New map shows extent of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monument cuts
A cliff dwelling at Bears Ears National Monument
Bob Wick, BLM
Two national monuments lose 90% of their acreage; Tribal management authorities brutally dismantled
The administration, at the behest of anti-public-lands politicians in Utah, has dealt a devastating blow to two of America’s treasured national monuments, stripping protections from most of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in southern Utah.
Proclamations signed by the president on July 13 reduced the monuments by more than 90 percent, or more than 3 million acres, leaving the landscape vulnerable to mining, oil and gas drilling and looting and vandalism of fossils and archaeological sites.
This map shows the massive reductions
The executive orders create a 90 percent acreage reduction to the monuments.
Marty Schnure, The Wilderness Society
The goal is clear
This extreme reductions of the monuments removes safeguards that stand in the way of mining, drilling, grazing and other commercial uses.
Consistent with its broader efforts to weaken public lands agencies, the administration is leasing sensitive lands to oil and gas drilling, rolling back protections for our wildest intact forests, and prioritizing short-term development and expanded industry access over long-term stewardship.
And now, they virtually abolished two national monuments.
An abuse of the public’s trust
Reducing each monument by more than 90 percent disregards the wishes of a majority of Western voters, including Utahns, who overwhelmingly support the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments.
Polling of voters in seven Western states found that support for existing national monument designations has increased from 88 percent in 2025 to 91 percent in 2026. Utah voters support keeping Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante as national monuments by 71 and 74 percent, respectively, according to additional polling.
Polling also found that 89 percent of Utah voters agree that it is important that Native American Tribes have a strong role in managing their ancestral lands.
How do the proclamations disregard Tribal sovereignty?
The president’s action defies a landmark Tribal co-stewardship framework for Grand Staircase-Escalante and a groundbreaking federal-intertribal collaborative management authority for Bears Ears.
These public lands in Utah have been stewarded by Indigenous peoples since time immemorial. Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante are living landscapes where Tribes are the original stewards. Together, they are part of a larger cultural landscape that serves as an interconnected Indigenous homeland.
Failure to consult Tribal Nations disregards the federal government's trust responsibilities and longstanding consultation obligations.
What is at stake for the monuments now?
The loss of national monument protections puts culturally significant sites, abundant wildlife habitat, fossil resources and remote wildlands at greater risk from mining, drilling, road building and other commercial development. It leaves fragile landscapes more vulnerable to looting and vandalism that can permanently damage archaeological sites and erase irreplaceable pieces of history.
At the same time, the freedom of current and future generations to hike, hunt, camp and explore these wondrous monuments will be lost if any of the land is privatized or leased.
Has this happened before?
Yes. In 2017, the president’s first administration cut Bears Ears by approximately 85 percent and Grand Staircase-Escalante by nearly half, removing protections from more than 2 million acres — about 1 million acres fewer than the cuts proposed earlier this week.
The American public came together to demand that the protections be reinstated, and they were in 2021.
Bears Ears contains an immense collection of ancestral rock art that is vulnerable to looting and vandalism.
Bob Wick, BLM
What makes Bears Ears unique?
Bears Ears is a living cultural landscape with deep and enduring significance to Tribal Nations.
Its mesas, canyons and pinyon-juniper forests contain cliff dwellings, rock art, ceremonial places and other cultural sites reflecting thousands of years of human history. Tribal people continue to hold ceremonies, gather medicines and maintain connections to this landscape.
Bears Ears was the first national monument designated at the request of a historic coalition of Tribal Nations — the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Zuni Tribe, and Ute Indian Tribe of Uintah and Ouray Reservation. The 2021 restoration of the monument restored protections for one of the nation's most significant cultural landscapes.
What makes Grand Staircase-Escalante unique?
Grand Staircase-Escalante is one of the wildest and most scientifically significant landscapes in the country. Its sweeping plateaus, colorful cliffs and remote slot canyons reveal layers of Earth’s history. Thousands of fossil sites — including dozens of dinosaur species new to science—have made Grand Staircase-Escalante a living laboratory for scientists.
The Grand Staircase-Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalition works to ensure Tribal Nations have a meaningful voice in the stewardship and management of the monument while protecting the landscape's extraordinary cultural, natural and historic resources for all Americans.
Also, the rollbacks remove protections from Grand Staircase-Escalante's internationally significant fossil beds where scientists have identified dozens of dinosaur species new to science since the monument's 1996 designation.
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, UT
Jenny Tarpley, BLM
Tell Congress to stand up to this attack
The administration needs to know that Americans oppose these attacks on our public lands and want our national monuments to remain intact for future generations. Your members of Congress can play a critical part in conveying this message to the current administration.
