'Defending Bears Ears' is the title of a talk by former Ute Mountain Ute Councilwoman Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk who will appear at the Durango Public Library on Tuesday, May 7 in an event sponsored by Indivisible Durango and Great Old Broads for Wilderness.

Regina will be joined by special guest, Alfred Lomahquahu, former Hopi Vice-Chairman and former Co-Chairman for the Bears Ears Intertribal Coalition.

Lopez-Whiteskunk was a member of the Intertribal Coalition which helped form Bears Ears National Monument in 2016. The monument's boundaries were drastically reduced by the Trump Administration in 2017, a deeply controversial decision that is being challenged by multiple lawsuits.

The talk will address Lopez-Whiteskunk's experience on the unique Coalition that brought together members of of five tribes which have ancestral ties to the region: Hopi, the Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute, Ute, and Zuni. She hopes to spark a dialogue with the audience on the nature of tribal sovereignty and management of public lands.