San Juan County, Utah, is 92 percent owned by the federal government and it wants to take more. If the feds take more land and turn this county into a national monument then many people in this area will be out of jobs, homes, recreational activities, etc.
Native and Anglo people will lose wood gathering, guiding for hunting, pinon, plant and herb gathering and ATV and horseback riding. There will be nothing left except for tourism and that isn’t a big deal in this county.
Our mountain and archeological sites will be looted and vandalized by tourists. The Grand Staircase has had over 1,400 cases of vandalism in the last year and we have had 25 cases in the last five years. We take care of our own lands.
Please write your Congressmen and women and the President to discourage this proposed monument. Let them build a national monument in the Smoky Mountains or how about somewhere in the Midwest? We don’t need it here.
Carol Brown
Blanding, Utah
