President Donald Trump signed a pair of executive orders on Monday shrinking the size of two national monuments in Utah, reigniting a fight that has spanned the last three decades.
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The orders reduce the size of Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears, removing a combined 3 million acres of the public land designation, according to Trump.
The latest executive action closely resembles the order Trump signed during his first presidential term in 2017 that significantly shrank the two monuments, a move that was later reversed by President Joe Biden in 2021.
“I’m very happy about this, and it’s better than the first time,” Trump said.
Trump signed the order in the Oval Office on Monday afternoon surrounded by all six members of Utah’s congressional delegation as well as Gov. Spencer Cox and state House Speaker Mike Schultz.
“It’s very clear that these monument designations are supposed to be the smallest area possible to to protect the antiquities and these multi-million acre monuments that are bigger than the state of Delaware certainly do not fit that designation,” Cox said. “We definitely care about protecting these antiquities, and will continue to do so. The problem is with these giant monument designations. There are no resources that come with those.”
The fight over the two national monuments has been ongoing in Utah since they were first designated. Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was created by President Bill Clinton in September 1996, and Bears Ears National Monument was created by President Barack Obama in December 2016.
National monument designations place restrictions on what recreational and economic activity residents and visitors can do on the land. The designation also prohibits anyone from pursuing new mining claims, oil and gas leasing, coal exploration or new commercial infrastructure projects.
However, the Bureau of Land Management previously found that Bears Ears and Grand Staircase have little to offer in terms of oil and gas potential, the Deseret News previously reported.
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The designations have elicited mixed responses in Utah. Members of the congressional delegation, particularly Sen. Mike Lee and Rep. Celeste Maloy, have sought to reduce the monuments’ acreages for more local control, recreation and grazing.
“Today’s proclamation shows that President Trump listens to Utahns and respects the limits Congress placed on the Antiquities Act,” Lee said in a statement. “For too long, presidents have weaponized monument designations to lock up millions of acres, close roads, restrict grazing, and cut rural communities off from lands their families have lived on and worked for generations. I thank the President for correcting this abuse and keeping his promise to the people of Utah.”
Earlier this year, Maloy filed a joint resolution of disapproval that proposed undoing the current resource management plan (RMP) for Grand Staircase Escalante that was established under the Biden administration. Instead, Maloy wanted to revert the land back to previous regulations passed in 2020, which Maloy says was “built with local communities, balanced conservation with access, and reflected the realities of life in southern Utah.”
However, the bill died after missing a key deadline in the Senate that rendered the resolution past the statute of limitations.
Conservation groups are already sounding the alarms, with some preparing to fight the executive orders with legal action.
“This action will only bring uncertainty and chaos to places that should instead be protected for their rich biodiversity, unique geology, and remarkable cultural values,” Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Executive Director Scott Braden said in a statement.
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