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Bears Ears: Views from a Sacred Land
On December 28, 2016, President Barack Obama acted to protect nearly 1.4 million acres in southeastern Utah as the Bears Ears National Monument. The monument preserves a landscape of unsurpassed beauty, filled with more than 100,000 Native American archaeological sites, some dating back more than two millennia. For the first time, tribes who look to Bears Ears for spiritual and material sustenance will work collaboratively with federal agencies to set policies for managing the monument.
The photographs in Bears Views from a Sacred Land capture the singular beauty of Bears Ears country in all seasons, its textural subtleties portrayed alongside the drama of expansive landscapes and skies, deep canyons, spires, and towering mesas. To photographer Stephen E. Strom’s sensitive eyes, a scrub oak on a hillside or a pattern in windswept sand is as essential to capturing the spirit of the landscape as the region’s most iconic vistas. In seeing red-rock country through his lens, viewers can begin to discover the remarkable diversity, seductive power, and disarming complexity of Bears Ears’ sacred lands.
Strom’s photographs convey what so many have fought to preserve for so long. Like the land itself, they evince the full spectrum of emotional exhilaration and disorientation, contemplation and serenity, passion and gratitude for the wild places and archeological treasures that now belong to all Americans. Rebecca Robinson’s informative essay provides historical context for how the national monument came to be.
Years from now, this book may serve as either a celebration of the foresight of visionary leaders, from Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and Barack Obama who have set aside lands such as Bears Ears, or as an elegy for what was lost.
The photographs in Bears Views from a Sacred Land capture the singular beauty of Bears Ears country in all seasons, its textural subtleties portrayed alongside the drama of expansive landscapes and skies, deep canyons, spires, and towering mesas. To photographer Stephen E. Strom’s sensitive eyes, a scrub oak on a hillside or a pattern in windswept sand is as essential to capturing the spirit of the landscape as the region’s most iconic vistas. In seeing red-rock country through his lens, viewers can begin to discover the remarkable diversity, seductive power, and disarming complexity of Bears Ears’ sacred lands.
Strom’s photographs convey what so many have fought to preserve for so long. Like the land itself, they evince the full spectrum of emotional exhilaration and disorientation, contemplation and serenity, passion and gratitude for the wild places and archeological treasures that now belong to all Americans. Rebecca Robinson’s informative essay provides historical context for how the national monument came to be.
Years from now, this book may serve as either a celebration of the foresight of visionary leaders, from Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and Barack Obama who have set aside lands such as Bears Ears, or as an elegy for what was lost.
240 pages, Hardcover
Published May 29, 2018
23 people want to read
About the author
Stephen E. Strom
19 booksStephen E. Strom is Astronomer Emeritus at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory. An accomplished photographer as well as an astronomer, Strom has provided photographs for three previous University of Arizona Press books: Secrets from the Center of the World, Sonoita Plain, and Tséyi/Deep in the Rock.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 28, 2019
This is a volume of beautiful photographs as well as prose, done in and about the area of southeastern Utah known as Bear Ears. This area gives us a landscape that is unique and dramatic, full of canyons, spires, mesas, hoodoos, cliffs, and rivers. There is incredible shape and color everywhere, and these photographs do a great job of capturing some of the magic of this place. There are fossils of all kinds to be found here, as well as cliff dwellings and petroglyphs. There are said to be over 1,000 as yet unexcavated archaeological sites in this area. The author states that he took these photos sometimes after long hikes into a particular area, sometimes after driving a particular road, and some from the air in a small aircraft. In the introduction, there is an explanation of the efforts surrounding preservation of this beautiful landscape, and in the last chapter the author offers a condensed geologic history of the Colorado Plateau that gives some information into how this area was formed, by wind, water, uplifting and collapsing of the earth, over billions of years.
Bear Ears was named a National Monument by President Obama in December of 2016. It is unique among the country's National Monuments as it is the first to be so designated at the bequest of Native Americans. 5 separate tribes whose ancestors had at one time or another been part of this area, and whose tribes hold this land as sacred, joined together to form a coalition to work toward this national monument designation, and the preservation of this area. The original request had been for the designation to cover 1,900,000 acres of land. President Obama agreed, after consultation with the tribes, local Mormon leaders, as well as community and business leaders, to set aside 1,350,000 acres for the National Monument. Shortly after taking office, President Trump moved to reduce the size of Bear Ears National Monument to 160,000 acres. This is the first time in history that such a massive reduction in the size of a National Monument has been attempted. Several law suits have been filed, and the fate of Bear Ears currently rest with the courts.
But in spite of where one may fall in regard to the political matters here, this volume and the land it celebrates are a treasure.
Bear Ears was named a National Monument by President Obama in December of 2016. It is unique among the country's National Monuments as it is the first to be so designated at the bequest of Native Americans. 5 separate tribes whose ancestors had at one time or another been part of this area, and whose tribes hold this land as sacred, joined together to form a coalition to work toward this national monument designation, and the preservation of this area. The original request had been for the designation to cover 1,900,000 acres of land. President Obama agreed, after consultation with the tribes, local Mormon leaders, as well as community and business leaders, to set aside 1,350,000 acres for the National Monument. Shortly after taking office, President Trump moved to reduce the size of Bear Ears National Monument to 160,000 acres. This is the first time in history that such a massive reduction in the size of a National Monument has been attempted. Several law suits have been filed, and the fate of Bear Ears currently rest with the courts.
But in spite of where one may fall in regard to the political matters here, this volume and the land it celebrates are a treasure.
September 2, 2024
Amazing pictures and I liked the poetry and prose before each section. In May I drove by Bears Ears on the way to Mesa Verde and loved seeing it. So next week I'm going to Bears Ears to visit. This was one of the few books the library had on the Bears Ears. Thought I should go now in case that felon weirdo gets back in office and allows the mining corporations to rape and pillage a great area!
March 5, 2019
Beautiful images of Bears Ears in southeastern Utah which Pres. Obama designated for protection and now Pres. Trump has designated for exploitation and destruction. It's obvious from looking at this book which president is the responsible one.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews