HELENA, Mont. -- Tribal advocacy helped push the U.S. Forest Service to protect parts of Montana's Crazy Mountains, and tribal members and conservation groups believe the agency should go even further.

The Custer Gallatin National Forest plan, likely to be released in early 2021, includes wilderness protections for a small portion of the Crazies, a sacred mountain range for the Crow Tribe. Shane Doyle of the tribe said he and fellow Crow see the Crazies as a place to be cherished and respected.

"The cultural value of the range puts it into a historical context that all Montanans -- and, really, people all over the world -- will be allowed to appreciate in a way that really celebrates the significance of that range," he said.

Doyle said he is pleased with the plan overall, but he's submitted an objection on behalf of the Crow Tribe Executive Branch, which the Forest Service currently is evaluating alongside other objections.

Emily Cleveland, Montana Wilderness Association field director, said tribal advocacy was key for the protections these mountains are receiving. They're considered an area of tribal importance, but she said the plan could better capture what makes the range culturally significant.

"When it's really vague and just says 'the Crazies are important culturally to the Crow Tribe,' that doesn't provide a lot of context for managers on how to make sure that that cultural significance is maintained," she said.

Cleveland would like to see the plan prohibit motorized and mechanized recreation, such as mountain biking, in the proposed Crazy Mountains Backcountry Area, which would be about 28,000 acres. Under its current management, the area doesn't allow motorized or mechanized use.

BAR HARBOR, Maine -- One year after the Great American Outdoors Act was signed into law, repairs and maintenance to the nation's more than 400 national parks and monuments are under way.

The bipartisan bill allocated $6.65 billion over five years for national park repairs, nearly $3 billion for maintenance at other land-management agencies, and permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said if there was any doubt about the value of national parks to Americans, it was erased last year with the surge in visitations.

"Even in the COVID year, 327 million people visited our national parks," King reported. "The population of America is about 330 million people. So obviously, there were a lot of foreign visitors and visitors who went more than once, but still, we're talking about a treasured national asset."

National Park Service data show park visitors in 2019 spent roughly $21 billion in local communities, supporting more than 340,000 jobs. Close to 4.5 million people visited Acadia National Park alone.

David MacDonald, president and CEO of Friends of Acadia, noted $25 million have been approved for a new maintenance center at the park; the hub for all the equipment, vehicles, supplies and tools used for maintenance and repairs to trails and carriage roads. He added the building has needed serious work for decades, but there has been a backlog across the country.

"A lot of these projects are not glamorous, you know; they're wastewater systems, they're water lines, they're bridges, they're culverts," MacDonald outlined. "This is the infrastructure that was really, really in bad shape."

King pointed out one issue to deal with in the future is overcrowding, including congestion with too many vehicles in the most popular parks. He also recommended people seek out some lesser-known but still great parks.

"Get a little bit off the beaten path, and you'll find some gems that you didn't know about," King urged. "This is a big part of improving the experience more broadly and also alerting people to the existence of some great, wonderful places they might not have heard of."

Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

MONTICELLO, Utah -- The movement to restore the Bears Ears National Monument in southeast Utah gets a major boost this weekend when a hand-carved symbolic totem pole makes a stop Saturday on its tour from the west coast to Washington, D.C.

The Red Road to D.C. Totem Pole Journey is designed to highlight sacred sites across the U.S. that are at risk.

Angelo Baca, cultural resources coordinator for the nonprofit Utah Diné Bikéyah, a group working to restore and protect the national monument, explained that tribal communities with ancestral ties to Bears Ears are asking the Biden Administration to restore a significant portion of the area that was removed in 2017.

"We will want the full restoration and possible extension of the Bears Ears landscape, because it's the right thing to do," Baca contended. "Historically, socially, culturally and environmentally, a restoration of justice."

Shortly after taking office, then-President Donald Trump reduced the size of Bears Ears by 85% and neighboring Grand Staircase-Escalante by half. Former President Barack Obama ordered protected status for the areas in 2016.

Baca noted the totem pole's stop at Bears Ears is symbolic of tribal nations supporting each other.

"We've always pushed for the original proposal, the 1.9 million acres that need protection," Baca pointed out. "We've maintained the reduction by the previous administration was not done in good faith and on shaky legal ground."

The totem pole was hand-carved by Jewell James, a member of the Lummi Nation in Washington state, in honor of Native American Deb Haaland's being appointed Secretary of the Interior.

Following its 10-stop tour, the totem pole will be featured in the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

"The significance of the totem pole stopping in Bears Ears is the solidarity and expression of support from many tribes across the nation for protecting sacred land," Baca remarked. "This is just a continuation of that respectful relationship that's already been established."

A blessing ceremony for the totem pole is set for 8:00 a.m. Mountain Time at the Bears Ears Monument. For those who cannot attend, the event will be livestreamed on Facebook.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

SEARCHLIGHT, Nev. -- The push for a new national monument about 60 miles south of Las Vegas has taken on added urgency, in the face of a new wind-farm proposal in the area.

The monument would be called Avi Kwa Ame, which is the Mojave Tribe's term for Spirit Mountain. The 380,000-acre monument would connect the Mojave National Preserve on the California-Nevada border with the Colorado River plateau.

Neal Desai, senior program director for the National Parks Conservation Association, said the landscape is holy ground for many Native Americans.

"This area is sacred to a dozen tribes," Desai explained. "It's tied to the creation story. It is the area where the universe started for the Yuman tribes along the river."

Opponents noted the area already has some federal protections. However, a national monument designation would preclude any future commercial development.

In recent weeks, town officials in Searchlight and Boulder City have endorsed the monument proposal.

In 2018, the Bureau of Land Management rejected a bid by a Swedish company to build the huge Crescent Peak wind farm.

Desai added he hopes the agency will also put a stop to the company's latest plans.

"That company is now proposing a 9,000-acre project in the same area," Desai noted. "It's just a new threat, and it's another reason why we need to get this monument established right away."

Advocates for the monument believe their cause is gaining momentum now that a Native American leader, Deb Haaland, has become U.S. Interior Secretary. In addition, the monument would help President Joe Biden reach his stated goal of protecting 30% of the country's public lands by 2030.