Great Old Broads for Wilderness Applauds Restoration of National Monuments

DURANGO, CO—Great Old Broads for Wilderness applauds the Biden administration’s restoration of Bears Ears National Monument, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monument to their original boundaries and protection status.

Bears Ears National Monument (US Dept. of Interior)

This move is vital to protect the beauty, biodiversity, innumerable historic and prehistoric structures, and objects of cultural and scientific interest in these unique places.

“The Bears Ears are listening—and they hear the resounding voices to fully protect the monuments, just as they were before they were illegally slashed,” says Broads’ Executive Director, Shelley Silbert. “We want these lands protected for future generations, not scarred by fossil fuel extraction, uranium mining, vandalism, or other abuses.”

“We value the dedicated work of Tribal nations in identifying areas within Bears Ears that have been significant for their cultural and natural resources, and honor their ties to these lands since time immemorial. We honor Tribal sovereignty and believe the Tribes must have a key role in the management of these lands from now and into the future.”

Broads now calls for the administration to allocate adequate funding to the federal agencies responsible for the monument to effectively manage, monitor, and protect the lands.

“It is our duty to conserve these unique lands at Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, and the marine monument at Northeast Canyons and Seamounts, to ensure they are conserved for future generations and protected from extractive activities that damage the land,” says Silbert.