The Hopi Tribe, the Navajo Nation, the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and the Zuni Tribe are forming the coalition to “advocate for tribal voices and perspectives to be included in the management of the monuments and to defend Grand Staircase-Escalante from any attempts to modify the monument boundaries or reduce protections,” according to a press release.
The coalition announcement comes weeks after Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum issued an order calling for a review of national monuments to prioritize oil and gas drilling and energy development.
Hank Stevens is the representative from the Navajo Nation on the Inter-Tribal Coalition.
“We never were acknowledged or had any input in the collaboration of some of these monuments for centuries,” said Stevens. "I do believe we can establish an educational collaboration to understand that we were on the landscape prior to the establishment of the monuments, before the establishment of pioneers, towns.”
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was designated in 1996 under the Antiquities Act to protect 1.7 million acres in southern Utah, including sites sacred to Indigenous tribes.
In December 2017, President Donald Trump reduced the monument’s size by 47 percent, leaving about 1 million acres remaining, which left the lands vulnerable to oil, gas, and coal leasing. President Joe Biden redesignated the monument in 2021.
“If there's other tribes that want to get involved, other Paiute tribes, other Ute tribes, so be it, you know, they're good. We need to look beyond four years. What's going to happen in four years?” asked Stevens.
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