John Curtis: “As you can see in this picture, Indian Creek, located in southeastern Utah in my congressional district, is home to some…”

“As you can see in this picture, Indian Creek, located in southeastern Utah in my congressional district, is home to some of the most beautiful and majestic scenery in the world, but it has also become an epicenter of an ongoing conflict between those whose livelihoods depend on multiple uses of these public lands and groups focused on advocating for limited use of those lands. Almost exactly 1 year ago, President Obama, over the objections of many stakeholders, utilized the Antiquities Act to unilaterally designate 1.35 million acres of land as the Bears Ears National Monument. Last week, President Trump came to Utah to help resolve this issue by reauthorizing this monument into two much smaller national monuments, the Indian Creek and the Shash Jaa National Monument. Although both executive actions have ignited widespread anger and resentment on each side of this issue, I still believe that both sides share many common goals and values and can work together for the benefit of Utah. We can all agree that these important lands must be responsibly managed for future generations to appreciate. Now that Utah has two, more manageable monuments, the time has come for Congress to act to ensure that these archeological treasures and sacred Tribal lands are protected the right way. I believe the right way to manage these lands is to have input from Utah's Tribal members, local citizens, and government officials.…”