In November of 2023, I wrote of a hike up Comb Ridge in Southeast Utah to a petroglyph called the Big Crane. This art was carved into the rock over 1,000 years ago by an Ancestral Puebloan. Comb Ridge is in Bears Ears National Monument, sacred land to Hopi, Navajo, Ute and Zuni tribes containing cultural sites, dwellings, historic objects and is used for many rituals and spiritual practices. Since 1904 Congress was petitioned to protect the land. In 1906, after many Native American sites throughout the country were looted, Theodore Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act to allow the President to issue a proclamation to protect archaeological and historic sites. However, disputes among tribes and with other interests prevented any action on Bears Ears for over a century. Fortunately, the remoteness and arid environment left many of the ancient homes, structures, and art undamaged.
Big Crane, Combs Ridge, Bears Ears National Monument
Eventually, five area tribes reached a consensus, and in his last month in office, President Obama used the Antiquities Act to protect over 1.3 million acres and create Bears Ears National Monument. The monument would be managed jointly by the Departments of Interior and Agriculture and the tribes. No President had used the Antiquities Act to destroy a Monument, but within a year, Donald Trump reduced Bears Ears by 1.1 million acres and opened the land to bidding for oil, gas, uranium and other extraction. One of President Biden’s early acts was to restore the protections to Bears Ears and nearby Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Though many organizations (including the native tribes who co-administered the Monument) sued Trump, the suits were not resolved when Biden reversed the action. In turn, Biden was sued by Utah and local landowners arguing he misused the Antiquities Act. The U.S. District Judge dismissed the suit, and oral arguments were recently heard on the appeal. While the appellate court will likely find the case is meritless, it is, of course, likely that Trump will again open the protected, sacred land to mineral interests.
Sandhill Crane, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico
I live along the eastern flyway of the Sandhill Cranes, and in November I first hear, then see, the ancient birds heading south from summer homes in Canada, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Sometimes, in late November I would go to Jasper-Pulaski Wildlife Refuge in Indiana to see them resting and feeding in the fields there before continuing south. Surprisingly, the last couple years, I’ve seen flocks here continuing their migration into late December. This year, I heard no birds migrating. Then Tuesday, the unmistakable cry of a flock made me look up to see them crossing the face of the moon. First migrating south in January?
The fossil record of Sandhills indicate they’ve been here for over 2.5 million years. Now fossil fuels help contribute to climate change that makes winters milder and disrupts the migration of the bird the Ancestral Puebloan artist etched into rock.
