The Ute Indian tribe on Wednesday scathingly rebuked President Joe Biden’s designation of Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument, calling it “an unlawful act of genocide.”

The tribe issued a statement hours after Biden met with Colorado leaders to sign a proclamation creating the 53,000-acre memorial, which includes a military base in the Rocky Mountains that will house the US Army’s 10th Mountain Division trained.

In the statement, the Ute leaders blame the administration for not consulting or listening to the tribe’s concerns before Wednesday.

“They have moved forward with a memorial in our homelands without involving us. They talk about tribal consultations, but their actions don’t match their words,” the Ute Business Committee said. “We cannot support a memorial in our homelands that does not include the tribe.”

The Utes’ seat of government is in Fort Duchesne, Utah. Its tribal lands — the second-largest reservation in the United States — span much of the Uintah Basin.

However, the tribe’s traditional lands include much of Utah and Colorado, as well as areas within the new Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument. In 1880 they were forcibly evicted from the land and forced to settle on what is now the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in northeastern Utah.

“We are shocked that nothing has changed 200 years later,” the business committee said. “This unlawful action by today’s President is a desecration of our ancestors who remain buried in our homelands. Many of these Ute ancestors sought to protect this country from further incursions, and others left as part of the enforced death march across the United States when we were driven out of Colorado at gunpoint.”

In the statement, the tribe said it had learned of Biden’s plans to erect the memorial just days before. Tribal leaders requested a call to the White House, although “the tribe had little time to share their knowledge and history of the region,” they said.

“Rather than fully involve the Ute Indian tribe and their Uncompahgre band in the memorial designation, the White House set its own priorities,” the tribe said Wednesday.

“…Every day, BLM and the state are consuming more and more of our resources. Resources we have reserved for future generations of our tribe. The President must take action to restore and secure our homelands on the Uncompahgre Reservation,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the White House made repeated references to the Ute tribe, including a promise in the proclamation “To meaningfully engage with tribal nations with cultural ties to the area, including the Ute tribes, in the development of the management plan and to inform subsequent administration of the monument.”

The problem for the Ute tribe is that the White House did not seek coordination with the tribe prior to the proclamation. The tribe says it has repeatedly tried to get the Biden administration to adopt a tribal consultation standard — the White House has refused, they say.

“Even in our traditional homelands, they refused to work closely with us. These new monuments are an abomination and demonstrate a blatant disregard and disregard for the treaty rights and sovereign status of the Ute Indian tribe as a federally recognized Indian tribe,” said Shaun Chapoose, business committee chair and Uncompahgre Band member. “If it’s a fight they want, it’s a fight they will get.”

The Camp Hale region was previously managed by the Forest Service. A coalition of ranchers, conservation and outdoor recreation advocates, business owners and descendants of the 10th Mountain Division signed a letter from Democratic Colorado Senator Michael Bennet urging Biden to implement the Antiquities Act and designate the national monument.

Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper, Gov. Jared Polis and Rep. Joe Neguse also expressed their support for the memorial.