supplements the

boundaries and protections provided by Proclamation 9558, including the

continued reservation of land added to the monument by Proclamation

9681 of December 4, 2017.

As Proclamation 9558 recognizes, the greater Bears Ears landscape, character-

ized by deep sandstone canyons, broad desert mesas, towering monoliths,

forested mountaintops dotted with lush meadows, and the striking Bears

Ears Buttes, has supported indigenous people of the Southwest from time

immemorial and continues to be sacred land to the Hopi Tribe, Navajo

Nation, Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, Ute Mountain

Ute Tribe, and Pueblo of Zuni. Approximately two dozen other Tribal Nations

and Pueblos have cultural ties to the area as well.

Describing as much as 13,000 years of human occupation of the Bears

Ears landscape, Proclamation 9558 contextualizes the compelling need to

protect one of the most extraordinary cultural landscapes in the United

States. The proclamation describes the landscape’s unique density of signifi-

cant cultural, historical, and archaeological artifacts spanning thousands of

years, including remains of single family homes, ancient cliff dwellings,

large villages, granaries, kivas, towers, ceremonial sites, prehistoric steps

cut into cliff faces, and a prehistoric road system that connected the people

of Bears Ears to each other and possibly beyond. Proclamation 9558 also

describes the cultural significance and importance of the area, exemplified

by the petroglyphs, pictographs, and recent rock writings left by the indige-

nous people that have inhabited the area since time immemorial.

In addition to cultural and historic sites, Proclamation 9558 describes the

Bears Ears landscape’s unique geology, biology, ecology, paleontology, and

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topography. The proclamation identifies geologic formations rich with fossils

that provide a rare and relatively complete picture of the paleoenvironment,

striking landscapes, unique landforms, and rare and important plant and

animal species. While not objects of historic and scientific interest designated

for protection, the proclamation also describes other resources in the area,

historic grazing, and world class outdoor recreation opportunities—including

rock climbing, hunting, hiking, backpacking, canyoneering, whitewater raft-

ing, mountain biking, and horseback riding—that support a booming travel

and tourism sector that is a source of economic opportunity for local commu-

nities.

To protect this singular and sacred landscape, President Obama reserved

approximately 1.35 million acres through Proclamation 9558 as the smallest

area compatible with protection of the objects identified within the bound-

aries of the monument. He also established the Bears Ears Commission

to ensure that management of the monument would be guided by, and

benefit from, expertise of Tribal Nations and traditional and historical knowl-

edge of the area.

On December 4, 2017, President Donald Trump issued Proclamation 9681

to reduce the lands within the monument by more than 1.1 million acres.

In doing so, Proclamation 9681 removes protection from objects of historic

and scientific interest across the Bears Ears landscape, including some objects

that Proclamation 9558 specifically identifies by name for protection. Mul-

tiple parties challenged Proclamation 9681 in Federal court, asserting that

it exceeds the President’s authority under the Antiquities Act.

Restoring the Bears Ears National Monument honors the special relationship

between the Federal Government and Tribal Nations, correcting the exclusion

of lands and resources profoundly sacred to Tribal Nations, and ensuring

the long-term protection of, and respect for, this remarkable and revered

region. Given the unique nature and cultural significance of the objects

identified across the Bears Ears landscape, the threat of damage and destruc-

tion to those objects, their spiritual, cultural, and historical significance

to Tribal Nations, and the insufficiency of the protections afforded in the

absence of Antiquities Act protections, the reservation described below is

the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the

objects of historic and scientific interest named in this proclamation and

Proclamation 9558.

The Bears Ears landscape—bordered by the Colorado River to the west,

the San Juan River and the Navajo Nation to the south, low bluffs and

high mesas to the east and north, and Canyonlands National Park to the

northwest, and brimming with towering sandstone spires, serpentine canyons,

awe-inspiring natural bridges and arches, as well as the famous twin Bears

Ears Buttes standing sentinel over the sacred region—is not just a series

of isolated objects, but is, itself, an object of historic and scientific interest

requiring protection under the Antiquities Act. Bears Ears is sacred land

of spiritual significance, a historic homeland, and a place of belonging

for indigenous people from the Southwest. Bears Ears is a living, breathing

landscape, that—owing to the area’s arid environment and overall remoteness,

as well as the building techniques that its inhabitants employed—retains

remarkable and spiritually significant evidence of indigenous use and habi-

tation since time immemorial, including from the Paleoindian Period, through

the time of the Basketmakers and Ancestral Pueblos, to the more recent

Navajo and Ute period, and continuing to this day. There are innumerable

objects of historic or scientific interest within this extraordinary landscape.

Some of the objects are also sacred to Tribal Nations, are sensitive, rare,

or vulnerable to vandalism and theft, or are dangerous to visit and, therefore,

revealing their specific names and locations could pose a danger to the

objects or the public. The variety, density, and prevalence of these objects,

such as prehistoric roads, structures, shrines, ceremonial sites, graves, pots,

baskets, tools, petroglyphs, pictographs, and items of clothing, all contribute

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to the uniqueness of this region and underscore its sacred nature and living

spiritual significance to indigenous people.

Many of the Tribal Nations that trace their ancestral origin to this area

and continue their spiritual practices on these lands today view Bears Ears

as a part of the personal identity of their members and as a cultural living

space—a landscape where their traditions began, where their ancestors en-

gaged in and handed down cultural practices, and where they developed

and refined complex protocols for caring for the land. The Bears Ears region

is also a tangible location that is integral to indigenous ceremonial practices,

cultural traditions, and the sustainment of the daily lives of indigenous

peoples. Since time immemorial, the lands of the Bears Ears region have

fostered indigenous identity and spirituality. Indigenous people lived, hunt-

ed, gathered, prayed, and built homes in the Bears Ears region. As a result,

each geographic subregion and the mountains, canyons, mesa tops, ridges,

rivers, and streams therein that make up the Bears Ears landscape hold

cultural significance. These individual locales come together as objects of

historic and scientific interest—many of which have spiritual significance

to indigenous people and are located across this living landscape—to tell

stories, facilitate the practice of traditions, and serve as a mnemonic device

that elders use to teach younger generations where they came from, who

they are, and how to live. Resources found throughout the Bears Ears region,

including wildlife and plants that are native to the region, continue to

serve integral roles in the development and practice of indigenous ceremonial

and cultural lifeways. From family gatherings, dances, and ceremonies held

on these sacred lands, to gathering roots, berries, firewood, pinon nuts,

weaving materials, and medicines across the region, Bears Ears remains

an essential landscape that members of Tribal Nations regularly visit to

heal, practice their spirituality, pray, rejuvenate, and connect with their

history.

The Bears Ears region is also important to, and shows recent evidence

of, non-Native migrants to the area. From the smoothed-over surfaces of

the Hole-in-the-Rock Trail to the historic cattle-ranching cabins, and the

convoluted series of passages and hideouts used by men like Butch Cassidy,

the Sundance Kid, and other members of the Wild Bunch on the Outlaw

Trail, including Hideout Canyon, the Bears Ears landscape conveys the

story of westward expansion of European Americans and the settlement

of Latter-day Saint communities in southern Utah. Hispanic sheep herders

from New Mexico also migrated into this area during the late 1800s, and

many of their descendants continue to live in local communities.

Despite millennia of human habitation, the Bears Ears landscape remains

one of the most ecologically intact and least-roaded regions in the contiguous

United States. As a result, the area continues to provide habitat to a variety

of threatened, endangered, sensitive, endemic, or otherwise rare species

of wildlife, fish, and plants. The area also contains a diverse array of species

that benefit from the preservation of the landscape’s intact ecosystems.

The Bears Ears landscape also tells the stories of epochs past. The area’s

exposed geologic formations provide a continuous record of vertebrate life

in North America as well as a rich history of invertebrate fossils. The

Chinle Formation, and the Wingate, Kayenta, and Navajo Formations above

it, demonstrate how the Triassic Period transitioned into the Jurassic Period

and provide critical insight into both how dinosaurs dominated terrestrial

ecosystems and how our mammalian ancestors evolved. The discovery of

several taxa, including a prosauropod that gets its name from a Navajo

word tied to the region where it was found, the archosauromorph

Crosbysaurus harrisae, and a unique phytosaur, have occurred exclusively

within Bears Ears or have significantly extended an extinct species’ known

range. While paleontologists have only recently begun to systematically sur-

vey and study much of the fossil record in this region, experts are confident

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that scientifically important paleontological resources remain to be discov-

ered, and future exploration will greatly expand our understanding of pre-

historic life on the Colorado Plateau.

The landscape itself is composed of several areas, each of which is unique

and an object of scientific and historic interest requiring protection under

the Antiquities Act. Near the center is the Bears Ears Buttes and Headwaters,

the location of the iconic twin buttes, which soar over the surrounding

landscape and maintain watch over the ancestral home of numerous Tribal

Nations. Containing dense fir and aspen forests that provide firewood to

heat homes as well as powerful medicines and habitat for wild game species,

Tribal Nations view the high elevation oasis as the key to life in the Bears

Ears region. The Bears Ears Buttes also hold historical significance to the

Navajo people, as the landscape and natural cliff dwellings served as hiding

places to escape the United States military during the forced Long Walk,

where more than 11,000 Navajo were marched up to 450 miles on foot

to internment camps in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Many Navajo hid in

the remote canyons to avoid the forced removal from their traditional home-

lands in the Southwest by the United States from 1864 to 1868.

In the northern part of the Bears Ears landscape lies Indian Creek, the

home of a world-renowned canyon characterized by sheer red cliffs and

spires of exposed and eroded layers of Navajo, Kayenta, Wingate, and Cedar

Mesa Sandstone, including the iconic North and South Six-Shooter Peaks.

The canyon includes famous vertical cracks striating its sandstone walls

and the area provides important habitat for a multitude of plant and animal

species. Indian Creek’s palisades provide eyries for peregrine falcons and

potential nesting sites for bald and golden eagles, and the Lockhart Basin

area and Donnelly Canyon contain Mexican spotted owl habitat. The Indian

Creek area further provides critical winter grounds for big-game species

such as mule deer, elk, and bighorn sheep and potential habitat for endan-

gered fish and threatened plant species. The prominent Bridger Jack and

Lavender Mesas are home to largely unaltered relict plant communities

composed of pinyon-juniper woodlands interspersed with small sagebrush

islands. It is also in Indian Creek that one can find Newspaper Rock, a

massive petroglyph panel displaying a notable concentration of rock writings

from persons of the Basketmaker and Ancestral Pueblo periods, the Ute

and Navajo people who still live in the Four Corners area and beyond,

and early settlers of European descent. Indian Creek also contains possible

evidence of trade with cultures extending into Mesoamerica, including a

thousand-year-old ornamental sash found in the area made from azure and

scarlet macaw feathers as well as a petroglyph featuring a macaw-like bird

figure. Shay Canyon is a side canyon that houses extensive, well-preserved

petroglyph panels from multiple prehistoric periods. The panels contain

a unique rock writing style that is believed to be both Freemont and Ancestral

Pueblo in origin. Harts Point is an escarpment that provides spectacular

views of the Indian Creek Canyon. These mesa tops also contain evidence

of historic connections of indigenous people to the region. Additionally,

Indian Creek provides fossilized trackways of early tetrapods and fossilized

traces of marine and aquatic creatures such as clams, crayfish, fish, and

aquatic reptiles dating to the Triassic Period.

Southwest of Indian Creek and geographically nestled between the Needles

District of Canyonlands National Park, the Dark Canyon Wilderness area,

and the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, lie Beef Basin and Fable

Valley, areas characterized by well-preserved Ancestral Pueblo surface sites—

including freestanding Pueblo masonry structures and towers—as well as

petroglyphs and pictographs. The areas are unique in their high concentration

of large, mesa-top Pueblo structures. Sites in this region may also provide

evidence of some of the furthest north migration of Pueblo in the Mesa

Verde region.

Just south of Indian Creek, the westernmost edge of the Abajo Mountains

forms the eastern boundary of the Bears Ears landscape. An island laccolith

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series of peaks and domes known also as the Blue Mountains due to the

appearance of their heavily forested slopes contrasted against the red desert

that surrounds them, the Abajo Mountains are rich in wildlife and home

to several rare and sensitive plant species. As a result of the breadth of

species, the Abajo Mountains have long been a traditional hunting ground

for the indigenous people that have lived in the area and are held sacred

by a number of Tribal Nations, including the Navajo Nation, Pueblo of

Zuni, and Ute Indian Tribes. These peaks represent the highest elevations

in the Bears Ears landscape and provide unbroken views of the entire

region.

South of Beef Basin and Indian Creek, the landscape contains a number

of sandstone canyons that drain the northern edge of the Abajo Mountains

and Elk Ridge, including the Tuerto, Trough, Ruin, and North Cottonwood

Canyons, at the bottom of which runs a perennial creek. Ancestral Pueblo

sites within this area have special significance to the Pueblos of New Mexico,

who identify these sites as part of their ancestral footprints that extend

their traditional territory north of the Abajo Mountains. The area, which

is composed of both Cedar Mesa Sandstone and Chinle Formation deposits,

has a very high potential for Permian and Triassic fossils.

The South Cottonwood Canyon region, characterized by prominent sandstone

escarpments surrounded by forests of pinyon, juniper, and Gambel oak,

interspersed with stands of ponderosa pine and mixed conifers, is situated

west of the Abajo Mountains and south of the prominent sandstone towers

known as the Chippean Rocks. The isolated area contains intact cultural

landscapes of early Ancestral Pueblo communities. Some sites are organized

as a larger central village surrounded by smaller family-sized dwellings,

while others are large and inaccessible granaries. This region is home to

a diversity of wildlife, including Townsend’s big-eared bats, beavers, and

ringtail cats, as well as the Cliff Dwellers Pasture Research Natural Area,

an ungrazed box canyon with a unique vegetative community and an impos-

ing sandstone arch and natural bridge. The area also contains excellent

big game habitat and is considered prime mule deer, elk, and black bear

hunting grounds.

Further west, South Cottonwood Canyon is home to a unique density of

Pueblo I to early Pueblo II village sites that are considered important to

both archaeologists and Tribal Nations. One site, a collapsed two-story block

masonry structure that appears to be an early version of a great house,

was built during a time when the development of this kind of community

structure was only beginning in Chaco Canyon. More recently, the South

Cottonwood Canyon area proved critical to the survival of the White Mesa

Ute during Anglo settlement of southern Utah. Paleontologically, there is

high potential fossil yield on both the west side of the area, which contains

portions of the Triassic Period Chinle and Moenkopi Formations, and the

east side, which is composed of Jurassic Period Glen Canyon Group Kayenta

Formation. The area also provides critical habitat for Mexican spotted owls,

peregrine falcons, golden eagles, and spotted bats.

The Dark Canyon, Dry Mesa complex, located between Beef Basin and

White Canyon, is wild and remote. In Dark Canyon—a canyon system that

includes Peavine, Woodenshoe, and other minor tributaries—rock walls,

which tower 3,000 feet above the canyon floor, provide a sense of solitude

and isolation from the surrounding mesa tops. The canyon system, one

of the only entirely intact and protected canyons from its headwaters on

the Colorado Plateau to its confluence with the Colorado River, includes

numerous hanging gardens, springs, and riparian areas and provides habitat

for a wide range of wildlife, including known populations of Mexican spotted

owl. Dry Mesa is relatively flat with stands of ponderosa pine, oak, and

pinyon and juniper that provide foraging habitat for golden eagles and

peregrine falcons. Many Tribal Nations have strong connections to sites

in the area from three specific time periods: ancient hunter-gatherers during

the Archaic period, Ancestral Pueblos during the Pueblo III period, and

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finally, Navajo, Ute, and Paiute families just before and during European

migration into the Four Corners area. Visitors to the Dark Canyon Wilderness

area will find the Doll House, a fully-intact and well-preserved single-room

granary. Located at the bottom of Horse Pasture Canyon and Dark Canyon,

visitors will also find Scorup Cabin, a line cabin originally built in Rig

Canyon and later moved to its current location, that cowboys used as a

summer camp while running cattle in the area. The area also contains

exposures of Permian Period Cutler Group deposits that have a high potential

to contain both vertebrate and invertebrate fossils.

The White Canyon region, west of Dark Canyon, is a remote area featuring

an extensive complex of steep and narrow canyons cut through light-colored

Cedar Mesa Sandstone. Once used by outlaws to evade authorities, the

area’s slot canyons, including the Black Hole, Fry Canyon, and Cheesebox

Canyon, now draw adventurers in search of multi-day, technical canyoneering

opportunities. The entire White Canyon area has a rich paleontological his-

tory. Research in the area is ongoing, but recent discoveries of track sites

in the Triassic Moenkopi Formation and an assemblage of invertebrate bur-

rows suggest that a diverse fauna once thrived here. Mollusks, phytosaurs,

and possible theropod and ornithischian fossils have also been found in

White Canyon.

Located between the Abajo Mountains and the Colorado River, the high

plateau of Elk Ridge provides stunning views of the surrounding canyons

and the Bears Ears Buttes to the south. Visitors passing through the Notch,

a naturally occurring narrow pass between north and south Elk Ridge, are

treated to spectacular vistas of Dark Canyon to the west and Notch Canyon

to the east. The area’s higher elevations, which contain pockets of ancient

Engelmann spruce, rare stands of old-growth ponderosa pine, aspen, and

subalpine fir, and a genetically distinct population of Kachina daisy, provide

welcome respite from the higher temperatures found in the region’s lower

elevations, especially during the summer. There is evidence that indigenous

people have hunted and gathered plants on Elk Ridge for at least 8,000

years, a practice that continues today and is considered sacred by the Navajo

Nation. Elk Ridge also has a long history of livestock grazing by Navajo

and Ute families and later Anglo settlers. While the mesa top is primarily

dry, water naturally occurs at the area’s seeps and springs, as well as

the ephemeral Duck Lake, a seasonal wetland located on top of Elk Ridge

that results from snowmelt. The upper reaches of the ridge also contain

Upper Triassic formations with a high potential to contain fossils.

To the east of Elk Ridge lies a major system of canyons on National Forest

System lands, including Hammond Canyon, Upper Arch Canyon, Texas

Canyon, and Notch Canyon. This deeply incised canyon system is composed

of stunning red sandstone walls, white pinnacles, lush green foliage, and

several small waterfalls. Uniquely, the area also contains large sandstone

towers and hoodoos in a forested setting. The Hammond Canyon area, which

is central to the history of the White Mesa Utes, contains numerous Ancestral

Pueblo sites, including cliff dwellings. Hammond Canyon also contains an

Ancestral Pueblo village with structures and pottery from multiple Ancestral

Pueblo periods. High fossil potential exists in both the Upper Triassic and

Lower Jurassic Glen Canyon Sandstone of Hammond Canyon’s lower half

as well as the Permian Period Cedar Mesa Sandstone found in its upper

half.

Just south of Elk Ridge, Arch Canyon is a 12-mile long box canyon containing

numerous arches, including Cathedral Arch, Angel Arch, and Keystone Arch.

The area is teeming with fossilized remains, including numerous specimens

from the Permian and Upper Permian eras. Cliff dwellings and hanging

gardens are located throughout the canyon. Arch Canyon Great House, which

spans the Pueblo II and III periods and contains pictographs and petroglyphs

ranging from the Archaic to the historic periods, is located at the canyon’s

mouth. A perennial stream that provides potential habitat for sensitive fish

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species and for the threatened Navajo sedge is located in the canyon’s

bottom.

Mule Canyon, a 500-foot deep, 5-mile long chasm, is situated northeast

of the Fish Creek area and southeast of the Bears Ears Buttes. Throughout

the canyon, cliff dwellings and other archaeological sites are sheltered by

rock walls composed of alternating layers of red and white sandstone. Among

those are the stunning House on Fire, which has different masonry styles

that indicate several episodes of construction and use. The area’s rich archae-

ological history is also evidenced on the nearby tablelands, where the Mule

Canyon Village site allows visitors to view the exposed masonry walls

of ancient living quarters and a partially restored kiva. Recent research

suggests that Ancestral Pueblos in this area may have cultivated a variety

of plants that are uncommon across the wider landscape and persist to

this day, such as the Four Corners potato, goosefoot, wolfberry, and sumac.

Although similar cultivation may have been occurring near Ancestral Pueblo

sites across the Bears Ears landscape, it appears to have been particularly

prevalent in and around the Mule, South Cottonwood, Dry, Arch, and Owl

Canyons.

Tilted at almost 20 degrees and running along a north-south axis from

the foothills of the Abajo Mountains, past the San Juan River, and onto

the Navajo Nation, the serrated cliffs of the Comb Ridge monocline are

visible from space and have both spiritual and practical significance to

many Tribal Nations. It is in this area that one can find a series of alcoves

in Whiskers Draw that have sheltered evidence of human habitation for

thousands of years, including the site where Richard Wetherill first identified

what we know today as the Basketmaker people, as well as Milk Ranch

Point, where early Ancestral Pueblo farmers found refuge when the climate

turned hotter and dryer at lower elevations. Comb Ridge, flanked on the

west by Comb Wash and on the east by Butler Wash, holds additional

evidence of centuries of human habitation, including cliff dwellings, such

as the well-known Butler Wash Village and Monarch Cave, kivas, ceremonial

sites, and rock writings, like the Procession Panel, Wolfman Panel, and

Lower Butler Wash Panel, a wall-sized mural depicting San Juan

Anthropomorph figures dating to the Basketmaker period that is considered

important for understanding the daily life and rituals of the Basketmaker

people. Chacoan roads as well as the handholds and steps carved into

cliff faces found in this area formed part of the region’s migration system

and are integral to the story of the Bears Ears landscape. The Comb Ridge

area also contains a rich paleontological history, including an Upper Triassic

microvertebrate site with greater taxonomic diversity than any other pub-

lished site of the same nature in Utah, and the earliest recorded instance

of a giant arthropod trackway in Utah. Paleontologists have also found

phytosaur and dinosaur fossils from the Triassic Period and have identified

new species of plant-eating crocodile-like reptiles and rich bonebeds of

lumbering sauropods in the area.

South Cottonwood Wash is an extensive drainage just east of Comb Ridge

that extends from the Abajo Mountains to the San Juan River near Bluff,

Utah. The drainage contains at least three great houses as well as a number

of alcove sites, and it has a high density of petroglyphs and pictographs,

including a cave with more than 200 handprints in a variety of colors.

There is also evidence of a Chacoan road that connected multiple great

houses and kiva sites. These prehistoric transportation systems in the Bears

Ears region are critical to understanding the trading patterns, economy,

and social organization of ancient Pueblo communities and the other major

cultural centers with whom they interacted, such as Chaco Canyon.

At the far southern end of the Bears Ears landscape lies Valley of the

Gods, a broad expanse of sandstone monoliths, pinnacles, and other geologi-

cal features of historic and scientific interest. Towering spires of red sand-

stone that rise from the valley floor are held sacred by the Navajo people,

who view the formations as ancient warriors frozen in stone and places

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of power in which spirits reside. The austere valley, which is noteworthy

in both its geology and ecology, provides habitat for Eucosma navajoensis,

an endemic moth that lives nowhere else. The Mars-like landscape also

contains evidence of our own planet’s distant past, including early tetrapod

trackways, Paleozoic freshwater sharks, ray-finned fishes, lobe-finned fishes,

giant primitive amphibians, and multiple unique taxa of mammal-like rep-

tiles. Paleontologists have also uncovered notable plant macrofossils includ-

ing ancestral conifers, giant horsetail-like plants, ferns the size of trees,

and lycopsids (similar to modern clubmoss).

The San Juan River forms the southern boundary of the Bears Ears landscape.

One of the four sacred rivers that Tribal Nations believe were established

by the gods to act as defensive guardians over their ancestral lands, the

river is closely tied to traditional stories of creation, danger, protection,

and healing. The Lime Ridge Clovis site demonstrates that the history of

human occupation within the river corridor dates back at least 13,000 years.

The Sand Island Petroglyph Panel presents petroglyphs primarily from the

Basketmaker through the Pueblo III periods as well as more modern Navajo

and Ute carvings. There are also a number of Ancestral Pueblo structures

that are accessible by river, such as River House. Nearby San Juan Hill

was the last major obstacle for the Hole-in-the-Rock expedition and presents

visible evidence of the weary expedition’s effort to cross Comb Ridge, includ-

ing parts of a road, wagon ruts, and an inscription at the top of the ridge.

The river corridor also contains a number of unique geologic formations,

such as the well-known balancing rock at Mexican Hat, and provides impor-

tant habitat for the threatened yellow-billed cuckoo and the endangered

southwestern willow flycatcher. The river itself is home to two endangered

fish species: Colorado pikeminnow, the largest minnow in North America,

which is believed to have evolved more than 3 million years ago, and

the razorback sucker, the only member of its genus.

Cedar Mesa is located in the heart of the Bears Ears landscape, west of

Comb Ridge and north of the San Juan River. Ranging from approximately

4,000 to 6,500 feet in elevation, the approximately 400-square mile plateau

is of deep significance to Tribal Nations. Characterized by pinyon-juniper

forests on the mesa tops and canyons along its periphery, the entirety

of Cedar Mesa is an object of scientific and historic interest, providing

a broader context for the individual resources found there. It is the density

of world-class cultural resources found throughout the remote, sloping pla-

teau and its numerous canyons that make Cedar Mesa truly unique. For

example, an open-twined yucca fiber sandal believed to be more than 7,000

years old was discovered in a dry shelter located in a narrow slickrock

canyon in Cedar Mesa. Moon House is an example of iconic Pueblo-decorated

architecture and was likely the last occupied site on Cedar Mesa. On the

top of the plateau, Chacoan roads connect several Ancestral Pueblo great

houses that show architectural influence from the Chaco Canyon region

as well as ceramics that demonstrate both historic and modern Pueblo con-

nections. And in the heart of Cedar Mesa, a multi-room, multi-story great

house contains kivas with distinctive Chacoan features that are much larger

than kivas found elsewhere on Cedar Mesa. Today, Cedar Mesa is home

to bighorn sheep, but fossil evidence in the area’s sandstone has revealed

large, mammal-like reptiles that burrowed into the sand to survive the blis-

tering heat of the end of the Permian Period, when the region was dominated

by a seaside desert. Later, during the Upper Triassic Period, seasonal mon-

soons flooded an ancient river system that fed a vast desert here. Salvation

Knoll, a point from which lost Latter-day Saint pioneers were able to obtain

their bearings on Christmas Day in 1879, is also located in the area.

Cedar Mesa is striated with deep chasms housing remarkably intact Ancestral

Pueblo sites. John’s Canyon and Slickhorn Canyon, which empty into the

San Juan River in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area to the south,

contain numerous petroglyphs, pictographs, and Ancestral Pueblo structures

built into elongated alcoves on buff-colored cliffs. Similarly, the canyons

on the east side of Cedar Mesa hold a significant density of archaeological

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sites providing a glimpse into the region’s past, including rock writings

and Ancestral Pueblo dwellings. The Citadel cliff dwelling is just one exam-

ple of the striking Ancestral Pueblo sites located in Road Canyon, while

other sites include painted handprints and evidence of daily life left by

Ancestral Pueblos. Located to the north of Road Canyon, the Fish Canyon

area contains a number of Pueblo structures. The Fish Canyon area also

contains one of the few perennial streams in the area and an important

potential habitat for the Mexican spotted owl. Finally, the rust-colored,

145-foot span of Nevills Arch awaits those who make the challenging trek

down Owl Canyon. Opening to a height of 80 feet and named after Norman

Nevills, the first boatman to take paying customers on the Colorado River

through the Grand Canyon, the arch creates a striking window to the sky

on the upper reaches of the canyon walls.

Grand Gulch, a mostly dry canyon that meanders for nearly 50 miles on

the western edge of Cedar Mesa and is replete with thousands of cliff

dwellings and rock writing sites, likely contains the highest concentration

of Ancestral Pueblo sites on the Colorado Plateau. Initially occupied in

the Basketmaker II and III periods, Grand Gulch’s initial inhabitants left

pictographs and constructed shallow pithouses and camps on the mesa

top and dry shelters for storage. One pictograph dating from this time

period depicting two large, anthropomorphic figures is of special religious

significance to Tribal Nations. Grand Gulch also contains a multitude of

Pueblo II to III sites and was one of the first prehistoric national historic

districts designated on the National Register of Historic Places. The area

contains the Turkey Pen site, which is believed to provide some of the

earliest evidence of turkey domestication in North America, a pristine kiva

in a remote canyon bend, and countless other unique Pueblo structures,

such as Junction Village, a large Pueblo habitation site; Split Level Village,

a multi-level Pueblo habitation; and Bannister House, a habitation consisting

of two relatively intact structures and a spring at the base of the cliff

face. Grand Gulch also contains unique artifacts, such as a tattoo needle,

a site containing a multichromatic pictograph of a mask, important historic

archaeological inscriptions from the Wetherill expedition, and a multitude

of other rock writings.

Kane Gulch is a tributary canyon of Grand Gulch incised through Cedar

Mesa Sandstone and clogged with house-sized boulders. The canyon houses

an aspen grove—an uncommon occurrence at such elevations in the desert—

and contains a number of archaeological sites that are perched on canyon

walls high above cottonwood trees that provide welcomed shade to the

riparian areas in the canyon bottom. Nearby, Bullet Canyon, which intersects

with the upper reaches of Grand Gulch, also holds numerous structures,

petroglyphs, pictographs, and other artifacts, such as the well-preserved

Perfect Kiva—a partly restored kiva, accompanied by several rooms and

other smaller structures.

To the west of Cedar Mesa, the Clay Hills, Red House Cliffs, and Mike’s

Canyon form the southwest corner of the Bears Ears landscape. This remote

and rarely visited area remains largely unstudied by scientists. Tool- and

arrowhead-making sites, dwellings, and granaries in the lower reaches of

the canyons indicate that they sustained Archaic, Basketmaker, and Ancestral

Pueblo cultures. The area’s unforgiving topography, composed of expansive

stretches of slickrock periodically interrupted by deep canyons, challenged

Latter-day Saint settlers that traveled along the Hole-in-the-Rock Trail and

left wheel ruts and other traces of pioneer life. The harsh ecosystem still

supports a herd of desert bighorn sheep throughout the year, and in the

canyon bottoms, including Mike’s Canyon, intrepid beavers can be found

in small areas of riparian habitat. The Clay Hills area contains the first

discovery of vertebrate fossils from the Bears Ears region, which was also

the first occurrence of a phytosaur identified in Utah.

Standing alone west of Cedar Mesa and adjacent to the Glen Canyon National

Recreation Area, Mancos Mesa is likely the largest isolated slickrock mesa

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in southern Utah. Covering approximately 180 square miles, Mancos Mesa’s

roughly triangular shape is bounded by towering cliffs, some reaching more

than 1,000 feet high. The entire area is dominated by Navajo Sandstone

and is incised with canyons, including Moqui Canyon, a 20-mile canyon

with sheer walls rising over 600 feet. The mesa, an ecological island in

the sky, contains a relict plant community that supports Native perennial

grasses, shrubs, and some cacti. Mancos Mesa also contains archaeological

remains dating back 2,000 years and spanning across the Basketmaker II

and III and Pueblo I, II, and III periods.

Protection of the Bears Ears area will preserve its spiritual, cultural, pre-

historic, and historic legacy and maintain its diverse array of natural and

scientific resources, ensuring that the prehistoric, historic, and scientific

values of this area remain for the benefit of all Americans. For more than

100 years, and sometimes predating the enactment of the Antiquities Act,

Presidents, Members of Congress, Secretaries of the Interior, Tribal Nations,

State and local governments, scientists, and local conservationists have un-

derstood and championed the need to protect the Bears Ears area. The

area contains numerous objects of historic and scientific interest and also

includes other resources that contribute to the social and economic well-

being of the area’s modern communities as a result of world-class outdoor

recreation opportunities, including unparalleled rock climbing available at

places like the canyons in Indian Creek; the paradise for hikers, birders,

and horseback riders provided in areas like the canyons east of Elk Ridge;

and other destinations for hunting, backpacking, canyoneering, whitewater

rafting, and mountain biking, that are important to the increasing travel-

and tourism-based economy in the region.

WHEREAS, section 320301 of title 54, United States Code (known as the

‘‘Antiquities Act’’), authorizes the President, in his discretion, to declare

by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric struc-

tures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated

upon the lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government to be national

monuments, and to reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits

of which shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper

care and management of the objects to be protected; and

WHEREAS, Proclamation 9558 of December 28, 2016, designated the Bears

Ears National Monument in the State of Utah and reserved approximately

1.35 million acres of Federal lands as the smallest area compatible with

the proper care and management of the objects of historic and scientific

interest declared part of the monument; and

WHEREAS, Proclamation 9681 of December 4, 2017, modified the manage-

ment direction of the Bears Ears National Monument and modified the

boundaries to add approximately 11,200 new acres of Federal lands, and

the objects of historic and scientific interest contained therein, and to exclude

more than 1.1 million acres of Federal lands from the reservation, including

lands containing objects of historic and scientific interest identified as need-

ing protection in Proclamation 9558, such as Valley of the Gods, Hideout

Canyon, portions of the San Juan River and Abajo Mountains, genetically

distinct populations of Kachina daisy, and the Eucosma navajoensis moth;

and

WHEREAS, December 4, 2017, was the first time that a President asserted

that the Antiquities Act included the authority to reduce the boundaries

of a national monument or remove objects from protection under the Antiq-

uities Act since passage of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act

of 1976, as amended (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); and

WHEREAS, the entire Bears Ears landscape is profoundly sacred to sovereign

Tribal Nations and indigenous people of the southwest region of the United

States; and

WHEREAS, I find that the unique nature of the Bears Ears landscape, and

the collection of objects and resources therein, make the entire landscape

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within the boundaries reserved by this proclamation an object of historic

and scientific interest in need of protection under 54 U.S.C. 320301; and

WHEREAS, I find that all the historic and scientific resources identified

above and in Proclamation 9558 are objects of historic or scientific interest

in need of protection under 54 U.S.C. 320301; and

WHEREAS, I find that there are threats to the objects identified in this

proclamation; and

WHEREAS, I find, in the absence of a reservation under the Antiquities

Act, the objects identified in this proclamation and in Proclamation 9558

are not adequately protected by otherwise applicable law or administrative

designations because neither provide Federal agencies with the specific man-

date to ensure proper care and management of the objects, nor do they

withdraw the lands from the operation of the public land, mining, and

mineral leasing laws; thus a national monument reservation is necessary

to protect the objects of historic and scientific interest in the Bears Ears

region for current and future generations; and

WHEREAS, I find that the boundaries of the monument reserved by this

proclamation represent the smallest area compatible with the protection

of the objects of scientific or historic interest as required by the Antiquities

Act; and

WHEREAS, it is in the public interest to ensure the preservation, restoration,

and protection of the objects of scientific and historic interest on the Bears

Ears region, including the entire monument landscape, reserved within the

boundaries of the Bears Ears National Monument, as established by this

proclamation;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States

of America, by the authority vested in me by section 320301 of title 54,

United States Code, hereby proclaim the objects identified above and in

Proclamation 9558 that are situated upon lands and interests in lands owned

or controlled by the Federal Government to be the Bears Ears National

Monument (monument) and, for the purpose of protecting those objects,

reserve as part thereof all lands and interests in lands not currently reserved

as part of a monument reservation and that are owned or controlled by

the Federal Government within the boundaries described on the accom-

panying map, which is attached to and forms a part of this proclamation.

These reserved Federal lands and interests in lands consist of those lands

reserved as part of the Bears Ears National Monument as of December

3, 2017, and the approximately 11,200 acres added by Proclamation 9681,

encompassing approximately 1.36 million acres. As a result of the distribution

of the objects across the Bears Ears landscape, and additionally and independ-

ently, because the landscape itself is an object in need of protection, the

boundaries described on the accompanying map are confined to the smallest

area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects of

historic or scientific interest identified above and in Proclamation 9558.

All Federal lands and interests in lands within the boundaries of the monu-

ment are hereby appropriated and withdrawn from all forms of entry, loca-

tion, selection, sale, or other disposition under the public land laws or

laws applicable to the United States Forest Service (USFS), from location,

entry, and patent under the mining laws, and from disposition under all

laws relating to mineral and geothermal leasing, other than by exchange

that furthers the protective purposes of the monument.

This proclamation is subject to valid existing rights. If the Federal Govern-

ment subsequently acquires any lands or interests in lands not currently

owned or controlled by the Federal Government within the boundaries de-

scribed on the accompanying map, such lands and interests in lands shall

be reserved as a part of the monument, and objects identified above that

are situated upon those lands and interests in lands shall be part of the

monument, upon acquisition of ownership or control by the Federal Govern-

ment.

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The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior (Secretaries)

shall manage the monument through the USFS and the Bureau of Land

Management (BLM), respectively, in accordance with the terms, conditions,

and management direction provided by this proclamation and, unless other-

wise specifically provided herein, those provided by Proclamation 9558,

the latter of which are incorporated herein by reference. The USFS shall

manage that portion of the monument within the boundaries of the National

Forest System (NFS), and the BLM shall manage the remainder of the monu-

ment. The lands administered by the USFS shall be managed as part of

the Manti-La Sal National Forest. The lands administered by the BLM shall

be managed as a unit of the National Landscape Conservation System. To

the extent any provision of Proclamation 9681 is inconsistent with this

proclamation or Proclamation 9558, the terms of this proclamation and

Proclamation 9558 shall govern. To further the orderly management of monu-

ment lands, the monument will be jointly managed as a single unit consisting

of the entire 1.36 million-acre monument.

For purposes of protecting and restoring the objects identified above and

in Proclamation 9558, the Secretaries shall jointly prepare and maintain

a new management plan for the entire monument and shall promulgate

such regulations for its management as they deem appropriate. The Secre-

taries, through the USFS and BLM, shall consult with other Federal land

management agencies or agency components in the local area, including

the National Park Service, in developing the management plan. In promul-

gating any management rules and regulations governing the NFS lands within

the monument and developing the management plan, the Secretary of Agri-

culture, through the USFS, shall consult with the Secretary of the Interior,

through the BLM. The Secretaries shall provide for maximum public involve-

ment in the development of that plan, including consultation with federally

recognized Tribes and State and local governments. In the development

and implementation of the management plan, the Secretaries shall maximize

opportunities, pursuant to applicable legal authorities, for shared resources,

operational efficiency, and cooperation.

In recognition of the importance of knowledge of Tribal Nations about these

lands and objects and participation in the care and management of the

objects identified above, and to ensure that management decisions affecting

the monument reflect expertise and traditional and historical knowledge

of Tribal Nations, a Bears Ears Commission (Commission) is reestablished

in accordance with the terms, conditions, and obligations set forth in Procla-

mation 9558 to provide guidance and recommendations on the development

and implementation of management plans and on management of the entire

monument.

To further the protective purposes of the monument, the Secretary of the

Interior shall explore entering into a memorandum of understanding with

the State of Utah that would set forth terms, pursuant to applicable laws

and regulations, for an exchange of land owned by the State of Utah and

administered by the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administra-

tion within the boundary of the monument for land of approximately equal

value managed by the BLM outside the boundary of the monument. Consoli-

dation of lands within the monument boundary through exchange in this

manner provides for the orderly management of public lands and is in

the public interest.

The Secretaries shall manage livestock grazing as authorized under existing

permits or leases, and subject to appropriate terms and conditions in accord-

ance with existing laws and regulations, consistent with the care and manage-

ment of the objects identified above and in Proclamation 9558. Should

grazing permits or leases be voluntarily relinquished by existing holders,

the Secretaries shall retire from livestock grazing the lands covered by such

permits or leases pursuant to the processes of applicable law. Forage shall

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not be reallocated for livestock grazing purposes unless the Secretaries spe-

cifically find that such reallocation will advance the purposes of this procla-

mation and Proclamation 9558.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke any existing with-

drawal, reservation, or appropriation; however, the monument shall be the

dominant reservation.

Warning is hereby given to all unauthorized persons not to appropriate,

injure, destroy, or remove any feature of the monument and not to locate

or settle upon any of the lands thereof.

If any provision of this proclamation, including its application to a particular

parcel of land, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this proclamation

and its application to other parcels of land shall not be affected thereby.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day

of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-one, and of the

Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-

sixth.

Billing code 3395–F2–P

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[FR Doc. 2021–22672

Filed 10–14–21; 8:45 am]

Billing code 4310–10–C

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