President Trump Signs Order to Slash Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah

Washington—Today, President Trump announced and signed two proclamations to dramatically shrink the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments by nearly three million acres.

In 2017, the first Trump administration attempted to reduce both monuments’ boundaries in a move that was widely challenged in federal court.

This move is an attempt to unravel America’s legacy of conservation. For more than a century, Republican and Democratic presidents have used the Antiquities Act to protect lands with profound cultural, ecological, and historical significance from the Grand Canyon to the Statue of Liberty. These are the places we hold in trust for future generations. 

Protecting our national parks is our promise to future generations and this illegal action will not go unchallenged. 

Statement from Tiernan Sittenfeld, President and CEO of the National Parks Conservation Association

“President Trump’s order to slash protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante is both a betrayal to the American people and illegal. No president has the authority to erase or shrink a national monument with the stroke of a pen, and we will continue to fight this at every step.

“Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante were established to protect over a hundred thousand ancestral cultural sites and are among the most beloved public lands in Utah, visited by millions who also travel to Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, and Bryce Canyon. This breathtaking landscape connects cultural and natural treasures, ensuring the health of dozens of national parks, monuments and protected wildlife corridors all the way to the Mojave Desert

“This sweeping attack is not only an assault on our monuments, but on the very foundation of our National Park System. Our parks and monuments are our shared inheritance to protect and pass on, even those we haven’t visited. These places matter to the people who visit to connect with nature, whether fishing with their families, spotting wildlife, hiking deep into the backcountry, or experiencing our shared cultural heritage. Gateway communities and businesses, from guides to outfitters to restaurants, have built livelihoods around our national monuments and count on the certainty that these lands will remain protected.

“As we have done for a decade, we will continue to fight for these national treasures in Congress, in the courts, and alongside Tribal Nations and communities across Utah and throughout the country.”

Statement from Davina Smith-Idjesa, Four Corners Tribal Program Manager at the National Parks Conservation Association

“For decades, Tribes, local communities and park advocates across the nation have supported protecting these lands for future generations. Indigenous communities and Tribal Nations have stewarded this land for thousands of years, and these monuments carry a living cultural identity. They hold traditional knowledge and sacred connections that are inseparable from the land itself. Dismantling protections ignores years of collaborative stewardship and the enduring relationship Tribal Nations continue to have with these landscapes.

###

About the National Parks Conservation Association: Since 1919, the nonpartisan, National Parks Conservation Association has been the leading voice in safeguarding our national parks. NPCA and its more than 1.9 million members and supporters work together to protect and preserve our nation’s most iconic and inspirational places for future generations. For more information, visit www.npca.org.