Sacred sites in peril as Bears Ears, Grand Staircase slashed by 90 percent

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Monday moved to dramatically shrink two of Utah’s most prominent national monuments, eliminating nearly 3 million acres of protected land and igniting immediate backlash from tribal nations and conservation groups.

President Donald Trump signed the order in the Oval Office alongside Utah’s Republican congressional delegation, reducing Bears Ears National Monument to about 121,000 acres and Grand Staircase– Escalante to roughly 182,000 acres — cuts of about 90% from their original boundaries. The decision opens vast stretches of canyon country, fossil beds and cultural sites to potential mining, drilling and other development.

The move reverses protections established under previous administrations and dismantles a co management agreement with the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, Zuni Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. Tribal leaders said they were not consulted before the announcement, despite federal trust and treaty obligations requiring government-to-government communication.

“These lands hold our history,” the Navajo Nation said in a statement. “We were not asked. We were not informed.”

Bears Ears, designated in 2016, was created in partnership with the tribes to safeguard cliff dwellings, rock art and ceremonial sites. Grand Staircase–Escalante, established in 1996, is known for its sweeping sandstone formations and world renowned paleontological resources.

Administration officials framed the reductions as returning land “to the people,” arguing that previous designations were overly broad and limited local use. Interior Department documents show the agency is reviewing whether to loosen remaining protections, raising concerns among conservationists that additional areas could be opened to coal and uranium extraction.

Legal challenges are already underway. Earthjustice and several tribal nations said the president exceeded his authority under the Antiquities Act, which allows presidents to create national monuments but does not explicitly grant power to reduce or abolish them.

The monuments have been at the center of a years long political tug of war. Trump previously attempted to shrink both sites in 2017, a move reversed by President Joe Biden in 2021. Monday’s order marks the most sweeping rollback of federal land protections in modern U.S. history, leaving cultural and scientific resources in limbo as courts weigh the administration’s authority.

“Land doesn’t grow back,” conservation groups said, warning that once industrial development begins, many sites could be permanently damaged.

(Contact Ernestine Anunkasan Hopa at editor@nativesunnews.today)

The post Sacred sites in peril as Bears Ears, Grand Staircase slashed by 90 percent first appeared on Native Sun News Today.

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