Public Lands
No national monument has ever seen more controversy or resulting news coverage than Bears Ears.
All that publicity is spurring a visitor-education crisis, with skyrocketing numbers of tourists threatening sensitive archaeological sites and the Monument’s jaw-droppingly beautiful but...
by Rhett Sifford
The new advertising campaign for San Juan County, featuring the tagline “Make it Monumental,” was the focus of public comment at the September 4 meeting of the San Juan County Commission.
Bill Haven, president of the Blanding Area Travel Council, said it’s the best...
There appears to be a massive die-off of juniper trees in San Juan County, and the cause of the problem is not yet known.
Dr. Kay Shumway is anxious to determine just what is causing the problem. There are literally millions of the trees in San Juan County. They are known locally as...
The planning process for the two units of Bears Ears National Monument is moving ahead with the release of a draft Monument Management Plan (MMP) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
The agency is initiating a 90-day comment period for the...
San Juan County – also known as Utah’s Canyon Country – launched a redesign campaign of its brand to highlight the area as the entry point for nature-loving adventures and great scenery.
The campaign launch includes the tagline “Make it Monumental.” The tagline references the towering...
A group estimated at more than 300 people gathered at the Bears Ears Meadow on June 20 to 22 for the fourth annual Bears Ears Summer Gathering.
Organized by the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, the gathering is designed to build support to restore Bears Ears National Monument to its...
Criminal charges have been dropped against an environmental activist from Durango, CO after a hearing in a Utah Court of Appeals. A trial in Seventh District Court in Price will proceed for similar charges against her husband.
Rose Chilcoat and Mark Franklin had faced misdemeanor and...
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) has been ordered to pay the court costs for filing a lawsuit against the San Juan County Commission.
Seventh District Judge Lyle R. Anderson ruled that SUWA violated “Rule 11” by filing the action, which argued that meetings between San Juan...
A tsunami of filings in the case against two environmental activists eventually resulted in a stay of the trial date.
Rose Chilcoat and Mark Franklin, of Durango, CO, were set for a trial this week before Seventh District Judge Lyle R. Anderson. The trial has been delayed after a...
The May 23 trial of two environmental activists in Seventh District Court has been moved from Monticello to Price. Mark Franklin and Rose Chilcoat face charges, including felony charges, for an April 2017 incident at a corral on Lime Ridge, between Bluff and Mexican Hat.
The trial has...