National monuments are nationally significant lands and waters, which the U.S. government sets aside for protection from mining and development. Today, there are more than 130 such preserved landmarks being managed by several federal agencies nationwide.
These iconic cultural and natural sites are cherished by many — from hunters and anglers to tourists and tribal members. But they’re also see-sawing political battlegrounds, especially in Utah.
And on Monday, President Donald Trump made a pair of proclamations to dramatically downsize two national monuments there. This latest salvo in the neighboring Beehive State sets a record for the largest wholesale rollback of public land protections in U.S. history.
‘There have been several fire drills’
Back in October, I briefly flew over Bears Ears National Monument with the nonprofit EcoFlight. Our cramped, six-seater Cessna 210 propeller plane had a bumpy morning takeoff from the municipal airport in Blanding — a small town in southern Utah that butts up against this sprawling landscape.
“So all of this expanse that we can see, pretty much everything that’s in the darkness and even some in the light, is all a part of Bears Ears National Monument,” said Tim Peterson, cultural landscapes director with the nonprofit Grand Canyon Trust.
We soared the windy skies for about half an hour, chitchatting through static headsets about whether Trump would once again shrink the footprint of Bears Ears and Grand-Staircase Escalante — reversing a Biden-era restoration of those monuments — after Trump initially did so during his first term.
“There have been several fire drills so far this year where it’s rumored they’re going to do it, and then they didn’t do it,” added Peterson. “So at this point, the president can’t even find the time to nominate a permanent director for the Bureau of Land Management, so I’m sort of hoping that they’ll just kind of forget about it.”
‘Better than the first time’
Sitting behind his Oval Office desk, flanked by Republican Gov. Spencer Cox and other state officials, Trump didn’t forget about his political grudge in Utah.
Citing the very Antiquities Act that was invoked by his predecessor, Joe Biden, Trump once more slashed the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante — this time by 90% — with the stroke of his Sharpie pen.
“Let’s sign. This is very nice. I’m very happy about this — and better than the first time,” said Trump, as he scribbled his signature. “Almost 3 million acres are going to be well taken care of now.”
“As I explained to President Biden, that’s two Delawares,” added Cox. “It’s been abused, and so it was done by executive action. President Trump is right-sizing it to bring it in compliance with what the law says.”
While at the White House, Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah also chimed in, making the case that such national monuments should encompass the “smallest area compatible with the objects to be protected.”
“That’s always been the standard under the Antiquities Act,” said Lee. “President Biden, President Clinton and President Obama overlooked that standard. President Trump is fixing it today.”
Now those once-federally protected swaths across Utah are basically wide open to BLM Director Steve Pearce. The former New Mexico Republican congressman was narrowly confirmed in the U.S. Senate by a 46-43 vote along party lines.
Democratic lawmakers, like Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, were cautious of Trump’s pick to helm the BLM. Now, Gallego fears lands from the dwarfed national monuments could be auctioned off to the highest bidder.
“Bears Ears, it’s been sought after by uranium mines or just, in general, people trying to buy beautiful land to make it into private estates,” Gallego told KJZZ. “And most likely they’re going to rush to try to sell this as fast as possible — because they know that the American public is against getting rid of our public lands.”
“I didn’t vote for Mr. Pearce because I did not trust from his past rhetoric and votes that he would be a protector of public lands,” he added. “If anything, he was going to exploit them. This area is important — not just for everyday Americans to hunt, to gather, to travel, to camp, but for Native Americans.”
‘Bears Ears is at my back door’
Meanwhile, tribal leaders are tired of this bitter partisan tug-of-war.
“Because Bears Ears is at my back door,” said Davina Smith-Idjesa, who is Diné and co-chairs the Bear Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition. “This is not a political talking point for me. This is home.”
The Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition is made up of six sitting Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Ute Mountain Ute and Ute Indian appointees — each serving as ambassadors to their respective federally recognized tribes.
“Today, I am speaking from a broken heart,” said Smith-Idjesa on Tuesday. “I am angry. I am hurt, and I am tired of standing here having to explain again why Bears Ears matters to me. We have been here before, but this cuts even deeper.”
That’s because unlike in 2017, when Trump first diminished these very boundaries, his new proclamation not only reduces Bears Ears from nearly 1.4 million acres to about 121,000 acres — but it also terminates the Obama-era oversight commission.
The order even goes so far as to say the feds have “no obligation to engage, consult or coordinate” when it comes to the now-disbanded Bears Ears Commission, which was a historic approach to co-stewardship between the U.S. and tribes.
There’s no such commission for Trump to dismantle at Grand Staircase-Escalante, but his executive action was still another setback. The almost 1.9 million-acre national monument has since shrunk to roughly 182,000 acres.
“While administrations may change, our responsibility to these lands does not,” said Autumn Gillard, who is Southern Paiute and coordinator for the Grand Staircase Inter-Tribal Coalition. “We care for this land, because the land has always cared for us.”
Much like the Bears Ears one, her coalition has a similar makeup, including representatives from the Navajo Nation, Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Hopi Tribe and Zuni Tribe. Another commonality: Both groups claim the Trump administration never consulted them beforehand.
“We kept hearing this narrative that local stakeholders were not heard. But what about our tribal voices?” asked Gillard. “Are their voices not equal to those of other citizens that live in the state?”
Despite Trump abolishing the commission and redrawing the boundary, Smith-Idjesa stresses “our connection to Bears Ears did not begin with a presidential proclamation, and it will not end with one.”
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![The Long family [clockwise from top left] Joni Lapahie, Dáilan Long, Jona Lapahie, Emma Long and Emery Long.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/ac75967/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x2246+0+389/resize/280x156!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F8c%2F3e%2Fcb7758794c59b588da1f9a3323b8%2Flong-family-household-burnham-nm-gp-202602.jpg)
Coal has long been the economic bedrock of the Navajo Nation, which owns deposits in Wyoming, Montana and New Mexico. Now, the tribe is asking the Trump administration to dramatically expand the life — and size — of an operational coal mine that could uproot the lives of some Navajo families. And their longtime homes — literally. -
So instead of Santa hand-delivering stockings of coal along with his team of reindeer, it’s NTEC — or the Navajo Transitional Energy Company — with its diesel-powered trucks trekking across the sprawling 27,000-square-mile reservation. -
Coal is perhaps most closely associated with Appalachian states like West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky — or Wyoming, the nation’s leading producer of the fossil fuel. But the coal-mining business was once thriving in northern Arizona as well, atop the Colorado Plateau. -
CRIT leaders say a new plan to share the Colorado River is being rushed by the Bureau of Reclamation. -
Bertram Tsavadawa is a member of the Hopi Tribe and offers tours of the reservation through his company, Ancient Pathways Tours; he’s been doing that for nearly 25 years.
![The Long family [clockwise from top left] Joni Lapahie, Dáilan Long, Jona Lapahie, Emma Long and Emery Long.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/8f96e94/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x2246+0+389/resize/560x312!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F8c%2F3e%2Fcb7758794c59b588da1f9a3323b8%2Flong-family-household-burnham-nm-gp-202602.jpg)
