WASHINGTON— Conservation groups today challenged President Trump’s July 2026 unlawful decimation of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Southern Utah. The groups filed suit in U.S. District Court seeking to reactivate litigation against Trump’s 2017 monument rollbacks and challenge both sets of illegal proclamations together.

Conservation groups were joined by two additional coalitions of monument supporters, who also filed to renew their litigation on Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante today.

“The big lies behind these illegal rollbacks aren’t fooling anyone. The truth is the Trump administration is trying to sell out two of America’s most iconic national monuments to benefit oil and mining corporations,” said Taylor McKinnon, Southwest director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Grand Staircase and Bears Ears belong to the American people, not corporate polluters. We’ll fight like hell to ensure their remarkable biodiversity and rich cultural landscapes are protected for future generations.”

In July, Trump illegally redrew the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, reducing both monuments by more than 90%. The attack was one of the largest rollbacks of public lands protections in U.S. history, cutting 1 million acres more than the 2017 reductions.

Multiple mining claims were filed in both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante immediately after Trump decimated the monuments. Conservation groups have urged the Bureau of Land Management to reject the premature and unlawful claims.

“Slashing protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments is unlawful and disregards the Tribes who have stewarded these lands since time immemorial,” said Charlie Luke, The Wilderness Society Utah state director. “These protections were put in place for a reason: to safeguard cultural resources, wildlife habitat, clean air and water, and the freedom of future generations to experience these lands. The Wilderness Society will continue this fight in court to ensure our treasured Utah national monuments remain protected.”

“Not only is the attempt to slash Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments illegal, it’s also deeply unpopular,” said Michael Toll, staff attorney for the Grand Canyon Trust. “A 2024 poll found that more than 70% of Utah voters supported keeping Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante protected as national monuments; these illegal cuts are wildly out of touch with what the majority of Utahns want.”

“Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante should have never been put in jeopardy to begin with as no president has the authority to erase or shrink national monuments,” said Erika Pollard, Southwest campaign director with the National Parks Conservation Association. “These monuments are among the most beloved public lands in Utah, visited by millions who also travel to neighboring national park sites — Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, Glen Canyon and Natural Bridges. Attempting to dismantle the groundbreaking Bears Ears Commission and co-stewardship structures is an insult to the Tribal Nations that deserve a leading role in managing their ancestral lands. Support for these monuments has never wavered and neither will our fight to protect them.”

“The gutting of these two monuments is yet another example of this administration rewarding industry with special access to the public’s land and resources,” said Chris Krupp, public lands attorney for WildEarth Guardians. “Trump didn’t unlock the monument for recreation, as he dishonestly claimed, but he did open up a cherished landscape to mining. It’s no surprise mining companies are already taking advantage of that.”

The Antiquities Act of 1906 authorizes presidents to designate national monuments, but it does not give them the power to shrink the monuments created by their predecessors or to undercut their protections. Congress’s intent was clear: the Antiquities Act must be used to protect the nation’s archaeological, cultural and scientific wonders.

“President Trump cannot erase America's national monuments with the stroke of a pen. The Antiquities Act gives presidents the authority to protect places like Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears, not dismantle them for mining and other industrial interests,” said Athan Manuel, director of the Sierra Club's Lands Protection Program. “The monuments preserve an irreplaceable cultural landscape, world-renowned fossil resources and extraordinary wildlands that are shared by all of us. We're going to court because the law is clear, and future generations deserve to inherit these remarkable places with the protections they were promised.”

“President Trump’s unlawful attack dismantling Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments was a dark day for America and our nation’s long tradition of protecting parks, monuments and wild places for current and future generations,” said Steve Bloch, legal director at the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. “With the filing of these lawsuits, we intend to make sure Trump doesn’t have the final word over the fate of these treasured landscapes. We’ll be watching closely for on-the-ground mischief like new mining claims and illegal vehicle use and are ready to swing into action to protect the monuments from any activities that can leave lasting damage.”

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument — home to dinosaur fossils not found anywhere else in the world — is often described as a “dinosaur Shangri-la.” It was established as a national monument in 1996, and in the two decades since it was protected, paleontologists have unearthed fossils from 21 previously undiscovered dinosaur species.

The region also holds great cultural significance to numerous Tribes. It is renowned for the remarkable geologic features for which it is named — a series of massive, stepped cliff formations that form, literally, a grand staircase. It is home to serpentine canyons that provide endless hiking adventures and streams that support diverse populations of native plant and animal life.

Bears Ears National Monument is home to cliff dwellings and other structures built by the Ancestral Puebloan people, more than 100,000 Native American cultural sites, innumerable historic landmarks and iconic wildlife such as bears, bighorn sheep and mountain lions. Tribes continue to visit the lands to hold ceremonies and connect with their ancestors.

The 2016 monument designation included a historic plan for co-management of this unique landscape by federal agencies and five Tribes with sacred cultural interests in the lands.

“These monuments protect places that took millions of years to form. President Trump is trying to destroy them with a stroke of a pen. That cannot stand,” said Christy Goldfuss, executive director at Natural Resources Defense Council. “The administration is trying to force this through by executive fiat. The Antiquities Act does not work that way. Presidents have the power to create national monuments to protect what belongs to all of us, but Congress never gave them the power to tear those monuments down. Once you open these lands to mining and drilling, what gets lost is not coming back — ancient cliff dwellings, dinosaur fossils found nowhere else on Earth, sacred sites tied to the Tribal Nations. Tribes led the fight for Bears Ears. Local communities, ranchers, scientists and outfitters built the record behind Grand Staircase-Escalante. Three in four Utahns want these monuments kept whole. This lawsuit is about honoring the people who built these places and the law that made them possible. We are prepared to stay in this fight as long as it takes.”

“President Trump’s proclamations, which removed protections from countless objects of scientific and historic importance, are plainly illegal, just as they were in 2017 when he first attacked these treasured monuments,” said Heidi McIntosh, managing attorney for Earthjustice’s Rocky Mountain Office. “The law has not changed. The Antiquities Act authorizes a president to do just one thing: to designate a national monument, not to dismantle it. Trump’s actions are an attack not just on the Antiquities Act, but on the nation’s rich cultural and natural heritage.”

“The Trump and Cox administrations are cynically undermining the Antiquities Act to support their extreme anti-conservation ideology,” said Laura Welp, Southern Utah director with Western Watersheds Project. “Destroying these national monuments serves only their political and business allies, not the public. This partisan attack on some of the nation's last best places is bad for wildlife, bad for native ecosystems and bad for the country.”

“Let’s call it what it is: a boon to big business,” said Reba Elliott, executive director of Great Old Broads for Wilderness. “Everyone who’s visited this beautiful place loves it. It’s a place that grandmas and grandpas want to keep for their grandkids forever. Having it turned over to big business is the last thing the land needs — and the last thing the people want.”

National monuments provide economic benefits to local economies, creating jobs, enhancing communities and boosting local outdoor recreation economies across the country. Monuments are also incredibly popular.

A 2026 State of the Rockies poll found that 91% of Western voters say existing national monument designations should be kept in place.

Contrary to Trump’s statements, the monuments offer numerous opportunities for hunting, fishing, hiking, camping and education and see over 1 million visitors combined annually. These activities and visitors are vital economic drivers for the rural communities that serve as gateways to the monuments.

Earthjustice represents The Wilderness Society, National Parks Conservation Association, the Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Trust, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Western Watersheds Project, WildEarth Guardians and the Center for Biological Diversity in the litigation. The Natural Resources Defense Council and Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance are co-plaintiffs, represented by their own counsel.

Photos of both national monuments are available for media use.