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Photo provided by Jackie Grant, 2025.
| Let’s start with some good news: about half of our frozen Federal funding has been restored! This means that our Russian olive removal program can move forward this year along with components of our stewardship and native plant programs. Thank you all for your support in helping us bridge the gap with your donations! We are still working on the return of about $300,000 of Congressionally approved funds for our work, which led me to Washington, DC the first week of April. The trip was sponsored by Conservation Lands Foundation (CLF), which is the only nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and expanding America’s National Conservation Lands. I’m very thankful for their support! I was able to speak with staffers from the offices of Senator Mike Lee, Senator John Curtis, and Congresswoman Celeste Maloy. As expected, they were united in their commitment to reduce the sizes of Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments. However, we still delivered our message that (1) America’s public lands shouldn’t be for sale, (2) the Antiquities Act should be left alone, and (3) the Bureau of Land Management should be provided with the funding it needs to do the job Americans want it to do! Another success we saw this month was the formation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Inter-Tribal Coalition. Members include Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and the Zuni Tribe. The creation of the GSENM Inter-Tribal Coalition marks a key point in the history of the Monument. The rest of April will see the Grand Staircase Escalante Partners team participating in the Utah Trails Conference in Kanab, where I will be leading a panel discussion related to trails in national monuments, and our Stewardship Programs Manager, Kaitlin, will deliver a hands-on workshop. We will spend the rest of the month getting our programs running in high gear, and assessing how the latest set of coal clutching Executive Orders could impact our work. Remember the positive effects that volunteering and building community can have on your health, and join us however you can. Thanks for being part of our community! -Jackie |
