Bear Ears Buttes in Utah
Bear Ears Buttes in Utah
Known as Bear Ears for the pair of purple buttes at the regions center, the newly proclaimed 1.9 million-acre National Monument will preserve a photographers checklist of high-desert drama: spires, bridges, canyons. Yet the regions true distinction is not its topography, but its cultural significance; perhaps no place in America is as rich with ancient Native American sites as Bear Ears. In October 2015, a coalition of five Indian nations, including the Hopi, Ute, and Navajo, formally proposed the monument, attempting to preserve the parcels 100,000 archeological sites from ongoing looting and grave robbing. Last June, in a letter to President Obama, more than 700 archeologists endorsed the proposal, saying that looting of the areas many ancient kivas and dwellings was continuing at an alarming pace and calling Bear Ears Americas most significant unprotected cultural landscape. President Obama designated Bear Ears Butte and Gold Buttes in Nevada as protected National monuments at the end of last month. The incoming Trump administration, along with the Republican-controlled congress, and Utah state officials, could mount a legal challenge against that designation.--By European Pressphoto Agency
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