Bears Ears opponent, supporter team up for bill to benefit community

Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, May 8, 2017 | File photo by Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune via Associated Press, St. George News

SALT LAKE CITY — Rep. Phil Lyman’s positions on Bears Ears National Monument are well-known. As a San Juan County commissioner, he was among those cheering when President Trump signed an executive order to shrink the monument created by President Obama.

However, according to a report from Fox13Now, Lyman is teaming up with a strong supporter of the monument, Rep. Doug Owens, D-Millcreek, on a bipartisan bill that would help to create a visitors center outside Bears Ears National Monument.

In his run as the Democratic candidate for Utah’s 4th Congressional District, Owens was a vocal supporter of the monument and wants President Biden to expand it back to its original boundaries.

In a joint memo to House Speaker Brad Wilson, the two state lawmakers informed him of a bill to be introduced in the legislative session that would create a task force to build a visitors’ center for the Bears Ears National Monument “as a means to enhance the area’s cultural and historical significance and to better manage increasing visitation and the growing impact of outdoor recreation and tourism in and around Bears Ears National Monument.”

But the memo makes it clear that neither Lyman nor Owens are retreating from their views on Bears Ears National Monument.

Read the full story here:  Fox13Now.com.

Written by BEN WINSLOW, Fox13Now.com.


For a complete list of contacts for Southern Utah representatives and senators, click here.

Check out all of St. George News’ coverage of the 2021 Utah Legislature here.

Copyright 2019, KSTU. A Tribune broadcasting station

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