Trump reduced Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by roughly 90%

On July 13, 2026, President Trump signed two executive orders sharply reducing the size of two national monuments in Utah. The first cut Bears Ears National Monument from approximately 1.36 million acres to about 121,100 acres, and the second reduced Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument from approximately 1.87 million acres to about 181,500 acres — reductions of roughly 90% each, together removing protection from close to three million acres. Trump described the action as "rightsizing" and, invoking the Antiquities Act's instruction that a president "reserve the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected," claimed that clause as authority to scale the monuments down.

The Antiquities Act of 1906 authorizes presidents to designate national monuments on federal land; it does not expressly grant authority to eliminate or shrink monuments established by prior presidents, a power widely understood to rest with Congress. The Supreme Court has confirmed the president's authority to create monuments but has never ruled on whether a president may reduce the boundaries of an existing one. Trump attempted a smaller reduction of these same two monuments in 2017; that action was litigated and later reversed when President Biden restored the monuments in 2021. The Bears Ears order also terminated the federal government's co-management agreement with the Bears Ears Commission, a body of five tribal nations, stating that federal secretaries "shall have no obligation to engage, consult, or coordinate" with the commission.

Native American tribes and conservation groups condemned the orders. Earthjustice called the proclamations "just as illegal today as it was in 2017," stating that "the Antiquities Act authorizes presidents to designate national monuments, not to destroy them." Tribal representatives said they received no consultation before the reductions were ordered.

Updates

2026-07-14 — Tribes and conservation groups condemned reductions, vowed legal challenge [2, 3]

At a July 14 news conference, coordinators for the Grand Staircase-Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalition and co-chairs of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition said they had received "zero consultation" before the orders and objected to the abolition of the Bears Ears Commission co-management framework. Earthjustice and other conservation groups, including the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said they were prepared to challenge the reductions in court, echoing the litigation that followed Trump's 2017 reductions of the same monuments.

2026-07-14 — Mining company staked seven claims on land cut from Bears Ears [6, 7]

Utah-based Kimmerle Mining filed seven mining claims with the San Juan County Recorder's Office in areas removed from Bears Ears by Trump's proclamation, public records showed, even though the proclamation specifies new claims do not take effect until Sept. 11. Kimmerle Mining executive Kyle Kimmerle previously filed claims after Trump's 2017 reduction of Bears Ears and had separately challenged the monument's prior boundaries in court.

2026-08-03 — Internal records contradicted Trump's stated justification for the monument cuts [4, 5]

Interior Department and Utah Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office records -- including a June 2026 briefing memo obtained by The New York Times -- confirmed that recreational access, including motorized trails, backpacking, and licensed hunting and fishing, already existed at Bears Ears at the time Trump justified the July 13 order by claiming "you can't go hunting, you can't go fishing, you can't do anything" at the monument. Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance legal director Steve Bloch said the documents indicate Trump was "lying or spreading misinformation" about the public lands.

2026-08-06 — Additional mining claims staked on land cut from Grand Staircase-Escalante [6, 7]

Craig Rosequist filed two mining claims with the Kane County Recorder's Office in areas removed from Grand Staircase-Escalante by Trump's proclamation, public records showed. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, which first noticed the nine total new claims across both former monuments, said the filings underscored concern about mining activity while litigation to restore the monuments proceeds. The Bureau of Land Management was expected to reject the claims, filed before the proclamations' Sept. 11 effective date for new claims.

2026-08-10 — House Democrats opened insider-trading investigation into neighboring mining company [8, 9]

House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Maxine Dexter opened an investigation into Energy Fuels Inc., whose White Mesa Mill sits about a mile from Bears Ears' former boundary, after CEO Ross Bhappu bought 74,000 shares of company stock -- the largest insider purchase in its history, raising his ownership to 41% -- on July 7, and board chair Bruce Hansen bought 4,000 shares the next day, days before Trump's July 13 reduction opened nearby uranium and vanadium deposits to mining. In a letter to Bhappu, the lawmakers wrote that "the timing of these stock purchases indicate that nonpublic information was potentially available to both you and Mr. Hansen" and that the company's lobbying ties and public statements to investors about government support "demonstrates close coordination and communication with the Trump administration, which may have enabled you to receive privileged information about when the Bears Ears announcement would occur." The lawmakers demanded Energy Fuels turn over its communications with federal officials and its lobbying contracts. A company spokesperson said Energy Fuels "strongly rejects any suggestion" of improper conduct and holds no claims or economic interests inside the former monument boundary.

2026-09-02 — Patagonia and environmental and tribal groups revived 2017-era lawsuits against the cuts [10, 11]

Environmental and tribal groups, coordinated through the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, requested permission to file two updated lawsuits in federal court in Washington, D.C., reviving litigation that had gone dormant after President Biden restored the monuments' boundaries in 2021. Patagonia separately filed its own new suit over the Bears Ears reduction, saying it was "joining a broad coalition" as it had in 2017. The filings argue Trump lacked authority under the Antiquities Act to shrink the monuments and that the reduced boundaries leave the former monument land open to hard-rock mining and oil, gas, and coal leasing, citing mining claims already staked on the cut land. Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance legal director Steve Bloch called the reductions unlawful.