Abstract
ABSTRACT The US President Joe Biden redesignated Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah after former President Barack Obama designated it and former President Donald Trump reduced it in size. The designation, reduction, and redesignation of the monument, designed to protect Indigenous archaeological sites, catalyzed debate covered by local news. Protected areas in the United States face increasing threat from resource development, which can accelerate climate change. Using the frame matrix method to qualitatively analyze language in local news articles, this study increases understanding of political and cultural meanings associated with the monument. Frames of failure, validation, and authoritarianism defined designation; frames of loss, remediation, and resistance defined reduction; and a stability frame defined redesignation. Results highlight how symbolic devices (e.g., metaphors, catchphrases) used by opponents to reject the monument’s designation were then used by supporters to reject its reduction. This study gives insight into how local news reporting of conflict over public land protections can prioritize Settler over Indigenous metaphysics. By emphasizing subjugation of land to human control rather than interconnectedness between humans and nature, local news not only shapes perception of a protected area’s significance but may also impede climate change mitigation.
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