President Donald Trump has drastically reduced the size of two national monuments in Utah, saying they cover too much land and limit access to critical materials.
The president issued two proclamations Monday, shrinking the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by nearly 3 million acres combined.
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The move falls under the Antiquities Act, which authorizes presidents to designate national monuments to protect historic landmarks, structures and other sites of historic or scientific interest on federally owned land.
The size of both monuments has shifted several times over the years. Trump reduced them during his first term before former President Joe Biden reversed the move. Now, Trump is reversing course once again.
Monument boundaries change
Under the new proclamations, the monuments will shrink from more than 3.2 million acres — nearly the size of Connecticut — to less than 303,000 acres combined. The reduction is even greater than during Trump’s first term, when the monuments were reduced to about 618,000 acres.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who joined Trump at the White House for the announcement, said the Antiquities Act requires monuments to “be the smallest area as possible to protect the antiquities.”
Trump’s proclamations argue that neither monument met that standard.
Resources within the monuments
The proclamations also cite critical minerals as a key reason for reducing the protected areas.
The White House says Grand Staircase-Escalante contains significant deposits of minerals, including chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, lead, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, silver, thorium, titanium, uranium, vanadium, zinc, and zirconium.
“Modifying the Monument’s boundaries will help ensure that adequate domestic supplies exist, thereby reducing the threat posed by our Nation’s reliance on foreign sources,” Trump’s proclamation states.
Similarly, Trump says Bears Ears contains minerals important to defense, manufacturing and transportation.
“It is imperative that the United States not rely on foreign sources for these resources,” Trump’s proclamation reads.
The move marks a sharp reversal from Biden’s goal of conserving at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.
Native tribes and conservation groups fight back
Native American leaders say Trump’s reductions will put culturally significant sites at risk.
“These monuments carry a living cultural identity,” said Davina Smith-Idjesa, Four Corners Tribal Program Manager at the National Parks Conservation Association. “They hold traditional knowledge and sacred connections that are inseparable from the land itself.”
She said dismantling protections “ignores years of collaborative stewardship and the enduring relationship Tribal Nations continue to have with these landscapes.”
Specifically, Bears Ears includes ancestral villages, ceremonial and burial sites, along with locations tied to some tribes’ creation and migration stories. Grand Staircase-Escalante is home to cliffs, canyons, natural arches and archaeological sites, including ancient rock art.
The National Parks Conservation Association also condemned the proclamations.
“Trump’s order to slash protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante is both a betrayal to the American people and illegal,” said Tiernan Sittenfeld, the association’s president and CEO.
Sittenfeld said the group will continue fighting for the monuments in Congress, in the courts and alongside Tribal Nations.
“This breathtaking landscape connects cultural and natural treasures, ensuring the health of dozens of national parks, monuments and protected wildlife corridors,” Sittenfeld said. “This sweeping attack is not only an assault on our monuments, but on the very foundation of our National Park System.”
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