Curious Facts: Bears Ears National Monument
Spanning 1.35 million acres of winding canyons, juniper forests, and stunning rock formations across the U.S. state of Utah, Bears Ears National Monument has long been a place of religious and cultural significance for Indigenous peoples in the American Southwest. The breathtaking landscape is dotted with dwellings, rock art, and other evidence of the site’s thousands of years of human habitation, creating a powerful sense of connection between the people of today and their ancestors who once inhabited this site.
As people across the United States head to national parks and monuments for the summer, learn more about Bears Ears’s history—and how World Monuments Fund (WMF) is partnering with Tribes and government bodies to foster sustainable, culturally informed visitation at the site.
Bears Ears is the sacred land of several Indigenous communities
From gathering medicinal plants to communing with ancestors, from a key setting in creation stories to a touchstone for annual ceremonies, Bears Ears has long held deep meaning for surrounding Tribes.
To advocate for the protection of their ancestral lands and combat threats to their shared heritage, five Tribes—the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Pueblo of Zuni, Ute Indian Tribe, and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe—have joined together under the umbrella of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition.
It may be home to one of the only rock art depictions of prehistoric mammals on the continent
Bears Ears is rich with rock art: the Monument is dotted with ancient pictographs and petroglyphs, or rock carvings, depicting flora, fauna including horses and bison, human figures, and more. Etched into the cliff face of an area known as Upper Sand Island is a singular petroglyph that may be 13,000 years old. Visitors are divided over what this image represents, but many interpret its curved lines as portraying the unmistakable tusks, trunk, and melon-shaped head of a woolly mammoth.
There are few rock art depictions of mammoths in North America; these include the nearby Moab Mastodon, Lime Ridge Mammoth, and identified carvings on a bone fragment found in Vero Beach, Florida, which possibly date back 13,000 years.
Archaeological investigations have found evidence of ancient gardens at Bears Ears
Archaeological research at Bears Ears National Monument suggests that the ancestors of today’s Indigenous communities introduced and cultivated rare plants in the area, including species for culinary, medicinal, and ceremonial uses. These findings shed light on the intimate relationship between the region’s Indigenous peoples and the landscape, highlighting the interconnectedness of cultural and natural heritage.
Cliff dwellings, typically built of adobe and stone, dot the canyons of Bears Ears National Monument, USA.
Bears Ears is a U.S. National Monument—but changing government policies impact the park's preservation
In 2016, U.S. President Barack Obama designated Bears Ears as a National Monument; this presidential proclamation marked the area for permanent federal protection. However, only a few years later, the Trump administration slashed Bears Ears’ protected area by 85 percent, opening up its incredible natural riches and archaeological remains to disturbances and destruction from mining, fossil fuel extraction, and more.
In response, Bears Ears was selected for the 2020 World Monuments Watch to call attention to these threats and advocate for the decision’s reversal. Since then, the Biden administration has restored the Monument’s original boundaries, helping to safeguard the cultural landscape’s irreplaceable heritage.
The park is a model for inclusive tourism management & visitation planning
Whether from stepping off a trail or looting, the heritage riches of Bears Ears are vulnerable to both accidental and deliberate human harm. Since 2020, WMF has worked with the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and federal bodies, serving as a key go-between at a site with a number of stakeholders and governing bodies.
Through our work, we helped ensure the representation of Indigenous perspectives while promoting informed, sustainable tourism practices so that visitors can enjoy the beauty of Bears Ears and leave it in the same condition as when they arrived.
World Monuments Fund's work at Bears Ears National Monument has been made possible, in part, by support from Butler Conservation; Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, GRoW @ Annenberg; the Friends of Heritage Preservation; and by Nora McNeely Hurley and Manitou Fund.