Presbyterians For Earth Care recently hosted a webinar designed in part to explore “On Adopting ‘Protecting Utah’s National Monuments and Wildlands for Ecology and Justice,’” an overture passed by the 224th General Assembly (2024). The overture calls for ongoing protection of wilderness areas including Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Listen to the webinar “Protecting Sacred Lands for Culture, Climate and Justice,” hosted by Jenny Holmes, the co-chair of PEC’s Advocacy Team, here.
Holmes’ guests were Travis Hammill, the District of Columbia director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, and Tara Benally, the field director for Stewardship Utah.
The environmental stakes are at present quite high, Holmes said, including “the commodification and industrialization of our national public lands on a scale never seen before.”
“This is contrary to Presbyterian values and faith commitments and to those of many other denominations and faiths, including people of no faith,” Holmes said. What’s needed is for people organize “in all ways at all levels to undergird legal and legislative work.”
“All of us who care need to be engaged to protect God’s Creation and vulnerable people from permanent and large-scale damage over the next four years,” Homes said. “We can’t afford to be on the sidelines.”
Hammill said the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) works specifically with lands managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). “What’s most important to remember is wilderness is the highest level of protection that can be afforded to federal lands,” Hammill said. Four of the five national parks in Utah were first national monuments, he noted.
He said he’s “proud of the work SUWA has engaged with tribal nations and the partner organizations that advocate for the tribes to find support for the legislation we work on, and for conservation of both the natural world and the cultural and historical value these places have for the people groups throughout the Desert Southwest and around the country.”
Benally, who was born a seventh-generation Hopi but was raised on Navajo lands, is involved with the Women of Bears Ears. She said her people have historically migrated to Bears Ears on a seasonal schedule. Her mother remembers being chased off by law enforcement one spring after Bears Ears had been designated BLM-managed land, “something my family was not familiar with,” she said.
More recently, it’s hard to find “a single pottery shard, a single arrowhead, a fire pit or a hogan or a horse corral” that used to dot the Butler Wash Interpretive Site, she said, adding, “there’s significance in reading the land and understanding it as natural conservationists.”
She thanked those who joined the webinar. “Being part of these conversations is really crucial to us. It’s part of our living, breathing family,” Benally said. The region “has sustained us for hundreds and thousands of years.”
Holmes then explained the history of the overture, an idea that originated with the Episcopal Diocese of Utah, then became an interfaith letter and finally an overture to the 224th General Assembly (2024), which passed it by consensus. The overture also calls on the PC(USA)’s Office of Public Witness to advocate for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act and for tribal sovereignty in the co-management of Bears Ears National Monument. That legislation, most recently sponsored in the House by U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico, would designate more than 8 million acres of BLM land in Utah as wilderness.
As Holmes pointed out, the Book of Order states, “God sends the Church to share in the stewardship of Creation, preserving the goodness and glory of the Earth God has made” and includes “caring for God’s Creation” in the commitment to participate in Christ’s mission.
“This is not an optional thing. It’s considered integral to our faith,” Holmes said. “This is who we are. This is part of our identity.”
Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service (Click here to read original PNS Story)
Let us join in prayer for:
Staci Wihelm, Vice President, Finance, Board of Pensions
Aniria Williams, Administrative Assistant I, Stewardship & Funds Development, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)
Let us pray:
God of Justice, we thank you for your unfailing love. We strive to reflect your love through our thoughts, our decisions, and our actions. Strengthen us as we learn to serve. Show us the way to let the oppressed go free as Jesus of Nazareth declared. As Jesus is our witness. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment