Trump reduces Utah national monuments by 90%

President Donald Trump signed proclamations on Monday, July 13, 2026, dramatically reducing the size of two national monuments in Utah, a move that revives a contentious legal and political battle over public lands management. The orders shrink Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by a combined nearly 3 million acres, leaving them at less than 10 percent of their previous size.

The proclamations reduce Grand Staircase-Escalante from approximately 1.87 million acres to about 180,000 acres and Bears Ears from roughly 1.36 million acres to around 121,000 acres. This action exceeds the scale of Trump's 2017 reductions, which were later reversed by President Joe Biden in 2021. At a White House signing event, Trump framed the decision as returning land to the people, claiming the previous designations prohibited activities like hunting and fishing. However, conservation groups and state regulations indicate those activities were already permitted.

Utah's Republican officials, including Governor Spencer Cox who attended the signing, applauded the move. Cox stated the question has never been whether to protect the lands, but how to protect them...