Bears Ears National Monument: Digital Documentation and Virtual Guided Tours

Bears Ears National Monument is home to rich cultural heritage and is sacred to many Native American communities who continue to utilize the landscape today. In 2021, The Bureau of Land Management-Utah and the Bay Area non-profit organization, CyArk, collaborated to create virtual guided tours of two ancestral sites at Bears Ears. CyArk produced the virtual guided tours utilizing techniques in 3D digital documentation to create highly accurate 3D models of the sites. In the virtual experience, the Bureau of Land Management’s Shirley Cloud-Lane guides visitors through both sites, allowing audiences to engage with the storied significance and history of the Bears Ears landscape. This project is the first of an ongoing collaboration to create a series of virtual guided tours that amplify the diversity of descendant communities’ histories and connection with the landscape and promote respectful engagement with cultural heritage at Bears Ears National Monument.