Published: Dec. 29, 2016 By

A view of Deer Canyon and Bears Ears in San Juan County, Utah.

The Bears Ears National Monument is seen in the distance. Photo courtesy of San Juan County, Utah.

President Obama yesterday designated Bears Ears, a set of buttes located in southern Utah, a national monument.

Charles Wilkinson, a distinguished professor at Colorado Law, has worked with the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition to advance conservation efforts. He was one of the main architects behind an October 2015 coalition proposal to Obama for the creation of the Bears Ears National Monument. Wilkinson can discuss the history embedded in the Bears Ears landscape, the formation of the Inter-Tribal Coalition’s proposal, Obama’s use of the Antiquities Act for the national monument designation and more.

Wilkinson also was special counsel to Secretary Bruce Babbitt for the drafting of the Grand Staircase Escalante Nation Monument proclamation in 1996. He is the Moses Lasky Professor of Law, a faculty member of the American Indian Law Program and a namesake of the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment. For Wilkinson's cell phone number, reporters should contact Elizabeth Lock at 303-492-3117 or elizabeth.lock@colorado.edu.

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