Where is your voice?

Update: The comment period for Bears Ears has been extended to July 10. Share your support with the Department of Interior here before it’s too late.

The federal government has received more than 91,600 comments since President Donald Trump’s executive order last month calling for review of some national monuments.

Is your voice in there?

If you haven’t shared your opinion yet, you’re running out of time. The cutoff for comments pertaining to Bears Ears National Monument is Friday, May 26. If you want to write about other monuments, you have till July 10.

Don’t waste this opportunity to speak your mind. If you don’t know what to say, you can browse some of the tens of thousands of comments for inspiration. More than 45,000 comments that mention Bears Ears.

Take, for example, this heartfelt note from a former Grand County, Utah, politician (comments are public record, but names are not attached to all of them), who has lived in Moab for 40 years:

“The Bears Ears are in my back yard and over the last 40 years I have watched the irreplaceable cultural resources being looted, illegal ATV trails being created and rock art being defaced,” the former elected official writes. “Moab is reaping the economic benefits of international tourism and the monument will only add to this boom. I have camped with my friends and family-wife, daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter numerous times at many sites in the monument. The unique geology and fantastic cultural resources make this a world-class experience that must be protected… Please do not allow partisan politics to over ride protecting these unique lands and their scientific and cultural resources.”

Or this comment, urging Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke to protect Bears Ears:

“Our public lands are to be kept public and WILD! This land is for the adventurers, travelers, lovers of all things outdoors, the creative minds of the world, and the animals that inhabit them. They are not for the government’s taking to desecrate and must be treated with respect! An attack on our public lands or any of our national monuments, is an attack on America. 

We have one planet…Don’t screw it up.”

Or this one, from Salt Lake City resident Patrick Quinn:

“As an avid outdoor recreationist and citizen co-owner of our country’s public lands, I am upset that protections for some of our country’s most valuable landscapes would be rolled back,” Quinn writes. “I support the designation of Bears Ears National Monument and the others currently under review. While President Trump is free to exercise his discretion in the designation of new National Monuments according to his administration’s priorities, that discretion does not and should not extend to undoing the considered judgment of his predecessors.”

You don’t need to say much. But if your business relies on public access to federal lands for outdoor recreation, you should say something.