Funding opportunity number: L23AS00153FUNDING opportunity goals text: this projects goal is to create opportunities for the BLM to support research and ethnographic studies to better understand…

Funding opportunity number: L23AS00153FUNDING opportunity goals text: this projects goal is to create opportunities for the BLM to support research and ethnographic studies to better understand cultural significance of ancestral sites in bears ears national monument. Further, our goal is to support tribal CO-leadership to inform management decisions in bears ears national monument. In broad terms, our research objectives for this project will be to: 1) work CO-creatively with tribal representatives to plan, organize and conduct ethnographic studies of key sites in bears ears national monument, led by indigenous experts. Scope will include selecting priority sites and identifying tribal representatives to participate in ethnographic studies at each site. Potential sites could include: sand island upper and lower petroglyph panels twin kivas three grand gulch cultural sites - perfect kiva, turkey pen and junction site, and expanding to culturally significant BLM-managed lands beyond the boundaries of bears ears national monument. Tribal representatives could include representatives from hopi tribe, zuni pueblo, laguna pueblo, pueblo of acoma, UTE mountain UTE tribe, navajo nation, UTE indian tribe of the uintah ouray reservation and other pueblo communities 2) synthesize results into ethnographic reports that provide insight into tribal traditional use and understandings of sites in bears ears national monument, utah. With approval from tribal representatives, sections and or pieces of the report will be shared with BLM and partners only as considered appropriate and used to facilitate outreach to tribes and a broader public audience about the cultural significance of studied sites and 3) create a guideline document which will serve as a model for how indigenous-led conservation work should be conducted in bears ears, in addition to elevating and prioritizing indigenous intellectual property within the engagement process. The evolution of approach will provide a more holistic model for indigenous-led conservation of cultural sites from start to finish, which could be incorporated and followed in bears ears and other cultural landscapes moving forward. Additionally, BEP will provide an annual review of the project and progress toward the objectives of the project to BLM. The annual review will document progress toward meeting the objectives listed above and any notable project accomplishments. A final report with project accomplishments, lessons learned, and key artifacts will be completed at the end of the project.