Push to create Utah monument marks latest Western land fight

BLANDING, Utah (AP) — Laminated sheets of paper held in place by rocks rest inside ancient cliff dwellings nestled underneath a spectacular red rock overhang in southeastern Utah.

“Don’t erase the traces of America’s past,” the signs read. “Please do not enter interior rooms.”

The weathered signs and a similar warning at the trailhead are the only protections in place for these easily accessible ruins along a canyon hiking path.

The cliff dwellings are part of an estimated 100,000 archaeological sites within a 1.9 million-acre area that a coalition of American Indian tribes wants President Barack Obama to designate a national monument to ensure protections for lands considered sacred.

Read more: http://universe.byu.edu/2016/07/21/push-to-create-utah-monument-marks-latest-western-land-fight/