A recent webinar spotlighted the ongoing efforts to safeguard Utah’s national monuments and wilderness areas. The discussion centered on an overture, “On Adopting ‘Protecting Utah’s National Monuments and Wildlands for Ecology and Justice’,” previously endorsed by the 224^th General Assembly (2024). This resolution advocates for the sustained protection of regions like Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Jenny Holmes, co-chair of an advocacy team, hosted the webinar, titled “Protecting Sacred Lands for Culture, Climate and justice.” Guests included Travis Hammill,the District of Columbia director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance,and Tara Benally,the field director for Stewardship Utah.

The Rev. Hansen Wendlandt, pastor of Community of Grace Presbyterian Church in Sandy, Utah, shared a prayer inspired by a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke, asking, “Is it not your dream to enter us so holy there is nothing left outside of us to see? What, if not conversion, is your deepest purpose? … Before I was named, I belonged to you. I seek no other law than yours, and I know I can trust the death you will bring. Childhood and future are equally present. Sheer abundance of being floods my heart. Amen.”

The Imperative of Protecting Public Lands

Holmes emphasized the high environmental stakes, noting “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, stressing the need for collective action “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,” Holmes stated. “We can’t afford to be on the sidelines.”

“What’s most important to remember is wilderness is the highest level of protection that can be afforded to federal lands,”

Hammill explained that the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) focuses on lands managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. “What’s most important to remember is wilderness is the highest level of protection that can be afforded to federal lands,” Hammill said, adding that several national parks in Utah were initially national monuments.

He also stated 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 past value these places have for the people groups throughout the Desert Southwest and around the country.”

Indigenous Perspectives on land Stewardship

Benally, a seventh-generation Hopi raised on Navajo lands and involved with the Woman of Bears Ears, shared that her people traditionally migrated to Bears Ears seasonally. She recounted her mother’s experience of being displaced by law enforcement after Bears Ears was designated BLM-managed land, “something my family was not familiar with,” she said.

She noted the increasing difficulty in finding artifacts at the Butler Wash Interpretive Site, explaining, “there’s meaning in reading the land and understanding it as natural conservationists.”

Benally thanked webinar participants, stating, “Being part of these conversations is really crucial to us.It’s part of our living, breathing family,” and emphasizing that the region “has sustained us for hundreds and thousands of years.”

Holmes detailed the overture’s origins,starting with the Episcopal Diocese of Utah,evolving into an interfaith letter,and ultimately becoming a resolution passed by the 224^th General Assembly (2024). The overture also urges the PC(USA)’s Office of Public Witness to advocate for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act and tribal sovereignty in the co-management of Bears Ears National Monument. This act,recently sponsored by U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico, seeks to designate over eight million acres of BLM land in Utah as wilderness.

Holmes cited the Book of Order, stating, “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.”

Holmes also highlighted wilderness as a vital aspect of spiritual formation: “We have been taught through the Gospel lessons of Jesus and the prophets of the Hebrew Bible the lessons of pilgrimage into the wilderness and the vital role that an gratitude of God’s magnificent Creation can play in our own spiritual formation.”

Hammill concluded by discussing the history of America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, noting, “It’s as old as I am,” and “It was first introduced in 1989.”

He also expressed concern over a bill proposing the sale of over 500,000 acres of federal land in Nevada and Utah.

“It’s a really big problem. The idea you can sell federal lands to balance the federal budget is an absolutely bonkers idea to me,” Hammill said.“What is better is to protect these places that people want to visit and experience. That is where the inherent value of the land exists – not on the balance sheet to provide tax breaks for the rich.”