Trump Signs Orders Shrinking Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante Monuments by Nearly 3 Million Acres

President Trump signed two executive orders on July 13 reducing the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah by nearly 3 million acres combined. The orders reverse expansions made during the Biden administration. Utah Gov.

Spencer Cox and the entire Utah congressional delegation attended the signing. “We’re doing something very dramatic and very important for the people of Utah and the people of our country because many people use it,” President Trump said. Grand Staircase-Escalante covers 1.9 million acres and was designated in 1996 by President Clinton.

It was reduced by President Trump in 2017 and restored by President Biden in 2021. Bears Ears covers 1. Utah Gov.

Spencer Cox said the designations being terminated do not fit the Antiquities Act requirement that monuments be the smallest area possible to protect antiquities. “These multi-million-acre monuments, larger than the state of Delaware, certainly do not fit that designation,” he said. Cox noted that Utah has seven national monuments ranging from approximately 700 to 7,000 acres.

He said the state will continue protecting antiquities in the areas but that the large designations left no resources for management. The Antiquities Act of 1906 authorizes the president to designate national monuments on federal land without congressional approval.

Utah is more than two-thirds owned by the federal government, and counties containing the monuments are over 90 percent federally owned, with local governments controlling 5 to 10 percent of the land.