New research from Headwaters Economics, in partnership with The Conservation Alliance finds that communities near national monuments have remained economically stable, and in many cases improved, after monuments were designated. Source: Headwaters Economics 📸: Tim Peterson

"The Tribal Nations of the BEITC are knowledge-sovereign, or that their way of knowledge is in equal standing with mainstream Western scientific methodologies. 📸: M. Estrada

We’re hiring an Operations and Administration Coordinator to support Tribal-informed stewardship and collaborative management at Bears Ears. Learn more and apply: bearsearscoalition.org/join-our-team/

Today we honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King reminded us that change doesn’t come easily or automatically. It comes through ongoing effort, shared responsibility, and a willingness to keep showing up, even when the work is hard. 📷 U.S. Marine Corps (Public Domain)

This story beautifully reflects Bears Ears as a living place of culture, memory, and connection. We’re grateful for storytelling that uplifts the deep, enduring relationships between Native communities and Bears Ears. www.deseret.com/utah/2026/01...

One year ago today, the Bears Ears Resource Management Plan was signed! This milestone marks a year of collaborative management, strengthening protection for cultural resources and Tribal access to this sacred landscape. Thank you for walking with us. 📷: Tim Peterson

This is the third installment in our year-end series reflecting on key moments from this year. 2025 marked ten years of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition. This past decade has been rooted in unity, vision, and Indigenous-led stewardship. 📸 Background: Tim Peterson / Front: BEITC Staff

One of the most meaningful parts of 2025 was investing in the next generation of Tribal leadership at Bears Ears. This 2nd installment in our year-end series reflects on youth leadership and organizing becoming a defining part of our work this year. 📸 Background: Tim Peterson, Program: BEITC staff

There’s still time to support Tribal-informed stewardship through art. Featuring original artwork by Diné artist Ambrose Beco Begay, this design honors Bears Ears and the stories held within the land. The campaign closes Jan. 7. Orders must be placed before then. www.bonfire.com/bearsearscoa...

As we wrap up the year, we’re sharing key moments from each quarter of 2025 that shaped the work at Bears Ears. Our first look back goes to January, when federal agencies signed the Resource Management Plan (RMP) for Bears Ears National Monument.

Bears Ears helps feed the Colorado River Basin, supporting clean water for 275,000 people downstream. New research shows national monuments protect 10,000+ miles of streams & drinking water for 1 in 3 people in the West. What happens at Bears Ears flows far beyond its boundaries.

Western voters—across all parties—support keeping national monuments in place. 🏛️ 83% Republicans 🤝 87% Independents 🐴 97% Democrats National monuments like Bears Ears matter. 📊: Colorado College’s 2025 Conservation in the West Poll 📸: Tim Peterson

Across the Bears Ears region, the ground itself is alive. The dark, textured surface you see in many places is called bio-crust, it’s a living layer that protects and sustains the desert.

Thank you for showing up for Bears Ears this Giving Tuesday. Your support uplifts the leadership of Tribal Nations who continue to guide the stewardship and protection of this sacred landscape.

Because of supporters like you, Tribal leaders, youth, and cultural knowledge holders were able to gather on the land this year. Your support made these gatherings possible, deepening cultural learning, upholding stewardship priorities, and protecting sacred places across Bears Ears.

Giving Tuesday reminds us why this work matters. Native communities are 2.9% of the U.S. population, yet Native-serving causes receive only 0.4% of philanthropic dollars.

Bears Ears is protected through generations of Tribal knowledge, leadership, and care. The Coalition helps ensure those voices have the tools and support they need to guide stewardship, safeguard cultural places, and strengthen connections across the landscape.

We’re honored to share that the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition has been recognized with Honors from Harvard’s Project on Indigenous Governance and Development through their 2025 Honoring Nations Awards.

Recent polling from Colorado College finds Utah voters care deeply about protecting landscapes, waters, and wildlife. Support Bears Ears National Monument and other protected public lands that safeguard the interconnected ecosystems sustaining Utah’s communities. 📸: Tim Peterson

Bears Ears is alive with heritage, ancestry, and memory. To the Tribal Nations rooted in this landscape, ancestral structures and cultural belongings are not ruins or relics; they are living beings, full of presence, story, and connection. 📸: Josh Ewing

"'We are in a time where our monuments are getting attacked,' said Carletta Tilousi, an environmental advocate from the Havasupai Tribe. 'It’s so important right now to keep working together, steadfast, more so than ever before.'"

This Veterans Day, we honor the extraordinary service and sacrifices of Native veterans. Native people serve in the U.S. Armed Forces at some of the highest rates of any group, nearly 1 in 5 Native adults is a veteran. 📸: Tim Peterson

We’re celebrating Native American Heritage Month with a new limited-edition shirt designed by Diné artist Ambrose Beco Begay of Thoreau, NM. His artwork features Six-Shooter Peaks with the Bears Ears Buttes rising in the background, a tribute to land, culture, & the sacred landscapes.

In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, we're uplifting the voices of Native voters across the West. The message is clear: Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities want public lands and waters protected by those who know them best. 📸: Tim Peterson

This summer, the 4th Bears Ears Conservation Corps brought 16 participants from the Coalition Tribes to Bears Ears. They visited ancestral sites, learned traditional skills (from foodways to hide work), removed invasive plants, monitored cultural sites, and deepened ties to ancestral homelands.

November is Native American Heritage Month. Join us in honoring Tribal sovereignty, resilience, and the enduring connections Indigenous peoples maintain with their ancestral lands. 📸: Jonathan Bailey

Bears Ears is a place of deep cultural, historical, & ecological significance. Both the BEITC and @bearsearspartners.bsky.social are dedicated to its protection. Our paths are unique, but they meet at Bears Ears. 📸: Tim Peterson

We send this message from the land of the Tohono O'ohdam and Pipaash people. We're honored to build partnerships with and learn alongside many Indigenous groups that participated in #EarthGives2025 - protecting land, monuments, culture, wildlife and future generations. Support their work.

Today on #IndigenousPeoplesDay, let's recognize the strength, leadership, and ongoing presence of Tribal Nations across this continent. It’s a day to honor Indigenous peoples and the deep, living relationships they hold with the lands we now call “public.” 📸: : Tim Peterson (background)

Today marks 4 years since the restoration of BENM. Since 2021, the 5 Tribes of the Bears Ears Commission have led efforts to protect this living landscape. Earlier this year, the Resource Management Plan was finalized after years of work guided by Tribal leadership. 📸: Tim Peterson & Eco Flight

Today is Earth Gives Day! This national day of giving shines a light on nonprofits working to protect our health, lands, and shared future. The BEITC plays a key role in advancing Tribal-informed stewardship of ancestral lands, and your continued support ensures this vital work can move forward.

In May, Data for Progress asked likely voters how they feel about reducing national monuments like Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni. 📸: BEITC Staff (left), Jackie Grant (right)

Join us this Saturday for a spiritual walk standing with the Ute Mountain Ute Community of White Mesa. We’re showing up to protect community health, water, air, land, culture, and sacred places. Slide 2: 📸 (c) Tim Peterson

Today is National Public Lands Day, and this year’s theme is “Our Home Outdoors.” As we celebrate, remember: Public lands are Native lands. National public lands are the ancestral homelands of Tribal Nations who are still here and remain deeply connected to these places. 📸: Tim Peterson

Only 2% of U.S. charitable giving goes to environmental nonprofits. That’s why @earthgives.bsky.social was created: a national giving initiative to spark generosity, awareness, and action for nonprofits working to protect our planet.

Thank you for making our Summer Campaign a success! Because of you, Tribal-informed stewardship at Bears Ears continues strong, protecting this sacred landscape and uplifting future generations of land stewards. 🌄

Join BEITC cultural leaders at our Climate Week NYC convening on Indigenous-led climate planning for Bears Ears. Join us in-person or virtually. Register by Thursday at 9 a.m. MT: www.eventbrite.com/e/building-c... Thank you - Ahéhee' - Kwakwhay - Askwali - Elahkwa - Tog'oiak'

Today, Sept. 22, is the fall equinox, a good time to remember that change is constant, & with it comes renewal. For many Indigenous peoples, autumn is a season of balance, when day and night stand in equality, harvests are gathered, and communities prepare for the quiet of winter. 📸:Tim Peterson

Do you plan on attending Climate Week NYC next week? Join BEITC at Treehouse as cultural leaders host 'Climate Resilience for Bears Ears National Monument: a convening centering challenges and opportunities for Indigenous-led climate change planning.'

New in Parks Stewardship Forum: Hillary Hoffmann (who served as BEITC Co-Director at the time) and current Co-Director Charissa Miijessepe-Wilson share Tribal perspectives on collaborative management of Bears Ears National Monument.

Our summer fundraising campaign ends on the final day of summer: Monday, September 22nd! We’ve raised $7,000 toward Tribal-led stewardship of Bears Ears, thank you. Your gift today keeps youth voices leading the way.

TODAY: @earthgives.bsky.social Power Hour — From Land We Love to Legacy We Keep 7pm ET / 5 MT / 4 PT Join BEITC and @protectnps.bsky.social for a conversation on Indigenous stewardship and our national public lands.

Save the Date! Earth Gives Power Hour: From Land We Love to Legacy We Keep –– Protecting Parks and Monuments for All Monday, September 15, 2025 • 7:00 p.m. ET / 4:00 p.m. PT Featuring: Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks

We're honored to share that the BEITC is participating in @earthgives.bsky.social 2025. Match alert: starting at 11:00 a.m. PT on Sept 5, the first 20 unique gifts of $50+ made through EarthGives.org are doubled. Your $50 becomes $100 for on-the-ground work at Bears Ears.

A few weeks ago in Salt Lake City, Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition representative Davina Smith (Diné) joined partners from the @protectparks.bsky.social, @protectwildutah.bsky.social, and Save Our Canyons for the Center for Western Priorities’ Keep Parks Public tour.

Headed to White Mesa for Bear Dance or plan on being in SE Utah this weekend? Check out “Through the Silence,” part of the 100 Years of Silence project, an AR experience in Blanding inviting reflection on the 1923 Avikanuche incarceration, in the place where it occurred.

Tonight from 6–7 PM MT, Davina Smith (Diné), BEITC representative for the Navajo Nation, will join @krclradio.bsky.social RadioACTive for a live call-in conversation on national public lands and Bears Ears National Monument. krcl.org/blog/nationa...

Yesterday we observed the 345th anniversary of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, the first successful Indigenous uprising against European colonial powers in what is now known as North America. 📸 Slide 1: Ancestral cordage, Bears Ears. Photo: © Jonathan Bailey

We are proud to announce the new Co-Chairs for both the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and the Bears Ears Commission! Craig Andrews (Hopi) Vice Chairman of the Hopi Tribe Malcolm Lehi (Ute Mountain Ute) Councilman for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Council

Last week’s Inside Voices newsletter featured an overview of Councilman Malcolm Lehi’s recent op-ed on why Bears Ears deserves durable protections grounded in Tribal knowledge, not partisan politics. Read the Inside Voices newsletter from Saturday here: www.sltrib.com/opinion/comm...