This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The Mormon Environmental Stewardship Alliance is a 501-c3 non-profit registered in Utah representing the views of LDS Church members and followers in Utah and across the nation.

We find that educated LDS people believe scientific data and are concerned about global climate change and environmental justice. They share a reverence for the earth and a desire to be good stewards. They are aware of the many LDS scriptures that admonish us to be good stewards over the earth and protect the purity of our air, water and soil.

Given the continuing degradation of sacred ancestral dwellings and artifacts of the various tribes of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, and given our nation's history of broken treaties with these tribes, the extermination raids, the collective trauma from 53 forced marches of the Dine people (Navajo) during the years of the Long Walk, and the decades of brutal acculturation methods imposed by our institutions, including our churches, it surely seems justice might be partly served should the ancestral lands of those tribes be protected by monument designation with co-management by the inter-tribal coalition for the benefit of all Americans for generations to come.

And, therefore, the members and followers of MESA, valuing justice and good stewardship of the land, water and air, stand in support of our native brothers and sisters of Diné Bikeyah and all the other tribes in the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition in calling for the most assured protection of this spectacular & sacred land of the Bears Ears.

Ty Markham

Chair, Mormon Environmental Stewardship Alliance