Drawing the map

The act of recognition was painful at many levels of my personhood. If someone has ignored or treated you as if you did not exist, you can understand the pain that is generated by having a lack of recognition. To realize at the eco-psychology conference that I had been repressing the existence of a part of myself- that I could inflict the pain of non-recognition on myself, is still hard to acknowledge. Although "recognition" is not the thrust behind the argument the Inter-Tribal Coalition is making for designating this National Monument, from my perspective it is underlying all of the contention that is being born by this proposal. For the first time Native Americans are proposing that the United States use the Antiquities Act- meant to protect ancient artifacts from being looted and vandalized- to protect lands that their communities are intimately tied to. Beyond this, the Inter-Tribal Coalition's land-use management proposal outlines a collaborative management model for the National Monument that will change American land use management at a time that is critical for the health of Earth. This paper will ask the following research questions in order to explain the implications that the Inter-Tribal Coalition's proposal has for land use planning in the United States:-What is collaborative management? What are the Tribes proposing to bring to the table?-How did the Tribes come to make this proposal?-How is collaborative management different from consultation?-What are the potential benefits of collaborative management?-How will this serve as a model for land use management practices in the United States?-How does this proposal compare to other land use proposals for the region? The methodology for reaching the answers to these research questions is an auto- ethnographic exploration of my work with Utah Dine Bikeyah, concerning why I am- as a white, female, well-supported, resident of Salt Lake City- invested in this designation.