Monument protection for nearly three million acres of southern Utah canyon country ended Sunday, when President Trump signed proclamations reducing Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by more than 90%.
Bears Ears shrank from roughly 1.36 million acres to about 121,000, a reduction of 91 percent. Grand Staircase-Escalante fell from about 1.87 million acres to roughly 181,500, down 90 percent. The two monuments together had protected more than 3.2 million acres since their last restoration in 2021; the combined remainder now stands at 302,600.
The White House said the modifications restore "multiple-use, sustained-yield management" to lands it said had been overly constrained, opening the excluded acreage to grazing, hunting, timber harvest, and resource development. At the signing, Trump claimed recreation had been prohibited in the monuments. That is not accurate: hiking, camping, and hunting are currently permitted in both, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance said in a statement Sunday.
The Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, which represents the Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Ute Mountain Ute, and Uintah-Ouray Ute nations, called the reductions "heartbreaking" and accused the administration of bypassing requirements for government-to-government consultation with tribal nations. Earthjustice, representing the coalition and conservation plaintiffs, announced plans to file legal challenges in federal court.
"National monuments reflect what we choose to protect as a nation," said Adam Cramer, CEO of Outdoor Alliance, a recreation advocacy coalition. "Shrinking them by more than ninety percent sends exactly the wrong message about the future of America's public lands."
Sunday's proclamations do not immediately change what people can do on the land. Monument designation limits what federal agencies can permit in a landscape, specifically mining claims, drilling leases, and new construction, rather than restricting the hiking, camping, and hunting that already occur in both areas. What changed Sunday was the legal status of nearly three million acres of canyon, mesa, and river drainage: those lands can now be opened to energy and mineral development under standard BLM multiple-use rules. The Grand Staircase-Escalante area holds significant coal reserves; the Bears Ears region contains uranium. Whether and when development proposals arrive depends on markets, permitting timelines, and the outcome of the legal challenges ahead.
The proclamations followed a decade of monument designations, reversals, and court fights, according to court records and agency filings dating to 2017, when the first Trump administration made its own cuts to both monuments.
President Clinton designated Grand Staircase-Escalante in 1996, the first national monument managed primarily by the Bureau of Land Management rather than the National Park Service. President Obama added Bears Ears in December 2016, at the request of a coalition of tribal nations seeking federal protection for lands they regard as culturally and spiritually significant. Both monuments became targets for the first Trump administration, which in 2017 reduced Bears Ears to roughly 213,000 acres and Grand Staircase-Escalante to about one million acres.
Tribal nations, wilderness groups, and recreation advocates challenged those reductions in federal court, with cases consolidated before Judge Tanya Chutkan in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Those cases were never decided on their merits: President Biden restored both monuments to their full boundaries in October 2021, effectively mooting the litigation before courts could rule.
After Biden's restoration, new lawsuits challenged whether monuments of this geographic scale are permissible at all under the Antiquities Act. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in 2026 remanded Garfield County v. Biden, directing lower courts to answer that question. The cases before Judge Chutkan remain stayed, pending the Tenth Circuit's analysis. Sunday's cuts arrived before any court has produced a definitive ruling on the question that has shaped a decade of public-lands litigation in the West.
The legal question itself has never been settled: whether the Antiquities Act, which authorizes presidents to create national monuments to protect objects of historic or scientific interest, also permits a president to reduce or abolish a monument. Environmental advocates say the authority flows in only one direction and that only Congress holds the power to remove monument protections. The Trump administration relies on a Department of Justice opinion asserting presidential power to reduce monuments, though that opinion does not have the force of law.
Sunday's proclamations cut Bears Ears from the 213,000 acres the first administration had left it at in 2017 to 121,000. Grand Staircase-Escalante, held at about one million acres from 2017 to 2021, is now 181,500. The administration said specific cultural and scientific features, including ancient Native American rock art, paleontological sites, and other identified objects, would remain protected within the new, smaller boundaries.
The excluded areas contain BLM roads and dispersed camping that have drawn growing numbers of backcountry visitors over the past decade.
Scott Braden, executive director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said the organization would challenge the reductions in court. Earthjustice has also committed to a legal fight, representing tribal nations and conservation groups, arguing the proclamations exceed presidential authority under the Antiquities Act.
How courts respond to that argument has been unsettled since the first monument-reduction lawsuits were filed in 2017; Sunday's proclamations may force the first definitive ruling.
How we reported this
This article draws on the following primary sources, accessed July 13–15, 2026:
- White House Fact Sheet: "President Donald J. Trump Modifies Two National Monuments, Restoring Sensible Land Management" — whitehouse.gov — Official administration summary of the proclamations, acreages, and stated rationale. Published July 13, 2026.
- Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance statement — suwa.org — SUWA's response to the reductions, including correction of the administration's recreation-access claim and announcement of planned legal challenge. Published July 13, 2026.
- Outdoor Alliance response — outdooralliance.org — Recreation coalition response, including CEO statement. Published July 14, 2026.
- Bloomberg Law: "Trump Shrinks Utah National Monuments, Setting Up Legal Fight" — Bloomberg Law — Legal background on Antiquities Act presidential authority, Garfield County v. Biden, and the DC district court cases before Judge Chutkan. Published July 13, 2026.