By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Two heavy-hitters in the shooting and hunting arena have come out swinging against the Biden-Harris administration’s proposal by the Department of Interior allegedly “to shutter access” to 1.3 million acres of Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument.
According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the proposed plan would “needlessly deny recreational target shooters access to the monument for no legally justifiable purpose and will violate federal law.”
At the same time, as reported by The Outdoor Wire, Safari Club International contends the Biden-Harris administration’s departments of Interior and Agriculture “have exceeded their regulatory authorities by closing off these public lands to responsible recreational activities, thereby threatening vital conservation funding.”
A news release from the Bureau of Land Management offers says Bears Ears is “one of the richest cultural landscapes in the United States, covering 1.36 million acres of public land in southeastern Utah.
“The proposed plan, if approved, would ensure lasting protections for the monument’s cultural and natural resources, including ancestral cliff dwellings and culturally significant landscapes, while providing continued opportunities for outdoor recreation such as hiking, camping, and hunting,” the release says.
But NSSF, in a prepared statement, counters, “The John D. Dingell, Jr., Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, which was signed into law in 2019, sets the criteria upon which the Secretary of the Department of the Interior may close public access to public lands. The law limits the area and duration for when public access to federal lands may be closed. Closures may only occur when a clear and quantifiable objective is identified. Secretary Haaland’s announcement to close 1.3 million acres to Bears Ears National Monument fails to meet these requirements.”
In its statement, SCI concurs, asserting, “the Biden-Harris administration has elected to close all recreational shooting access in direct contravention of the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act.
“The Dingell Act,” says SCI, “explicitly mandates that public access closures for recreational activities, such as shooting, must be demonstrably in pursuit of a quantifiable objective that affects the smallest possible area for the shortest period necessary. This proposed plan would end open access for recreational shooting in favor of total closure with no explanation, in blatant violation of the Dingell Act’s clear language.”
Bears Ears National Monument is located in Southeast Utah about 20 air miles southwest from Monticello. The proposed plan was announced by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
NSSF President Joe Bartozzi said his organization is “deeply troubled” by what he called a “blatant violation of the law” to close access to the monument.
“This unlawful closure demonstrates that the Biden-Harris administration and Secretary Haaland are openly hostile to the interests of America’s sportsmen and women,” Bartozzi said. “This action clearly shows utter disdain for the rule of law. NSSF will protest this proposal and will work with the Bureau of Land Management to ensure future shooting opportunities in the Monument remain available to recreational target shooters.”
Likewise, SCI officials are critical in their assessments.
“The Bears Ears plan is a misguided affront to sportsmen and women, the greatest stewards of our public lands,” said SCI Executive Vice President for International Government and Public Affairs Ben Cassidy in a prepared statement. “The total ban on recreational shooting is unwarranted, unsupported, and will only drain the very resources that support wildlife conservation projects. This is a case of federal overreach, plain and simple.”
“This policy doesn’t just hurt sportsmen and women—it undermines the entire ecosystem of conservation funding,” said SCI CEO W. Laird Hamberlin in the same press release. “By shutting down recreational shooting, the plan takes a sledgehammer to a critical funding source for conservation projects and disregards the public’s right to access the lands they help sustain. SCI is proud to oppose this proposed resource management plan as part of our longstanding mission to be First for Hunters.”
But the BLM, in its announcement, asserts, “The plan incorporates Tribal input, feedback from cooperators, stakeholders, and the public, and is informed by the best available science, including Indigenous Knowledge, to ensure balanced use and protection of important resources. The Presidential Proclamation establishing the monument called for Tribal co-stewardship of the monument and established the Bears Ears Commission, comprised of representatives from five Tribes whose ancestral homelands are in part encompassed by the monument.”
According to BLM, the agency worked with the U.S. Forest Service (Department of Agriculture) to open a public comment period beginning in March of this year.
“During the comment period,” the agency says, “BLM and Forest Service held seven public meetings; two advisory committee meetings; received, reviewed, and addressed nearly 19,000 public comments; and continued to engage with local stakeholders and cooperators. The agencies also worked closely with the five Tribes of the Bears Ears Commission – the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, and the Pueblo of Zuni – whose ancestral lands are included in the monument and who maintain historic and cultural connections to the lands the BLM and Forest Service now manage.”
A protest period is now open, and will continue to Nov. 4. After that, BLM will issue a “Record of Decision” along with an approved Resource Management Plan.
