{"id":17177,"date":"2017-12-06T04:00:14","date_gmt":"2017-12-06T10:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.canyoncountryzephyr.com\/blog\/?p=17177"},"modified":"2017-12-05T22:47:28","modified_gmt":"2017-12-06T04:47:28","slug":"internal-debate-at-friends-of-cedar-mesa-has-its-executive-director-gone-rogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.canyoncountryzephyr.com\/blog\/2017\/12\/06\/internal-debate-at-friends-of-cedar-mesa-has-its-executive-director-gone-rogue\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERNAL DEBATE AT FRIENDS OF CEDAR MESA… HAS ITS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ‘GONE ROGUE?’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The Friends of Cedar Mesa (FCM), a non-profit organization based in Bluff, Utah, has been a vocal and instrumental proponent of Bears Ears National Monument. FCM has repeatedly expressed concerns about the area’s 100,000 archaeological sites that it believes needs immediate protection via President Obama’s 2016\u00a0 1.35 million acre monument designation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Josh Ewing<\/p><\/div>\n

FCM has also stated that increased visitation to the area is inevitable and has pushed for funding of a million dollar “Bears Ears Education Center” in Bluff.<\/p>\n

But has Josh Ewing, FCM’s executive director “gone rogue?” And is he “only feeding off of FCM to pursue his own agenda?”<\/p>\n

That is the opinion of an FCM board member.\u00a0Sunday<\/span><\/span> afternoon, The Zephyr <\/i>received, from a third party, a copy of a draft internal memo to two FCM board members from a third board member (whose identities are being withheld for now).<\/p>\n

The draft memo expresses concern about FCM’s recent “Kickstarter”<\/a> fundraising campaign to generate revenues for the proposed\u00a0 education center.<\/p>\n

(Click the image to enlarge)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In the memo, the board member wrote: <\/span><\/p>\n

“I have just reviewed the \u201cFCM\u201d Kickstarter Campaign.
\nI am totally repulsed (first word choice), disappointed, maddened, angered,\u00a0 by two elements.”<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

…and specifically identifies two areas of concern:<\/p>\n

“1-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The opening video seems to be all about Josh.\u00a0\u00a0 I took a tally.\u00a0 Duct Tape and Beer mentioned themselves ONCE.\u00a0 FCM was named TWICE.\u00a0 Bears Ears was named FOUR x and JOSH was named 9x.\u00a0 I think this to be wildly out of balance.\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t like the portrayal of our ED as a self-proclaimed ‘total badass.'”<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/i>“2-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A $10k price tag for a secret site hike with Josh?\u00a0 This is the marketing strategy of Backpacker Magazine \u2013 \u201c10 best secret hikes in Utah!\u201d and worse..
\n<\/i><\/p>\n

I am NOT willing to have FCM be seen as an organization willing to sell secret sites to $10,000 donors.”<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>(Click the image to enlarge)<\/p>\n

The FCM board member noted that the Kickstarter<\/a> campaign—<\/p>\n

“…points to the need AGAIN to require some board oversite (sic) of all media productions.\u00a0 This has been an ongoing PROBLEM.\u00a0 We had the Josh climbing into a site Patagonia film, the big snafu with the Kane Gulch exhibit which cost FCM $15,000, the current BLM Kane Gulch ranger station video approval, the almost non-use of Celebrate Cedar Mesa as the heading for last year\u2019s Celebrate Cedar Mesa event and who knows how many other little things.”<\/i><\/p>\n

The board member concluded:<\/p>\n

“I can honestly say that I do not trust Josh to make the correct media decisions to put FCM in the best light…Josh seems to have gone roque and is only feeding off of FCM to pursue his own agenda\u2026..which is not totally in FCMs best interest.”<\/i><\/p>\n

Regarding its fundraising campaign, and its special prize for anyone who will contribute $10,000, here’s how it reads on their Kickstarter<\/a> page:<\/p>\n

“Secret Bears Ears Hike with Josh Ewing<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“For a pledge of $10,000, you will receive a guided hike with Josh Ewing\u2014someone who knows the secrets of Bears Ears. Trust us. We have done it. This pledge level is also thanked with your name in Even Bigger Then [sic] XXL size on the Donor’s Wall of Honor in the Education Center, a beautiful 24×36 print of an image on canvas, the warm fuzzies of building something real and a shareable digital supporter card.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Does not include transportation to or lodging costs in Bluff, UT.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Whether the board heeds its own member’s warnings remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Friends of Cedar Mesa (FCM), a non-profit organization based in Bluff, Utah, has been a vocal and instrumental proponent of Bears Ears National Monument. FCM has repeatedly expressed concerns about the area’s 100,000 archaeological sites that it believes needs immediate protection via President Obama’s 2016\u00a0 1.35 million acre monument designation. FCM has also stated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.canyoncountryzephyr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.canyoncountryzephyr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.canyoncountryzephyr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.canyoncountryzephyr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.canyoncountryzephyr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17177"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.canyoncountryzephyr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17195,"href":"http:\/\/www.canyoncountryzephyr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17177\/revisions\/17195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.canyoncountryzephyr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.canyoncountryzephyr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.canyoncountryzephyr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}