Trump Slashes Utah National Monuments by 90%

President Donald Trump on Monday signed proclamations sharply reducing the size of two national monuments in Utah — Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante — by approximately 90% each, in what critics are calling the largest elimination of federal land protections in U.S. history. The move opens more than 2.9 million acres of previously protected federal land to potential energy development, mining, and other commercial activities.

According to the Associated Press, Grand Staircase-Escalante was reduced from approximately 1.87 million acres to roughly 181,500 acres, while Bears Ears was cut from about 1.36 million acres to approximately 121,100 acres. Combined, the two monuments were reduced from over 3.2 million acres to less than 303,000 acres — a reduction greater than Trump’s first-term actions in 2017, which were later reversed by President Joe Biden in 2021.

Background: A Decades-Long Battle Over Public Lands

The reductions mark the latest chapter in a protracted political struggle over the management of federally owned lands in the American West. Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was established by President Bill Clinton in 1996, while Bears Ears National Monument was created by President Barack Obama in 2016 — the first national monument protected at the request of tribal nations. Bears Ears honors five tribes: the Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Ute Mountain Ute, and Uintah-Ouray Ute.

Both monuments contain extraordinary cultural and natural resources. Grand Staircase-Escalante features cliffs, canyons, natural arches, archaeological sites, rock paintings, and large coal reserves. Bears Ears contains ancient cliff dwellings, petroglyphs, ceremonial and burial sites, and uranium deposits. The AP reported that Bears Ears is jointly managed by an agreement between tribal nations and federal agencies.

Trump took similar action during his first term in December 2017, reducing both monuments. Those reductions were challenged in court and ultimately reversed by Biden, who restored the monuments to their original boundaries in 2021. The latest proclamations go further than the 2017 reductions.

‘Right-Sizing’ vs. ‘Illegal Attack’

The signing ceremony at the White House drew sharply divided reactions. Trump framed the decision as returning land to the people, asserting that the monument designations had prevented hunting, fishing, and other recreational activities.

“They took the land from the people, quite honestly,” Trump said at the ceremony, as reported by the Associated Press. “We’re giving it back.”

Utah Governor Spencer Cox, a Republican who attended the White House signing, called it “a big day for Utah” and argued that monument designations “are supposed to be the smallest area as possible to protect the antiquities.” Cox added, “The question has never been whether to protect them, but how to protect them best.”

But opponents — including tribal nations, environmental groups, and Democratic lawmakers — condemned the action as both illegal and a betrayal of trust. Davina Smith-Idjesa, a citizen of the Navajo Nation and co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, said the decision was “heartbreaking.”

“From a Navajo perspective, Bears Ears is not simply a piece of federal public land,” Smith-Idjesa said. “This is a living cultural site that holds our histories, our ceremonies, our traditional foods and medicines and our ancestors’ footprints.”

Heidi McIntosh, managing attorney at Earthjustice’s Rocky Mountain Office, vowed legal action, arguing that the Antiquities Act authorizes presidents to designate national monuments but not to destroy them. “President Trump’s attack on Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments is just as illegal today as it was in 2017,” McIntosh said.

Broader Context: Republicans Reshape Land Management

The monument reductions are part of a broader push by the Trump administration and congressional Republicans to expand drilling, mining, and logging on public lands while rolling back conservation rules. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum had previously signaled that federal officials would review monument boundaries as part of an energy production push.

Biden had designated or expanded more than a dozen monuments during his term and set a goal of conserving at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030. Trump’s policies represent a sharp reversal, prioritizing resource extraction over preservation.

Some Republican efforts to sell or transfer federal lands have faced bipartisan opposition. A push by some GOP lawmakers in the House to sell public lands stalled, and the Supreme Court last year turned back a lawsuit from Utah officials seeking to wrest control of federal lands within the state.

Legal Questions and Historical Precedent

The central legal question is whether the Antiquities Act of 1906 — signed by President Theodore Roosevelt — allows presidents to reduce monuments created by their predecessors. Environmental groups argue it is a “one-way road”: presidents can create but not undo monuments.

However, historical precedent is more complicated. Since 1912, presidents have issued more than a dozen proclamations diminishing monuments, according to a National Park Service database. Woodrow Wilson reduced Mount Olympus National Monument by roughly half; Harry Truman did the same for Santa Rosa Island National Monument; and Dwight Eisenhower diminished six monuments, including Arches in Utah, which later became a national park.

The Supreme Court has affirmed the president’s authority to create national monuments but has not definitively ruled on whether presidents can shrink them. Earthjustice and tribal coalitions are expected to file lawsuits challenging the reductions, potentially setting the stage for a landmark Supreme Court case.

What’s Next

Legal challenges are expected imminently from Earthjustice and the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition. The management plans crafted over years with tribal input — including a recently announced plan for Grand Staircase-Escalante developed with the Inter-Tribal Coalition — have been thrown into uncertainty.

In the short term, the newly opened areas could attract interest from mining and energy companies seeking access to coal and uranium deposits. Longer term, the legal battle over presidential authority under the Antiquities Act could reshape the balance of power between administrations on public lands policy — with implications far beyond Utah’s red rock canyons.