On March 13 the House Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on Forgotten Voices: The Inadequate Review and Improper Alteration of Our National Monuments. Representatives from the Ute Indian Tribe, Zuni Pueblo and Hopi Tribe spoke in support of Bears Ears.
Dana Waggoner from Escalante Outfitters testified that local voices were excluded from the review of Grand-Staircase Escalante National Monument. She said that Interior Secretary Zinke “came and went without meeting with our Chamber of Commerce or any pro-monument businesses.”
At a public meeting in Garfield County Waggoner said, “There was not enough room to seat all the citizens and we were asked to sit on one side of the room if you supported the monument and the other side if you opposed the monument. Friends and neighbors divided.”
Waggoner says that due to the downsizing visitors are arriving in Escalante saying, “We decided to visit before the monument is destroyed.”