In January of 2018 I took a trip down to the desert southwest to return to landscapes I hadn't visited in a decade and a half. The news about the Trump Administrations attempts to roll back protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument has created increased awareness and interest in this part of the United States.
While down there, I was grateful for the chance to meet with Angelo Baca, the Cultural Resources Coordinator for Utah Dine Bikeyah, an indigenous organization that has been at the forefront of efforts to protect many of these lands from continued development and looting. They continue to battle for protections of their ancestral lands. Folks interested in learning more about this region and supporting efforts to protect its natural and cultural heritage can find more information through their website.
This landscape is an international jewel and precious for both the peoples of this landscape and citizens across the United States. Find more images from my trip in my Photo Archive.
Firelight lights up the canyon walls and a cottonwood tree below a winter sky on the Escalante river close to its junction with the Colorado.
Darcy Ottey hopes across the stream running through Coyote Natural Bridge in Coyote Gulch, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
Petroglyph panal along the San Juan River, west of Bluff Utah.
One of the many spectacular ruins on Cedar Mesa, Utah. Bears Ears National Monument.
Sunrise from Muley Point, Cedar Mesa, Utah. Bears Ears National Monument.