Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- New maps reveal significant reductions to Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante.
- The executive order reduces protected areas by 91% effective Sept. 11.
- Conservationists warn of increased mining risks while legal challenges are prepared.
SALT LAKE CITY — Newly released state maps are providing the clearest look yet at which of southern Utah's most recognizable landscapes would lose national monument protections under President Donald Trump's latest executive order.
The order, announced Monday, would reduce the combined size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments by roughly 91%, shrinking the protected areas from about 1.3 million acres to approximately 121,000 acres.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and the state's congressional delegation have praised the decision, calling it a win for local control and economic opportunity. Conservation advocates, however, warn the change could open some of Utah's most treasured public lands to mining, drilling and other forms of development.
"There is so much that is out of the map that it's hard to take it all in," said Dr. Jackie Grant, executive director of Grand Staircase-Escalante Partners.
According to the newly released maps, areas removed from monument boundaries would include portions of the Grand Staircase itself, as well as popular landmarks such as Grosvenor Arch, Metate Arch, Cedar Wash, Chimney Rock, the Nautilus formation, North and South Six Shooter Peaks, Butler Wash, Devil's Garden and the Paria River corridor.
Several well-known destinations would remain within monument boundaries, including the Bears Ears Buttes, Calf Creek Falls, House on Fire Ruin and Sand Island Petroglyphs.
National monument designation protects federal lands from activities such as mining and drilling while preserving cultural, scientific and ecological resources. The status also supports recreation, including hiking, camping and sightseeing.
If protections are removed, the land would remain under federal ownership but could become available for leasing and development.
"This time it's really a brutal slashing of both national monuments," said Heidi McIntosh, managing attorney for EarthJustice, the law firm that has represented a coalition of partners battling the executive order since President Trump first initiated it in 2017. "He kept 90% of both monuments, leaving just 10% — a small sliver of what remains."
Conservation groups argue the reductions could have significant consequences for natural and cultural resources in the region.
"It's just a really devastating result for places that are beautiful and have undoubted resources of scientific importance," McIntosh said. "The Grand Staircase-Escalante has dinosaur fossils that you can't find anywhere else in the world."
Grant said fewer protections could lead to increased collection of fossils and petrified wood from areas currently protected by monument designation.
"It'll have a huge impact on traffic and mining trucks, and people who are used to a quiet lifestyle around the monument in those very small towns, and it will have a huge impact on the native plants and animals that live there," said Grant.
McIntosh said she also worries about potential looting of archaeological sites and expansion of coal mining activities.
"Mining has such a hard impact on our water resources, which we know in Utah right now are extremely precious and crucial to the flow of the Colorado River, which then generates tourism and power for millions of people in the American Southwest," Grant said.
The executive order is scheduled to take effect in 60 days, on Sept. 11.
Environmental groups and monument supporters are already preparing legal challenges, arguing that presidents have the authority to create national monuments under the Antiquities Act but do not have the power to significantly reduce or eliminate them.
The executive order also removes the formal role of the Bears Ears Commission. The Commission manages the monument as a set of five tribal nations, which released a statement condemning the order on Tuesday.
"What I hope people understand is that these monument lands are their lands," McIntosh said. "They don't belong to the mining industry. They don't belong to the oil and gas industry. These are lands for all Americans to access and enjoy."
