Trump shrinks Utah monuments, reviving fight over sacred tribal lands
Donald Trump has cut the protected area of Utah's Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments. The move revives a fierce battle over tribal heritage, conservation and mining on federal land.
US President Donald Trump on Monday reduced the size of two national monuments in Utah, rolling back protections put in place by former presidents on public lands that are considered sacred by many Native Americans. The move affects Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in southern Utah.
Trump, a Republican, used proclamations under the Antiquities Act to shrink the monuments. He had taken similar steps during his first term, but those were later reversed by President Joe Biden, a Democrat. The latest action is part of a wider Republican push to reshape how federally owned lands in the western United States are managed.
Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante contain ancient cliff dwellings, petroglyphs, scenic canyons and other archaeological sites. They also sit on coal and uranium deposits that Utah officials want opened up for development. The monument designation bars drilling, mining and new construction in the protected landscapes, and supporters of Trump's move say the boundaries are too large and restrict mining for critical minerals.
Grand Staircase-Escalante was created in 1996 by President Bill Clinton, while Bears Ears was established in 2016 by President Barack Obama under the Antiquities Act, a 1906 law that allows presidents to protect places considered historic, archaeologically significant or culturally important. Utah officials have long opposed the designations and argued that the state should control its own lands. During his first term, Trump cut the size of both monuments, calling their creation a "massive land grab". Together, the two monuments cover more than 3.2 million acres, or 13 million hectares, an area nearly the size of Connecticut.
Bears Ears was the first national monument created at the request of tribal nations that regard the land as sacred. The area includes ancestral villages, ceremonial and burial sites, and features in some tribes' creation and migration stories. Its designation recognised five tribes in the region — Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Ute Mountain Ute and Uintah-Ouray Ute. The monument, which is home to hundreds of thousands of objects of cultural and scientific importance, is jointly managed under an agreement between tribal nations and federal agencies.
Grand Staircase-Escalante includes cliffs, canyons, natural arches and archaeological sites, including rock paintings. It holds large coal reserves, while the Bears Ears area has uranium. The Trump administration's move comes as it seeks to expand drilling, mining and logging on public lands, while also removing protections for imperilled species and rolling back conservation rules.
Biden had designated or expanded more than a dozen monuments and had set a goal of conserving at least 30 per cent of US lands and waters by 2030. Trump's approach has largely been the opposite. He wants to tap the natural resource wealth of federal lands covering more than 1,00,000 square miles, or 2,60,000 square kilometres, as well as offshore areas under federal control, including in the Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska. The shift has drawn strong criticism from Democrats and conservationists, who say treasured landscapes are being opened up for commercial gain.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum had said last year that federal officials would review and consider redrawing national monument boundaries as part of a broader push to expand US energy production. In his current term, Trump has also used proclamations to remove commercial fishing bans within large marine monuments in parts of the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean off the New England coast. That effort, which has been challenged in court, marked a major policy shift by giving priority to commercial interests over steps meant to help fish stocks recover.
The US Supreme Court has upheld a president's authority to create national monuments, and both Democrats and Republicans have used the Antiquities Act. But there has been debate over whether Trump has the power to alter the boundaries of existing monuments. Some Republicans have also tried to sell or transfer federal lands to states or other bodies, though those efforts have mostly failed. A proposal by some House Republicans to sell public lands faced bipartisan opposition, and another by Senator Mike Lee of Utah to sell more than 3,200 square miles, or 8,300 square kilometres, of federal land was removed from the Republicans' tax and spending bill. Last year, the Supreme Court also rejected a lawsuit by Utah officials seeking control of large areas of public land in the state. In effect, Trump's latest move cuts protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante once again, reopening a long-running fight over conservation, development and control of federal lands.
With PTI Inputs
US President Donald Trump on Monday reduced the size of two national monuments in Utah, rolling back protections put in place by former presidents on public lands that are considered sacred by many Native Americans. The move affects Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in southern Utah.
Trump, a Republican, used proclamations under the Antiquities Act to shrink the monuments. He had taken similar steps during his first term, but those were later reversed by President Joe Biden, a Democrat. The latest action is part of a wider Republican push to reshape how federally owned lands in the western United States are managed.
Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante contain ancient cliff dwellings, petroglyphs, scenic canyons and other archaeological sites. They also sit on coal and uranium deposits that Utah officials want opened up for development. The monument designation bars drilling, mining and new construction in the protected landscapes, and supporters of Trump's move say the boundaries are too large and restrict mining for critical minerals.
Grand Staircase-Escalante was created in 1996 by President Bill Clinton, while Bears Ears was established in 2016 by President Barack Obama under the Antiquities Act, a 1906 law that allows presidents to protect places considered historic, archaeologically significant or culturally important. Utah officials have long opposed the designations and argued that the state should control its own lands. During his first term, Trump cut the size of both monuments, calling their creation a "massive land grab". Together, the two monuments cover more than 3.2 million acres, or 13 million hectares, an area nearly the size of Connecticut.
Bears Ears was the first national monument created at the request of tribal nations that regard the land as sacred. The area includes ancestral villages, ceremonial and burial sites, and features in some tribes' creation and migration stories. Its designation recognised five tribes in the region — Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Ute Mountain Ute and Uintah-Ouray Ute. The monument, which is home to hundreds of thousands of objects of cultural and scientific importance, is jointly managed under an agreement between tribal nations and federal agencies.
Grand Staircase-Escalante includes cliffs, canyons, natural arches and archaeological sites, including rock paintings. It holds large coal reserves, while the Bears Ears area has uranium. The Trump administration's move comes as it seeks to expand drilling, mining and logging on public lands, while also removing protections for imperilled species and rolling back conservation rules.
Biden had designated or expanded more than a dozen monuments and had set a goal of conserving at least 30 per cent of US lands and waters by 2030. Trump's approach has largely been the opposite. He wants to tap the natural resource wealth of federal lands covering more than 1,00,000 square miles, or 2,60,000 square kilometres, as well as offshore areas under federal control, including in the Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska. The shift has drawn strong criticism from Democrats and conservationists, who say treasured landscapes are being opened up for commercial gain.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum had said last year that federal officials would review and consider redrawing national monument boundaries as part of a broader push to expand US energy production. In his current term, Trump has also used proclamations to remove commercial fishing bans within large marine monuments in parts of the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean off the New England coast. That effort, which has been challenged in court, marked a major policy shift by giving priority to commercial interests over steps meant to help fish stocks recover.
The US Supreme Court has upheld a president's authority to create national monuments, and both Democrats and Republicans have used the Antiquities Act. But there has been debate over whether Trump has the power to alter the boundaries of existing monuments. Some Republicans have also tried to sell or transfer federal lands to states or other bodies, though those efforts have mostly failed. A proposal by some House Republicans to sell public lands faced bipartisan opposition, and another by Senator Mike Lee of Utah to sell more than 3,200 square miles, or 8,300 square kilometres, of federal land was removed from the Republicans' tax and spending bill. Last year, the Supreme Court also rejected a lawsuit by Utah officials seeking control of large areas of public land in the state. In effect, Trump's latest move cuts protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante once again, reopening a long-running fight over conservation, development and control of federal lands.
With PTI Inputs
