WASHINGTON— President Trump today attempted to virtually eliminate Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, cutting their boundaries by a total of nearly 3 million acres.
This is a major escalation of unlawful actions taken in 2017 during Trump’s first administration, when he attempted to reduce boundaries for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante by 87% and 45%, respectively. Protections for both monuments were restored by President Biden in 2021.
Today’s action threatens our public lands and public access by paving the way for new mining and exploitation by corporate polluters in some of our most beloved natural and cultural landscapes. Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante are a part of a larger cultural landscape — an interconnected Indigenous homeland that has been stewarded by Native Americans since time immemorial.
Today’s proclamations would virtually abolish the two monuments. Trump’s unlawful and unprecedented 2017 actions were immediately challenged by Tribes and conservation and outdoor business groups in federal court, and those lawsuits are still pending.
Dishonoring the sovereignty of Native Nations and the federal government’s duty of Tribal consultation, Trump’s actions today also revoked a landmark Tribal co-stewardship framework for Grand Staircase-Escalante and historic federal and intertribal collaborative management authority for Bears Ears.
The cuts occur as the 106,000-acre Babylon Fire burning inside Bears Ears became the largest wildfire in the nation.
Today’s attempt to eviscerate the monuments comes in stark opposition to the wishes of Western voters and the public at large. Polling of voters in seven Western states found that support for keeping existing national monument designations in place has increased from 88% in 2025 to 91% in 2026. Additional polling found that Utah voters support keeping Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante as national monuments by 71% and 74%, respectively.
Polling also found that 89% of Utah voters agree it is important that Native American Tribes have a strong role in managing their ancestral lands, and four out of five voters say they favor keeping the cooperative management agreement between Tribes and public land managers in place for Bears Ears.
Local, regional and national groups that support the protection of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments issued the following statements.
Davina Smith–Idjesa, co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and representative for the Navajo Nation:
“For Diné people, this land shapes our way of life. In Diné communities from Navajo Mountain to Aneth, families continue sacred traditions of prayer, harvest medicine gathering, and ceremony. Bears Ears (Shash Jaa’) holds our ancestors’ footsteps and our children’s future. This decision dishonors generations of care and weakens the unity we’ve built to safeguard Bears Ears for everyone.”
Autumn Gillard, coordinator of the Grand Staircase Inter-Tribal Coalition and representative for the Southern Paiute:
“Our Tribes were not informed of or asked about this decision, and that’s unacceptable. The federal government must honor its Trust and Treaty obligations to our Tribes — it is not optional. Today’s action is a direct strike against the federal government’s duty to consult with Tribes. It also profoundly disrespects our intergenerational Traditional Knowledge by destroying a framework for Tribal co-stewardship over our ancestral lands in which we invested years of effort. Today’s action cannot stand.
“Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument holds thousands of years of Southern Paiute cultural history as well as ancestral history and ties for our relative tribes. It is through our strong connection to the land that we can maintain our spiritual and religious beliefs and practices. Areas like Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument are known for their deep cultural connection to Nuwu holistic conservation traditions. In Southern Paiute teachings, we are taught from infancy that we are the stewards of these lands, which must be protected and preserved for future generations.”
Mark Maryboy, founder and board member emeritus, Utah Diné Bikéyah:
“On behalf of Utah Diné Bikéyah we are reaching out to every Tribe and nonprofit to stand together to provide protection for the earth not only at Bears Ears, but on public land throughout the world. In 2017, President Trump acted illegally in reducing national monument protections and tried to divide our five Tribes by renaming “Bear Ears” to the Navajo-only name: “Shash Jaa.” Just like today, this is both illegal and an attempt to anger and divide us across Tribal Nations. We know the history of Bears Ears where we as Native Americans have been separated and murdered for 250 years, and we will not fall into this trap again.”
Deena Ute, executive director, A’Nuche:
“As Americans, we need to recognize how much the earth means to all of us. The reality is Bears Ears is for everyone. It is protected to benefit us all regardless of the color of our skin, or who we are. The current administration is not thinking of us as Americans, only of themselves. But how much more will they tear the veins open of our mother earth to extract money? And will they ever be satisfied? These lands are our ancestors, our home, our foods, our medicines, and our places of worship and should be held in trust as a national monument.”
Jacqualine Grant, executive director, Grand Staircase-Escalante Partners:
“Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is a landscape cherished by Americans across the political spectrum. Every reduction to the monument chips away at the scientific, cultural, and economic values it provides to our local, state, and national economies. The continued back and forth over the monuments wastes taxpayer dollars, wastes time and energy, and increases division within communities that should be banding together in defense of America’s public lands. As the official Friends Group of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, we will continue to ‘Step up for the Staircase’ in every way that we can.”
Scott Braden, executive director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance:
“Today’s action makes it clear that Utah is the epicenter of Republican efforts to dismantle and obliterate America's system of public lands. President Trump’s outrageous attack on Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monument was taken at the urging of Utah politicians — Senators Mike Lee and John Curtis, Gov. Spencer Cox, and the others — who championed this action. These two landscapes deserve to be protected for current and future generations of Utahns and Americans, not opened to exploitation. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance is committed to defending the monuments and will challenge this unlawful decision in federal court. We are confident that President Trump’s reckless and unlawful acts will be rejected and the Monuments restored.”
Taylor McKinnon, Southwest director, Center for Biological Diversity:
“Gutting Utah’s national monuments to enrich polluting extractive corporations shows Trump’s extreme disdain for Americans’ shared natural heritage. It's a national embarrassment. These monuments protect some of America’s most iconic landscapes and rich biodiversity. We’ll fight like hell to safeguard their future.”
Tim Peterson, cultural landscapes director, Grand Canyon Trust:
“The debasement of these revered national monuments is deeply unpopular in Utah and around the world, and it shows contempt for the Native nations that have worked tirelessly to protect these irreplaceable cultural landscapes. Utah voters across the political spectrum overwhelmingly support keeping these monuments intact. Polling shows that 89% of Utah voters also said that Tribes should have a say over how their ancestral lands that are now called public lands are managed. The current administration should have respected Tribes by keeping the historic collaborative management agreement for Bears Ears and the Tribal co-stewardship framework for Grand Staircase in place.”
Stephen E. Nash, president and CEO, Archaeology Southwest:
“Archaeology Southwest has advocated alongside peer organizations and Tribal Nations for many years to protect the cultural landscapes embodied by the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. Both monuments are home to thousands of archaeological sites that Tribal Nations regard as sacred places they maintain relationships with. In addition, both monuments are co-stewarded by two Inter-Tribal Coalitions. This demonstrates the importance of these two landscapes to Indigenous Peoples today.
“Any changes to the boundaries of these monuments are a direct attack on these sovereign Tribal Nations and their rights to manage their Ancestral homelands in perpetuity, as well as on our collective heritage as Americans. Archaeological resources are fragile — and once they are destroyed, their recovery is next to impossible. Archaeology Southwest adamantly opposes modifications that disrespect and dishonor the intentions, meanings, and realities of these and any other national monuments.”
Cheryl Schreier, chair, Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks
“This executive order is another assault on our national parks, public lands and national monuments. Let’s be clear, this executive order is not conservation. It is nothing more than a giveaway to mining, drilling, and other special interests at the expense of every American who owns these lands.
“Our national monuments belong to all Americans and preserve irreplaceable cultural sites, wildlife habitat, and outdoor recreation opportunities for generations to come. Shrinking these monuments will reduce access for hiking, camping, hunting, fishing, and countless other outdoor traditions while putting critical wildlife habitat at risk, including more than 1.2 million acres of big-game migration corridors.
“Local communities also stand to lose, as gateway economies depend on healthy public lands that support tourism and help local economies.
“The American people have rejected this approach before, and they reject it today. In 2017, nearly three million Americans spoke out after the administration dramatically reduced Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante.
“We urge the administration to abandon this misguided effort and instead honor its responsibility to protect these irreplaceable places for future generations.”
Chris Hill, chief executive officer, Conservation Lands Foundation:
“It’s the president’s job to ensure the protection and preservation of all of America’s natural resources for future generations. The president today failed to do his duty and in turn, failed the American people. Reducing Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments’ designations is both a desecration of public lands and a dereliction of duty. It’s also illegal and wildly unpopular with Americans from all political identities and walks of life. Eliminating these monuments takes public lands out of public hands and puts them into the pockets of the wealthy and extractive corporations. We categorically oppose today’s action to strip national monument protections, the next step in a series of steps this administration has taken to sell off public lands. The president has just reawakened a broad base of communities who will vigilantly oppose this.
Vera Smith, national forests and public lands program director, Defenders of Wildlife:
“The Bears Ears and Grand Staircase landscapes are like no other and are irreplaceable. These national monuments that are so important to Indigenous people and wildlife, such as the endangered Southwestern willow flycatcher and Mexican spotted owl, deserve the highest levels of protection for perpetuity. Instead, the Trump administration is disrespectfully and recklessly dismantling them for corporate exploitation.”
Heidi McIntosh, managing attorney, Earthjustice’s Rocky Mountain office:
“National monuments belong to all of us, including the local communities and Tribes that have worked for years to protect them and honor this country’s natural and cultural heritage. The Trump administration is once again looking to give away our national public lands to industry, putting at risk the invaluable places we know and love. The previous Trump administration tried this once and we promptly sued. We remain prepared to vigorously defend all national monuments that Trump may attempt to dismantle.”
Jane Pargiter, executive director, EcoFlight:
“The aerial perspective EcoFlight provides over Utah’s canyons, mountains, and mesas shows the interconnectedness of some of the West’s most iconic national monuments including Bears Ears, Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni, Vermilion Cliffs, and Grand Staircase-Escalante to neighboring Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Grand Canyon, and Bryce Canyon. Landscape-scale protections are critical in a disrupted climate to protect our cultural sites and flora and fauna. President Trump’s second attempt at rolling back national monument protections is criminally negligent and disregards the voices of Utahns, Native peoples, and the American public who own these lands.”
Reba Elliott, executive director, Great Old Broads for Wilderness:
“Unlawfully shrinking the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments shows a shameful contempt for the overwhelming majority of Utah voters who strongly support keeping them intact and for the Tribal Nations that have worked tirelessly with federal officials to create the Bears Ears National Monument management plan. As older women, we learned to tell right from wrong a long time ago, and we won’t stop fighting until this wrong is made right. Great Old Broads for Wilderness is proud to stand with our partners in the fight to keep these irreplaceable national monuments intact and permanently protected for future generations.”
Anna Peterson, executive director, The Mountain Pact:
“President Trump’s shameful actions on Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments is a direct assault on our shared outdoor heritage and an unpatriotic attack against our nation’s greatest treasure — our public lands. National monuments are critical economic drivers that create thousands of good-paying jobs, supply our communities with clean water, and are home to priceless cultural and natural treasures that are key to our Western way of life. We are horrified at these cruel, reckless actions that are putting some of our most precious natural spaces and resources. We urge President Trump to listen to the more than 85% of western voters who support national monuments and abandon this needless attack on our public lands.”
Alex Johnson, Southwest regional director, National Parks Conservation Association:
“No president has the authority to erase or shrink a national monument. This attack from the administration shows a blatant disregard for the Tribes, local communities, and park advocates across the country who chose to protect Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in perpetuity. Led by the Tribal Nations who have stewarded these landscapes for countless generations, the public support for these monuments has never wavered and this order is a direct threat to over a hundred thousand sacred and ancestral cultural sites protected within these monuments.”
Garrit Voggesser, senior director of Tribal partnerships and policy, National Wildlife Federation:
“Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante are extremely important for Indigenous ceremonies, traditions, and subsistence, while providing invaluable wildlife habitat, abundant recreation opportunities, and the fuel for rural economies. Stripping national monument protections not only threatens co-stewardship partnerships with Indigenous communities that are the first stewards of these ancestral lands, but also undermines protecting the very lands, waters, and communities that countless people have fought to preserve. These actions are yet another strike at Tribal sovereignty and undermine years of collaboration among Indigenous leaders, ranchers, hunters, anglers, local business owners, and conservationists.”
Bobby McEnaney, director, land conservation, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):
“This is a reckless and disrespectful attack on some of America’s most cherished public lands. The administration is attempting to unravel years of public support, scientific consensus, and collaborative stewardship. Gutting protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante isn’t just illegal — it’s immoral. We won’t stand by and allow this unprecedented attack on America's shared history, common values, and natural and cultural heritage.”
Ryan Gellert, CEO, Patagonia:
“Tribal Nations are the original stewards of this land, with ties to Bears Ears stretching back thousands of years. It is vital we support their vision to ensure these sacred cultural landscapes are protected. Today’s move by the president does the exact opposite. We remain committed to defending the land with those who have stewarded the area for time immemorial.”
Mary O’Brien, executive director, Project Eleven Hundred:
“Of course President Trump has never walked in or personally seen Bears Ears or Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, as countless generations of people have. And of the current generations who have or hope to or would like to, support is overwhelming for retaining these spaces and species and springs and scenery. It is so easy — and illegal — to write off a history or landscape or species or tribe while knowing nothing: nothing of the Milky Way or brightly colored biocrusts or miniscule native bees or a long-ago handprint on a wall or anything else of real worth.”
Loren Blackford, executive director, Sierra Club:
“This attempt to undo decades of conservation efforts represents an unprecedented attack on our public lands and Tribal sovereignty. Let us be clear, no president has the authority to undo these protections. Tribes and local communities called for these protections, people and wildlife rely on these landscapes, and all Americans benefit by preserving them. We will continue to work hand in hand with communities, local activists, and Indigenous partners to fight back against Trump’s illegal actions and ensure that our public lands are not sold out to billionaires and corporate polluters.”
Stuart Sumida, president, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology:
“The scientific and cultural importance of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase- Escalante national monuments are unparalleled. As stewards of our earth’s history, we are deeply saddened that through its repeated devastation of their protections, this administration seeks to wipe from history both the presence and importance of our Tribal partners, and the scientific importance of the land that came before all of us. This action is deeply disrespectful of the Tribal groups in Utah and across America, to the vast majority of Utahns who support these monuments, to those that depend on them for their livelihood, and to the remarkable scientific and cultural understandings that we gain from them. Finally, this action is intensely disrespectful to the very office of the presidency of the United States itself, an office that has the privilege, honor, and responsibility to enact such protections, and should not be an office of their destruction.”
Janessa Goldbeck, U.S. Marine Corps veteran and CEO of Vet Voice Foundation:
“Today, President Trump renewed his unprecedented assault on America’s public lands, targeting Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments once again.
“Trump was the first president in American history to roll back national monument protections during his first term. Now, he is trying to do it again.
“These lands are not just places on a map. They support local jobs and small businesses, provide affordable access for families, hunters, anglers, and outdoor enthusiasts, and protect places sacred to Tribal Nations. For veterans and military families, they are places to heal, reconnect, and earn a living.
“This attack, cheered on by extremists like Senator Mike Lee, is outrageous but entirely predictable. Veterans understand what it means to serve something larger than ourselves. Trump and Lee serve billionaires and extraction companies looking to profit from lands that belong to all of us.
“Veterans fought alongside Tribal Nations, local communities, small businesses and outdoor advocates to restore protections for Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears. We will fight this attack with the same resolve, mobilizing veterans and military families from Utah to Washington, D.C., to defend these irreplaceable lands.”
Gregg Bafundo, U.S. Marine Corps veteran, former USFS wilderness ranger, senior advisor, Veterans for Public Lands:
“America’s public lands are the great equalizer. Whether prince or pauper, veteran or civilian, everyone stands equal on these lands. The importance of that equality is written into our founding documents.
“Public lands give Americans — and America’s veterans like me — opportunities to heal, find joy, earn a living, and much more. President Trump’s decision to take a wrecking ball to Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments not only does a disservice to veterans and military families — it also disregards the wishes of millions of Americans.”
Tracy Stone-Manning, president, The Wilderness Society:
“Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments belong to us, the American people. As we celebrate our country’s 250-year anniversary, our public lands remain a source of pride, a reflection of our shared identity, and a legacy that will be handed down to future generations. These world-renowned landscapes embody our freedom to explore wild places, experience their beauty, and create lasting memories. The Wilderness Society will not stand idly by while the Trump administration carves up our public lands and serves them on a platter for commercial interests. We will fight for what is ours.”
Joro Walker, senior attorney, Utah, Western Resource Advocates:
“Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments are rich with wildlife, cultural heritage and irreplaceable natural beauty. Protecting these public lands — that flow seamlessly into neighboring Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Zion and Arches National Parks — has preserved a fragile, interconnected ecosystem, better arming native species against the threats of climate change. It is unpopular, unwise and unlawful to gut protections for these great swaths of public land with the stroke of a pen.”
Laura Welp, Southern Utah director and former Grand Staircase-Escalante NM botanist, Western Watersheds Project:
“The last Trump administration’s attempt to gut Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments ultimately failed after Tribes, conservationists, and businesses immediately filed suit and President Biden restored the monuments. We had hoped that President-elect Trump would be smarter and not waste his time — and all that taxpayer money — on these foolish and pointless vanity projects again. However, we are ready to once more fight against the depredations on Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante.”
Chris Krupp, public lands attorney, Wild Earth Guardians:
“As essential as Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante are, this is not simply an assault on those places, or even on national monuments in general. Rather, it exemplifies Trump’s overall mission for managing our environment: eliminate as many safeguards on public lands, air and water as possible so that corporate interests can reap even greater profits. We once again need to fight for the places we love.”
