# Trump Slashes Two Utah National Monuments by 90%, Reigniting Battle Over Sacred Tribal Lands
President Donald Trump signed proclamations Monday dramatically shrinking Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in southern Utah, stripping federal protections from roughly 3 million acres of red-rock canyons, ancient cliff dwellings and lands considered sacred by multiple Native American tribes.
The move marks the second time in Trump’s political career that he has moved to shrink the two monuments, and this time the cuts go even deeper than his first-term attempt. Standing in the Oval Office surrounded by Utah’s all-Republican congressional delegation, Gov. Spencer Cox and House Speaker Mike Schultz, Trump framed the decision as correcting what he called federal overreach into state affairs.
,The proclamations reduce the monuments to sizes officials say allow for “common sense land use in these areas.”, ,Grand Staircase-Escalante shrinks from approximately 1.87 million acres down to about 181,500 acres,, while ,Bears Ears drops from roughly 1.36 million acres to approximately 121,100 acres.,
“Let’s sign,” ,Trump said as he put pen to paper. “This is very nice. I’m very happy about this.,” As he signed the second order, ,Trump added: “Almost 3 million acres, going to be well taken care of now.”,
## A Bigger Cut Than the First Time
The rollback is far steeper than what Trump ordered during his first term in 2017. ,Those earlier cuts eliminated almost half of Grand Staircase-Escalante and 85% of Bears Ears, in what was then the largest reduction of federal land protections in U.S. history., ,President Biden later restored the original boundaries in 2021 and even added 12,000 acres to Bears Ears.,
This time, ,Trump’s order cuts Bears Ears National Monument by 91%,, an even more aggressive reduction than his first attempt. Trump insisted the new cuts are more generous to the state than critics claim. “We’re actually giving more than we did the first time back to the people of Utah,” ,Trump said in the Oval Office signing.,
Cox, who has long pushed for the state to wrest greater control over its public lands, praised the decision as a major victory. “We’ve done something that was, I think, very desperately needed,” ,Trump said in the Oval Office. “It was very unfair to the people of Utah, and now fairness has been brought back. It’s going to be better taken care of, and they’ll be able to use it a little bit.”,
## Tribes Say Sacred Ground Is Being Sacrificed
For Native American tribes, the news reopened old wounds. Bears Ears holds special significance because it was the first national monument created at the direct request of tribal nations, honoring the deep historical and spiritual ties of the Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Ute Mountain Ute and Uintah-Ouray Ute peoples. The landscape is dotted with ancestral villages, ceremonial grounds, burial sites and features tied to tribal creation stories, and houses hundreds of thousands of culturally and scientifically significant artifacts under a joint management agreement between tribes and federal agencies.
Tribal leaders say they were largely shut out of the decision-making process, despite legal obligations requiring consultation before changes of this magnitude. Advocates argue the reduction treats sacred ancestral land as merely another resource to be divided up for economic gain, rather than a living connection to tribal heritage, ceremony and identity that deserves protection in its entirety.
## Conservationists Warn of Ripple Effects
Environmental groups say the consequences extend well beyond the immediate boundary changes. Jackie Grant, who directs Grand Staircase Escalante Partners, warned that ,the change could have real impacts on everything from native plants and wildlife to dark skies, and is especially concerned about the monument’s wilderness study areas, which remain undeveloped., She added that the move ,”seems like this is laying the groundwork to further degrade and develop the national monument by opening up other areas that we thought were protected to development and extraction.”,
Not everything stripped from the monuments loses protection outright. ,Some of the removed lands remain within federal Wilderness Study Areas and Areas of Environmental Concern — designations that still shield them from development, at least for now., However, ,the Interior Department announced last month a review of policies surrounding those study areas, which conservation groups fear could weaken the safeguards they currently provide.,
## Resource Development at the Core
Utah officials have pushed for years to open portions of the monuments to mining and energy development. Grand Staircase-Escalante sits atop substantial coal deposits, though ,a large coal deposit within the monument’s original boundaries wasn’t considered profitable enough for companies to mine even after Trump opened the land during his first term., Bears Ears, meanwhile, contains uranium reserves that state officials have long eyed for extraction.
## Legal Fights Loom
The reductions are almost certain to trigger fresh litigation. ,The cuts are expected to revive arguments from a 2017 lawsuit claiming Trump lacked the authority to rescind a monument designation, echoing a similar dispute already playing out in a case Utah officials filed more recently.,
The fight over Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante has become a political pendulum, swinging between protection and rollback depending on which party controls the White House. With Republicans now controlling Congress and the administration pushing an aggressive agenda of expanded drilling, mining and logging on federal lands nationwide, conservationists and tribal advocates say they expect the legal and political battle over Utah’s red-rock country to stretch on for years to come.