Jared Berrett, owner of Wild River Expeditions and Four Corners Adventures
“[Bears Ears] should be protected. This is some of the best, most amazing land on the face of the earth.”
DISPATCHES FROM MONUMENTAL AMERICA: A LISTENING TOUR Locals speak about the Trump administration’s review of Bears Ears National Monument and other monuments. Dig in to more stories here.
When Bears Ears National Monument was designated in southern Utah, Jared Berrett’s overwhelming emotion was that of relief. As the owner of Wild Rivers Expeditions and Four Corners Adventures in Bluff, someone who has rafted, driven and backpacked through every route of access he could find into the monument, he believed it was a treasure deserving of the status.
“It’s awesome, you just have to pinch yourself … most amazing land on the face of the earth,” he said. “It’s a spiritual experience for me.”
Berrett had misgivings about the size of the monument, though. Not for political or philosophical reasons, but for the practical one of wondering how, considering how furiously rugged and practically inaccessible parts of the monument are, the lands could be managed. Why would it need more conservation protection? It protects itself.
“I think God defined it as a wilderness,” said Berrett, 45, a Mormon father of eight.
But more than anything, he felt relieved because he thought it would stop the bitter fighting. “Finally, we have a monument, let’s stop fighting about it, let’s move on,” he said. He had supported the Utah Public Lands Initiative. A bill that took shape after years of negotiations between opposing stakeholders. “I like that effort, I appreciate that effort,” Berrett said. The initiative had outlined a Bears Ears National Monument, and designated other lands for more industrial development. Then it collapsed.
“Finally, we have a monument, let’s stop fighting about it, let’s move on.” — Jared Berrett
When rumors flew that President Obama might use the Antiquities Act to establish a Bears Ears National Monument, though using the Utah Public Lands Initiative as the model, Berrett was shocked at the partisan vitriol that burst forth. He said he eventually contacted his ultraconservative commissioners in San Juan County to tell them, “the verbiage that’s going back and forth is really not helping our business.”
“If it’s gonna be here I’m gonna embrace it,” he said. “I choose to embrace the path of cooperation and negotiation.”
Barrett knew that tourism was the biggest industry in San Juan County, other than government entities including the county government, schools and hospitals. As of late July 2017 he was starting to build on a new hotel in Bluff. He said that since the Bears Ears designation, he has had a five to ten percent jump in business.
The review, he said, has simply ripped open the wound and promises to keep it open.
“Unfortunately, I think for the next four years we’re in for more fighting and litigation and beyond,” he said. “I hope that we can come together, just stop the fighting.”
