Two executive orders signed by President Donald Trump on Monday afternoon have drastically reduced the acreage of Utah's Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. The new boundaries leave the monuments totaling just 302,600 acres, a significant decrease from the over three million acres that existed on Monday morning.
The executive orders represent a much larger reduction than those signed during the first Trump administration. In 2017, Bears Ears was reduced by 85 percent and Grand Staircase-Escalante was cut nearly in half. Monday's orders reduce the monuments to less than one-quarter of what remained after those previous cuts.
The administration stated that shrinking the boundaries will align with goals to open public lands to extraction. The orders also disband an inter-tribal working group for Bears Ears that previously led co-stewardship efforts. Tribal officials noted they were not consulted regarding the decision to reduce the monuments.
John Ruple, a law professor and program director at the University of Utah’s Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources and the Environment, said the move is an attempt to allow for mining, drilling, and grazing. He noted that while the Antiquities Act allows presidents to create monuments, he believes the power to rescind them rests with Congress.
Davina Smith-Idjesa, a member of the Navajo Nation and part of both monuments' inter-tribal coalitions, expressed that the proclamations serve as a reminder of how tribes are treated. She highlighted the importance of the land for prayer, food, and medicine, noting that uranium mining in the Four Corners region has previously caused illness and death in her family.
The executive orders are set to take effect in 60 days. Environmental groups and tribal leaders have vowed to continue legal battles, with Earthjustice previously suing over similar reductions during the first Trump administration.
Democratic members of Congress, including Senator Ben Ray Luján, criticized the move for prioritizing mining interests over the American people. Wilderness Society president Tracy Stone-Manning also stated that the administration is ignoring the voices of Tribal Nations and local communities.
