BEARS EARS THE AFTERMATH.

AuthorAndra, Jacob

After a grueling political and environmental battle, changes to Utah's Bears Ears National Monument caused the outdoor industry to withdraw their business from our state. Here's what happened.

The Outdoor Retailer show was a materialistic tour de force for we Utahns who lean a little granola. Wandering the cavernous interior of the Salt Palace, one could spend hours entering product lotteries, eating Clif Bar samples, and window-shopping (or getting a screaming deal on) the latest outdoor gear.

Those of us fortunate enough to "work" for one of Utah's participating businesses got a special badge granting us access to this temple of consumerism. I, for one, looked forward to the show each year as the summer ripened. Now, Outdoor Retailer has left our fair state, and all because of a kerfuffle over a Utah landmark known as Bears Ears National Monument.

IT'S TRUMP VS. THE ENVIRONMENT

On December 28, 2016, then-President Barack Obama proclaimed some 1.4 million acres in Southeastern Utah as Bears Ears National Monument (BENM). Utah Republicans decried the move as federal overreach. Native American tribes local to the monument--as well as the Whole-Foods-eating, REI-shopping crowd-applauded it as a necessary preservation of a priceless treasure.

Utah Republicans, led by Utah Governor Gary Herbert, promptly took action to have the monument undone. Supporting them were various industrial interests (portions of the area contain quantities of coal, oil, and uranium). After the election of President Donald Trump, the Utah legislature drafted a petition to rescind Obama's proclamation.

THE OUTDOOR INDUSTRY RETALIATES

The reaction of the outdoor industry was swift and unequivocal: Utah's leadership had shown itself a foe to the outdoors as well as to the industry focused on preserving the outdoors. Patagonia--a company that, according to The New York Times, "has been unapologetically political since the 1970s"--led the charge, with op-eds condemning what they saw as Governor Herbert's craven subservience to monied interests. The Governor and other state leaders, in turn, viewed the preservation coalition as being unwilling to compromise, overly idealistic, and too beholden to an environmentalist ideology to fully grasp the realities of the situation.

In other words, it was the same-old, same-old: environmentalism versus the economy. Except--in a new twist on an old refrain--this time there were big economic incentives aligned with the preservation camp.

On January 11, 2017, Yvon...

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