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| Photo from Colorado Mountain Club |
This is an open letter to the author. I sent her this email and never heard back. I sent this to the publisher and never heard back. After several months, Morgan Sjogren informed me on Instagram that she thought my email was "irrelevant" to the work she was doing and Bears Ears and she was too busy to respond (?). I also heard through the grapevine, that the publishing company (Colorado Mountain Club) refused to let local non profit conservation groups in the SE Utah area see a draft copy for content review and to be sure that disclosure of sensitive archaeological sites were not in the book.
Make your voice heard. My first reaction to this was outrage as I was viewing Morgan Sjogren's Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/running_bum_/
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| This may make a great Instagram photo but turns out you should not touch ancestral dwellings or ancient structure's. The oil on our skin is harmful and the more people that touch these fragile walls, they may decay faster and not be here for our grandchildren to see. Respect ! |
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| It is wise to not stand on a doorway or entrance of a ruin. If you are allowed to enter a ruin by permit, please step over the doorway. Do not touch walls, windows, or lean on them. |
I saw pictures of her standing in the ruins, climbing out of ruins, and holding pot shards (it is wise to leave everything exactly where it is, as it destroys the integrity of the artifact and its location that may be used for scientific studies.) She later deleted them, knowing she was guilty and found wrong.
Twitter Feed of her showcasing her touching the rock ruins/walls:
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| Practice what you preach. As a guidebook author, you must also have environmental ethics. Please do NOT touch the rock walls of ancient structures. Photo from |
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| Morgan shows off her findings, but please Leave all things you find, exactly in the same place. Photo from website www. Tberunningbum.com |
Open Letter is as follows:
To whom it may concern:
I came across the recent Men’s Journal article, “Meet the Woman Who Knows Bears Ears
Best” which highlighted Morgan Sjogren and her recent upcoming guidebook The
Best Bears Ears National Monument Hikes, being published by Colorado Mountain Club.
After reading the article, I was curious who Morgan Sjogren was and intrigued. I viewed her webpage, Twitter, and Instagram account.
What I read and gathered from her writings and photographs, was not exactly what I had hoped to see. To say the least, I was very disappointed in how she is promoting Bears Ears National Monument in rural Utah.
Sjogren has a very powerful position with the task of writing a guide book for a controversial area and her media presence. What concerns
me most is that she has very little to say about the importance of these archaeological and cultural sites and the native culture located within Bears Ears. She barely mentions any ethics of how to treat archaeological sites. I read very little mention of
leaving no trace hiking/camping ethics, not destroying crypto-biological soil, not touching the walls of ruins, not entering ruins unless you are permitted to, not touching rock art, and/or not removing any pieces of pottery or any other artifact on her social
media. Her photos and writings are tacky, immature, nonprofessional, and even incorrect in some places. Her push for corporate sponsorship is adding to the ridiculousness and is what makes people not take her seriously. Is she really concerned about the protection
of Bears Ears National Monument or is she more concerned about selling items with Patagonia, Sufferfest Beer Company, REI, or La Sportiva?
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| As she states on Twitter & Instagram: "Follow me on over to the |
With big media and Sjogren’s Instagram account having over 19,000 followers, this is only going to bring more and more attention to this
highly sensitive area. It creates impacts beyond what we will ever know for now and the future generations. These companies that stand behind her should hold her accountable that she is advocating for Bears Ears in the ut-most ethical and mindful sense. I demand
that she write the guide book with the highest standards and showcasing the proper respect of visiting of these sites. She hardly even mentions the cultural aspect and native voices that are involved in this controversial subject. I highly suggest she pays
the utmost respect to the Native tribes of the Ute, Navajo, Zuni, and others in the area who have called this place home way before us.
After viewing her Instagram photos, I came across at least four photos were Sjogren was climbing out of a ruin via ladder, stepping in
the doorway of a ruin, entering a ruin, and holding a large piece of pottery. I was able to recognize some of these ruins and locations, as I live in the area and have visited Cedar Mesa several times. Sjogren failed to mention in her posts that this was a
legal place to do so. She failed to mention any sort of ethic of how to protect and respect ruins or archaeological artifacts. If the common lay person, does not know or understand the rules of archaeological sites, they might assume that is actually OK to
behave in a similar manner among archaeological sites. Sjogren is not setting a good example.
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| Only enter ruins if you are allowed to ! Follow the rules ! Photo from www.therunningbum.com |
It is well known that Bears Ears does not have the resources or law enforcement to protect the rich and sensitive archaeological sites
for such a huge area, especially in this time of government budget cuts. This is public land. Remember who was here first Respect the first inhabitants of the land. Respect Native American voices. We do not want to see ruins, rock art, or other artifacts get destroyed. Once we lose them, we have lost these treasures forever, as they are
irreplaceable.
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| #hashtag# #look at my sponsors and drink beer |
As Erin Alberty states in her Salt Lake City Tribune article, "This used to be a place that almost no one knew of, with no name and minimal
human impact. But things change fast. Social media makes an easy brag of every adventure. We want to share the excitement, to be helpful, to inspire, to develop community with other fun-seekers. Much has been made of Instagram’s role in driving unmanageable
crowds to remote natural wonders.” Certainly a newspaper/magazine article/or Instagram Photo of Sjogren climbing around a ruin could do the same.
o Please work closely with the Bureau of Land Management-Monticello Field Office to ensure that GPS points and exact locations of highly sensitive rock art or ruins that are protected under federal land are not published for the public. Please include in the guide book information pertaining to the The Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 (ARPA).
Thank you for your time and hopefully Morgan Sjogren can portray herself more professionally with these complex issues.
A concerned citizen and public land lover,
Crystal
Please read these following articles as well:
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| The "Look At ME" attitude of instagramers, look at my #sponsers attitude photo from www.runningbum.com |
Three years later, I have come to the conclusion, that Morgan, like many other Instagram Influencers out there tend to “DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO”.
Example: February 2021, we witness another Instagram post of Morgan leaning on an ancestral wall. However, what we do get from Morgan now is more hashtags of #VisitWithRespect and #LeftWhereFound. More hashtags with wishful thinking that that will change the behavior of others. But, when you still flaunt the wrong doings of visiting with respect, you are not walking the walk, or talking the talk . This is why no one takes Morgan Sjorgen seriously.
