National monument advisory panel new flashpoint in debate

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A newly unveiled advisory committee that will help make management decisions for a downsized national monument in southern Utah has become the latest flashpoint in a long-running debate over lands considered sacred to Native Americans as monument supporters cry foul about being left off the panel. The selections for the 15-person Bears Ears National Monument panel posted online Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management reveal a few people who seem to strike a middle ground, but nobody who was an outspoken proponent of the monument created by President Barack Obama in December 2016 to help preserve ancient cliff dwellings and an estimated 100,000 archaeological sites. In contrast, the committee includes several people who were critics of Obama’s designation and cheered President Donald Trump’s December 2017 decision to scale it back by about 85 percent to make it a 315 square mile-monument (816 sq. kilometers) in a move Trump said was done to reverse federal overreach. They include San Juan County Commissioner Bruce Adams, ranchers Zeb Dalton and Gail Johnson, resident Jami Bayles and the two people selected for tribal spots on the committee: Ryan Benally and Alfred Ben. They are the only Native Americans on the committee...MORE