The battle over Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument has spanned three decades and four presidential administrations, becoming one of the nation’s most contentious public lands debates.
On Monday, President Donald Trump signed a presidential proclamation to reduce the boundaries of Grand Staircase-Escalante. The site that is considered sacred to tribal nations will now be open for energy development, cattle grazing, recreation and other activities.
1996: President Bill Clinton designates Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument under the Antiquities Act, protecting nearly 1.9 million acres of federal land in southern Utah. The monument is created to preserve significant paleontological resources, archaeological sites, and unique desert landscapes.
2016: President Barack Obama establishes Bears Ears National Monument, protecting approximately 1.35 million acres. The designation follows years of advocacy by the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, marking the first national monument proposal led by Tribal Nations.
2017: President Donald Trump dramatically reduces both monuments. Bears Ears is cut by roughly 85 percent, while Grand Staircase-Escalante is reduced by nearly half. The decision sparks multiple lawsuits from Tribal Nations, conservation groups, and outdoor organizations challenging the president’s authority to shrink national monuments.
2021: President Joe Biden restores the original boundaries of both Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears, reversing the Trump administration’s reductions. Biden also directs federal agencies to strengthen Tribal consultation and expands opportunities for Tribal co-stewardship of the monuments.
2023–2025: The Bureau of Land Management works with Tribal Nations, local communities, recreation groups, ranchers, scientists, and the public to develop updated management plans. After a two-year planning process and thousands of public comments, new management plans for both monuments are finalized in January 2025.
June 2026: A congressional effort to overturn the Grand Staircase-Escalante management plan stalls in the U.S. Senate after supporters fail to advance the measure before a key deadline. Without expedited procedures, the resolution would require 60 votes to overcome a Senate filibuster.
July 2026: President Trump again moves to reduce the boundaries of Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears, saying the Antiquities Act has been used far beyond its intended purpose and that shrinking the monuments will restore multiple-use access for grazing, energy development, recreation, and other activities.
Why It Matters
For many Tribal Nations, Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears are far more than scenic landscapes. They are living cultural homelands that contain sacred sites, ancient villages, petroglyphs, traditional plant-gathering areas, burial places, and ceremonial landscapes that continue to hold cultural and religious significance.
For supporters of the reductions, the issue centers on local control, economic development, energy production, and what they view as a return to the Antiquities Act’s original intent.
The latest boundary changes are widely expected to face legal challenges, continuing a decades-long dispute over presidential authority under the Antiquities Act and the federal government’s trust responsibility to Tribal Nations.
