Conservation groups filed supplemental complaints in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., to reactivate litigation regarding the July 2026 reduction of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, according to a September 2 statement.
The lawsuits seek to challenge President Trump's recent boundary reductions and combine them with previous 2017 monument rollback litigation.
In July 2026, President Trump redrew the boundaries for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, reducing both monuments by more than 90%. The administration's move resulted in a reduction of over one million acres more than the previous 2017 reductions.
Following the boundary changes, multiple mining claims were filed in both monuments. Conservation groups have called on the Bureau of Land Management to reject these claims, which they describe as premature and unlawful.
Legal representatives for the plaintiffs, including Earthjustice, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, have asked the court to reopen previously stayed cases and requested permission to file updated complaints.
The monuments serve as significant cultural and scientific sites. Bears Ears is home to over 100,000 Native American cultural sites and structures built by the Ancestral Puebloan people. Grand Staircase-Escalante is known for geologic features and dinosaur fossils, including 21 previously undiscovered species unearthed since the monument's establishment in 1996.
The litigation involves several organizations, including the Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Trust, WildEarth Guardians, and the Center for Biological Diversity. Supporters of the monuments argue the Antiquities Act of 1906 allows for the designation of monuments but does not grant presidents the authority to shrink or dismantle them.
