From the Navajo language meaning “the people’s sacred lands,” Utah Diné Bikéyah (UDB) elevates indigenous land conservation and advocacy through community organizing in Utah’s Colorado Plateau region – an effort that in 2016 delivered the first Native American-led National Monument designation in American history. The 1.3 million-acre Bears Ears National Monument happened thanks to the leadership of the five sovereign nations of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition: Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, and the Pueblo of Zuni with support from UDB and many allies. Despite its status, the region still faces threats from oil and gas drilling, potash mining, tar sands extraction, and legacy uranium sites that remain hazardous to tribal communities and wildlife. Steadfastly, Utah Diné Bikéyah is grounded in its mission: to bring healing to the Earth and its people while protecting ancestral lands and preserving Indigenous language and culture.
UDB hopes to share their knowledge through the Bears Ears initiative process with other indigenous groups.
Founded in 2012, UDB is an Indigenous-led 501(c)3 nonprofit organization powered by its eight-person team, partnerships with national allies including Patagonia and the Conservation Lands Foundation, and close relationships with the five tribes that co-govern the Bears Ears National Monument. Their strength lies in their 4-pronged focus: traditional ecological knowledge research and mapping; public lands policy analysis; Indigenous grassroots community organizing; and public education. Their program highlights include UDB’s Artist in Residence Program, Traditional Foods Program and Cultural Sensitivity Course. By serving as a model for land stewardship built on traditional knowledge, Bears Ears promises to generate opportunities for Native people locally, and inspire other indigenous communities around the world.
The Traditional Foods Program plays an important role in helping UDB further its mission to preserve and protect the cultural and natural resources of ancestral Native American lands.