The 2024 Public Lands Survey Team: Bears Ears
By Alice O’Neal-Freeman
The Public Lands Survey team embarked on its third year of research in the summer of 2024, directed by Cyndy Hines. It was the second year in which the team dug into the concept of Dark Skies in the Rocky Mountain West, a topic of great importance as it is one of the fastest growing regions in the country. The unimpeded night sky has been essential to many peoples throughout history, shown in rock art of complex celestial events and indigenous creation stories. The team discovered more about its importance to modern people over the course of that summer. Three out of four researchers on the Dark Skies team surveyed and researched in the Bears Ears area over the summer. Bears Ears National Monument currently encompasses 1.36 million acres of Southeastern Utah. It is named after a pair of buttes that rise high out of the earth, resembling the ears of a bear. There are five tribes that have ancestral connections to the region, making up the Inter-Tribal Coalition. The Navajo Nation, Hopi, Ute Mountain Ute, Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, and the Pueblo of Zuni. The protected area includes pictograms, petroglyphs, dinosaur bones and tracks, firewood, recreational roads for ATVs and four-wheelers, and land that has been used for cattle grazing.
Dark Skies researchers Alison, Megan, Mustafa, and Natasha each conducted their own research projects over the course of summer 2024. They are all connected to the pervasiveness of light pollution, and delve into the complexity of Bears Ears. They prepared by completing a workshop on interviewing and doing research for multiple blocks before heading out into the field.
In 2009 the FBI and BLM conducted one of the US’s largest raids of stolen archaeological and cultural artifacts in Blanding, UT, a town near Bears Ears. Bears Ears was initially made a monument in order to prevent such looting, but a monument designation also prevents gas companies from taking advantage of the oil in the area.
Obama designated the area a national monument of over a million acres in 2016. During his first term in 2017, president Trump reduced its size by 85%. In 2021, president Biden restored the monument to its original size. In 2022 the BLM, the Forest service, and the Inter-tribal coalition began co-management of Bears Ears National Monument. Natasha surveyed for awareness of the new co-management plan.
There is a growing threat of light pollution from towns surrounding the monument, such as Blanding. Many indigenous people who have historically inhabited this land have deep cultural connections to the stars– Mustafa conducted surveys to understand this better– and some want to protect the Milky Way view by obtaining the designation of Dark Sky Park for the monument. Megan took artificial light measurements at night and tracked development in order to predict the impact nearby towns could have on Bears Ears night sky visibility in the future. Alison focused on light pollution and development in the greater Rocky Mountain region.
But would a Dark Sky Park designation attract more tourism and development itself? Could this damage the land because there is not much infrastructure in place? There are only two rangers working in a protected area bigger than Grand Canyon National Park. Some say designating it a national monument in the first place attracted more tourists than they have the facilities to accommodate. Many living in Southeast Utah have conflicting views of where to go from here. Some wish it was not even made a monument in the first place. Some feel the region is now a bigger political stage, and the residents’ preferences for land use are not being prioritized.
Bears Ears Researchers Summer 2024
Megan is interested in predicting possible future light pollution if development continues. She focused on the towns Blanding, Monticello, and Moab near Bears Ears. She is also the Dark Skies team's Artist in Residence: in addition to collecting light pollution data, she interviewed people she encountered around Bears Ears about how they construed the meaning of the stars, and taking their photos. Her project combines scientific data and art.
Megan created a grid of data points in the biggest developments/towns near Bears Ears, and took photos and light measurements at those points. She scheduled meetings at local libraries, searching for historic photos in the towns of Blanding, Monticello, and Moab. She then compared the photos she took to the historic ones she found in order to get an idea of the changes in development around Bears Ears.
Megan pored through VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) data to find the brightest artificially lit sites near Bears Ears as seen via satellite. She investigated the biggest threats to Bears Ears’ dark skies.
The Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition wanted to understand how their community outreach was doing in terms of the new co-management plan; essentially, how many people knew about it around Bears Ears. Natasha undertook this project, and surveyed people near the monument. She asked them if they had a tribal affiliation, if they knew about the changes in size of the Monument, and if they had participated in the meetings held for public input on managing the area.
Natasha traveled to the towns of Bluff and Blanding right next to the Monument, as well as areas closer to the Four Corners. She conducted surveys on the Southern Ute, Mountain Ute, and Navajo reservations. Natasha interviewed people in and outside grocery stores, at gas stations, in trading posts, and outside on the street. She spoke with many Native people, Mormons, and other residents of the Southeast Utah region.
Through Natasha's interviews, the theme of the complexity in identities and interests in the area became apparent. Oil companies looking to profit off the land, native people looking to protect it, yet other native people looking for a job (with the oil companies if needed), Mormons looking to make use of the land they believe is there for their use, ATV enthusiasts looking for adrenaline-filled rides over the rocky land… Natasha heard it all. She wrote a long-form journalism story about all these different perspectives coming together in one place, the fight for the varied resources Bears Ears offers.
Mustafa initially wanted to study the impact of light pollution on people around the Bears Ears National Monument. He is interested in the cultural practices of indigenous people centered around the stars. After his first trip in the field his research shifted, and he spent the summer surveying Native people on reservations as well as tourists visiting semi-close to the monument. His survey focused on peoples’ connection to the stars. He asked if respondents observed the night sky frequently, if they had seen a change in the night sky visibility, and if light pollution had impacted their activities, among other questions. Additionally, he asked for demographic information in order to analyze differences in how varying age groups think about the night sky. Her determined that a lot of people did not realize night sky visibility has changed in many areas and there could be more change in the future. Mustafa also worked on the Dark Skies website to create a place to compile all the research that State of the Rockies conducts on light pollution.
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