Trump shrinks two Utah national monuments by nearly 3 million acres

President Donald Trump cut the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments on July 13, removing nearly 3 million acres of federal protection in southern Utah. The reductions shrink Bears Ears from about 1.36 million acres to about 121,100 acres and Grand Staircase-Escalante from about 1.87 million acres to about 181,500 acres.

The new boundaries open more land to grazing, motorized recreation, logging and other resource development amid competing claims over the same terrain from tribal nations and energy and mining interests that have long pushed for broader access to coal, uranium and other resources.

Bears Ears, established by President Barack Obama on December 28, 2016, was backed by a coalition of five tribal nations and is jointly managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. Grand Staircase-Escalante, created by President Bill Clinton on September 18, 1996, was the first national monument administered by the Bureau of Land Management. Both monuments protect ancient cliff dwellings, petroglyphs, canyons and other sites across the Four Corners region, tied to the history of the people who have lived there for generations.

Trump had already slashed both monuments in 2017 during his first term, and President Joe Biden restored the original boundaries in 2021. The earlier cuts were challenged in court by tribes and conservation groups, and the new proclamations revive another round of litigation over the reach of the Antiquities Act and the durability of federal land protections when administrations change.

Utah leaders welcomed the reductions, saying smaller boundaries would improve management and access. Environmental groups and tribal advocates denounced the move immediately, warning that it would weaken consultation and expose sacred sites and archaeological resources to greater pressure.