10/15 Press Conference To Announce Unprecidented Native American Proposal To Protect Sacred Lands [Picture]

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14, 2015 — The Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, a coalition of sovereign Tribal Nations, will hold a press conference at the National Press Club to discuss their proposal to the Utah delegation and the White House to designate a Bears Ears National Monument.  The press conference will be held Thursday, October 15th, at 11:00 AM ET in the Lisagor Room at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

WHO: Eric Descheenie, Co-chair of the Inter-Tribal Coalition and Special Advisor to President andVice President of the Navajo Nation

Alfred Lomahquahu, Co-chair of the Inter-Tribal Coalition and Vice Chairman of the Hopi Tribe
Phillip Vicenti, Head Councilman of Pueblo of Zuni Tribal Council
Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk, Tribal Council Member at Ute Mountain Ute Tribe
Willie Grayeyes, Chairmen of Utah Diné Bikéyah
Malcolm Lehi, Tribal Council Member at Ute Mountain Ute Tribe
Representative from the Ute Tribe of the Uinta and Ouray Reservation

WHAT: Press Conference on the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition national monument proposal

WHEN: Thursday, October 15th, at 11:00am Eastern/ 9:00am Mountain

WHERE: The National Press Club in Washington, DC, in the Lisagor Room. The proposal and map will be posted online the morning of the event at http://BearsEarsCoalition.org.

WHY: The Bears Ears region in Southeastern Utah is home to more than 100,000 Native American cultural sites. Yet despite rampant and ongoing destruction of our gravesites, cultural objects and structures, these sacred ancestral lands remain unprotected.

Protection of these sacred sites is critically important to our people. This is why a historic consortium of sovereign Tribal nations have united in the effort to conserve the Bears Ears cultural landscape. Our five nations – Hopi, Navajo, Ute Mountain Ute, Zuni, and Ute Tribe of the Uinta and Ouray Reservation– are committed to working together with the support of 19 additional Tribes who have expressed support for protecting the Bear Ears region.

This proposal is unique and wholly unprecedented. Never before has a coalition of sovereignTribal Nations petitioned the United States government to use any and all tools available to it to designate a Bears Ears National Monument.