San Juan County has entered a Cooperating Agency agreement with the Bureau of Land Management and the National Forest Service.
The National Forest and BLM are currently working together on a resource management plan for the Bears Ears National monument and invited San Juan County to be a Cooperating Agency on the project. The County Commission discussed and voted on the proposal during the June 21 County Commission meeting. 

Leadership with the Utah School and Institutional Trust Land Administration (SITLA) appeared before the San Juan County Commission on May 3 to hear input regarding the proposed land swap of 131,000 acres located inside the Bears Ears National Monument. 
Members of the public who spoke at the meeting were largely opposed to any swap of lands outside San Juan County.

Vegetation Pile Burns Planned in Southeast Utah National Parks and Monuments
Beginning February 21 and continuing through the end of March, park officials plan to burn piles of dead vegetation at various locations within Arches and Canyonlands national parks and Hovenweep and Natural Bridges national monuments.

This month the Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum’s “New to the Edge” exhibit features several pottery vessels from a site in Woodenshoe Canyon on the Manti-LaSal National Forest. The site dates to the late AD 1100s/early AD 1200s, a period of time that is referred to as the Pueblo III period. Among other things, this late Pueblo period is known for its beautiful white ware pottery with complex, painted designs.

Bureau of Land Management seeks nominations to fill advisory committee vacancies for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments
The Bureau of Land Management is seeking nominations for the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Advisory Committees to fill existing and upcoming vacancies.

Gary Torres recently received the 2021 Outstanding Public Lands Professional Award from The Public Lands Foundation. 
Torres has served in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for more than 30 years. He currently serves as the Manager of the Canyon Country District of the BLM, which covers millions of acres in southeastern Utah, including San Juan County.

A Utah environmental regulatory agency is preparing a request to the federal government to allow a mine to inject diluted sulfuric acid solutions into a San Juan County aquifer.  

Bureau of Land Management (BLM) fire personnel have completed the initial restoration work for the Pack Creek Fire on all 131 acres of BLM-managed lands impacted by the fire.  

Visitors to Rainbow Bridge National Monument are advised that access from Lake Powell will become significantly more difficult until further notice, due to lowering lake levels and mud and debris from rain events. 
Effective immediately, there will no longer be dock access to the shoreline. The Lake Powell dock will be pulled back and accessing the Rainbow Bridge Trail will be at your own risk.

The Utah Permanent Community Impact Board (CIB) approved a $1 million grant and a $258,000 low-interest loan for the City of Monticello at the October 7 CIB meeting.
The funds will be used to purchase water rights in the Spring Creek drainage for up to 1,570.4 acre-feet of water.  The current owners of the water rights are Grayson Redd, Redd Enterprises and Redd Investments.

President Joseph Biden signed an executive order restoring the Bears Ears National Monument to its original designated size on Friday, October 8. 
President Biden’s designation places the monument at 1.36 million acres, after the addition of 11,200 acres that President Trump added to the monument in 2017.
The 1.35 million-acre monument in San Juan County was designated by President Barack Obama in 2016. 

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is recommending that President Joe Biden restore Bears Ears National Monument to its original size, according to a June 14 report in the Washington Post.
The original boundaries of the monument totaled 1.35 million acres – all in San Juan County – when it was designated in December 2016 by President Barack Obama.

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland recently completed a three-day visit to the area to investigate the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante national monuments.
The first Native American Secretary of the Interior arrived in Bluff on Wednesday, April 7, where she met with tribal officials, including Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez.

Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is visiting San Juan County this week to take a first-hand look at the Bears Ears National Monument.
Haaland will arrive in Utah midweek and tour the national monument. At some point following the visit, Haaland will release a report to President Joe Biden with recommendations for the boundaries of both the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland will visit San Juan County in coming days to take a first-hand look at Bears Ears National Monument.
Details of the Secretary’s visit were still not released at the press deadline, but the visit is planned to take place in the month of April.