#Conservation Groups Challenge Trump’s Decimation of Two #NationalMonuments in #Utah
@WesternWatershedsProject , September 2, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — "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.
" '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 #WildernessSociety 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.”
"In July, President #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 a 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.
“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 #TribalNations that deserve a leading role in managing their #AncestralLands. 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 #WildEarthGuardians. '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 #MiningCompanies are already taking advantage of that.'
"The #AntiquitiesAct 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 #BearsEars 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 (SUWA). '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.”
"#GrandStaircaseEscalante 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."
Read more:
https://westernwatersheds.org/2026/09/conservation-groups-challenge-trumps-decimation-of-two-national-monuments-in-utah/
#USPol #Zuni #EndangeredSpecies #NationalMonuments #ProtectBearsEars #ProtectTheSacred #StolenLands #CulturalGenocide #LandBack
#NationalParks #BearsEarsMonument #NoMining
