FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Flagstaff, AZ — The Grand Canyon Trust unequivocally opposes today’s presidential action attempting to gut Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments for a second time. President Biden restored both of these monuments in 2021 after President Trump’s first unlawful attempt to reduce their boundaries in 2017.
“We believe that it is unlawful for any president to attempt to dismantle national monuments. The Grand Canyon Trust and many others will press our case in court,” said Ethan Aumack, executive director of the Grand Canyon Trust.
Today’s action runs counter to the wishes of many Native American nations and of the American people, including in Utah, where nearly two-thirds (65%) of voters across party lines supported keeping the size of national monuments intact, according to December 2024 polling.
“The debasement of these revered national monuments is deeply unpopular in Utah and around the world, and it shows contempt for the Native nations that have worked tirelessly to protect these irreplaceable cultural landscapes,” said Tim Peterson, cultural landscapes director for the Grand Canyon Trust.
The president’s attempt to dismantle these popular national monuments comes on the heels of the Utah congressional delegation’s failed attempt to eliminate Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument’s protective 2025 management plan.
That plan established a landmark co-stewardship framework after years of collaboration between federal land managers and the Grand Staircase-Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalition. Today’s action effectively dismantles that framework without consulting the affected tribes, disregarding the federal government’s trust responsibilities and treaty obligations.
The administration’s action also upends years of collaborative planning at Bears Ears National Monument. Over three years, the five Bears Ears Commission tribes — the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Zuni Tribe, and Ute Indian Tribe of Uintah and Ouray Reservation — worked with the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service to develop the Bears Ears management plan. By integrating Indigenous knowledge into land management, the plan marked a historic step forward in public lands stewardship and reflected a shared commitment to protecting one of the nation’s most significant cultural landscapes.
“Instead of honoring these unprecedented collaborations, President Trump broke the federal government’s agreements with tribes to co-steward Grand Staircase-Escalante and to collaboratively manage Bears Ears, despite the fact that nearly nine in 10 Utah voters said tribes deserve a strong role in helping manage their ancestral lands,” Peterson said.
“The Grand Canyon Trust has been invested in the health and future of both of these monuments for many years, and our commitment to their protection is unwavering,” Aumack continued. “With resolve, we will stand behind the Native American nations that worked so hard to protect Bears Ears, we’ll defend recent conservation gains achieved at Grand Staircase-Escalante, and we’ll continue to advocate for the interests of national monument-loving Americans.”
Contact
Tim Peterson, Cultural Landscapes Director, (801) 550-9861
Photos available for royalty-free media use
For high-resolution versions of images, please contact Tim Peterson at tpeterson@grandcanyontrust.org
Background
- Bears Ears National Monument was designated on December 28, 2016. Read the proclamation
Protections were restored to Bears Ears National Monument on October 8, 2021. Read the proclamation - Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was designated on September 18, 1996. Read the proclamation
Protections were restored to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument on October 8, 2021. Read the proclamation
