In July 2026, President Donald Trump issued an order affecting two national monuments in Utah. This action would reduce the acreage of Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by a combined total of approximately 2.9 million acres.
National monuments are designated areas of significant natural or cultural importance, set aside for preservation.
Social media users circulated claims that Trump was eliminating 3 million acres from these Utah monuments, opening them up for potential development such as drilling and mining. These claims appeared on platforms like X, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
The proclamations signed on July 13, 2026, indeed significantly altered the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante.
Details of the 2026 Reductions:
- Bears Ears National Monument: Originally encompassing about 1.36 million acres, its size was proposed to be reduced to approximately 121,100 acres.
- Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument: This monument, previously around 1.87 million acres, was slated for reduction to approximately 181,500 acres.
Bears Ears National Monument, named for a distinctive rock formation in southeastern Utah, holds cultural significance for native tribes in the region. Grand Staircase-Escalante, located west of Bears Ears, is recognized for its rugged landscape and geological importance.
This was not the first instance of the Trump administration seeking to reduce the size of these monuments. In December 2017, earlier reductions were enacted: Grand Staircase was decreased to about 840,000 acres, and Bears Ears to roughly 200,000 acres. In October 2021, President Joe Biden restored both monuments to their original sizes.
Legal challenges to the earlier cuts were ongoing. In November 2024, a judge allowed lawsuits aimed at blocking monument reductions to proceed. Conservation groups are also contesting the 2026 proclamations in court, making the final status of these acreage changes uncertain.
The White House fact sheet accompanying the 2026 proclamations cited the presence of valuable mineral resources within Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante as a reason for the reductions, suggesting that removing monument status would allow for resource extraction activities like mining.
This action aligns with previous initiatives by the Trump administration that prioritized resource development over conservation on federal lands. For example, in May 2026, a rule was finalized that revoked grazing permits for a bison herd, allowing cattle ranchers access to the land. In June 2026, proposed changes aimed to revoke protections for critical whooping crane habitat to facilitate other land uses.