WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 26, 2017) — A new ad airing in the Washington, D.C., area features a delegate of the Navajo Nation Council calling on President Trump to “protect America’s heritage, protect our national monuments.”

“Mr. President,” Davis Filfred, a delegate of the Navajo Nation Council and U.S. Marine veteran, says in the ad, “if you destroy these monuments, our public land could be auctioned off. Our sacred tribal sites would be in danger.”

The ad airs as the White House considers the Interior Department’s recommendations to reduce the size or change management of 10 monuments, including Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, which Filfred and an intertribal coalition have worked for decades to protect.

It is running on cable news networks and is also available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJAUKUkDGJE.

“Everyone in America should know the unique value found here in the Bears Ears monument and the unique collaboration that went into getting this area designated,” said Davis Filfred. “For the first time ever, five Native tribes came together to protect a place of special cultural and natural significance. Without monument protection, this place could be destroyed due to extractive industries. I hope the president will listen.”

“The Hopi, Navajo, Ute Mountain Ute, Pueblo of Zuni, and Ute Indian Tribes have worked with conservationists and local communities for decades to conserve precious cultural and natural resources. Will we honor our past and consider future generations by maintaining the irreplaceable landscapes, wildlife and sacred sites of our national monuments or risk losing it all forever?” Collin O’Mara, the National Wildlife Federation’s president and CEO, said Thursday. “That’s the question before the president.”

The ad is paid for by the tribal partnerships program of the National Wildlife Federation.