The Ute Indian Tribe issued a press release dated January 21st sharing that over the past year, the Ute Tribe Business Committee has been working with Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois and Congressman Alan Lowenthal of California “to protect the Tribe’s Uncompahgre Reservation lands.” The press release states that Senator Durbin and Congressman Lowenthal are the sponsors of the ‘America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act’ and when the Ute Tribe Business Committee learned that some of the land in Utah that would be federally protected under the Act “overlapped with the Tribe’s Reservation, the Business Committee took action to protect the Tribe’s authority over its Reservation lands…Upon learning the status of these lands, the Senator and Congressman modified their Act to remove lands inside the Tribe’s Reservation.” The Business Committee expressed their appreciation for Senator Durbin and Congressman Lowenthal for removing the lands from the Act.
