Trump Illegally Decimates Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante
Trump Illegally Decimates Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante
- Mon, Jul 13, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Dear Mark,
Today has been a heartbreaking day for the Protect Wild Utah movement and redrock country. President Trump signed proclamations dramatically slashing Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments by a combined 3 million acres, or over 90%. We’ve been here before, but this time Trump’s attack on the monuments is even more vicious.
As I said in our statement this afternoon, today’s illegal action makes it clear that Utah is the epicenter of Republican efforts to dismantle and obliterate America’s system of public lands. President Trump’s outrageous attack on Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments was taken at the urging of Utah politicians—Senators Mike Lee and John Curtis, Governor Spencer Cox, Rep. Celeste Maloy, and others—who championed this action.
Grand Staircase-Escalante,
© Kieran Corrigan
Bears Ears,
© Jeff FoottSUWA will fight this in every way we can, using every tool in our toolbox for as long as necessary. Once again this will include litigation in the federal court system; we’ve been leading and participating in various cases since Trump’s first attempt at national monument reductions in 2017, and we will challenge today’s unlawful action in court.
Our response also includes ramping up our efforts to promote America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, which would protect much of the land included in the monuments as wilderness. It will mean working closely with the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalitions and our other nonprofit partners. It will mean continuing to work closely with our congressional champions and activating our members and activists in Utah and across the nation.
In moments like this, it’s easy to feel despair, and I understand why. There are many hard days and hard fights ahead—more weeks and months that will test our resolve to do the difficult work that can feel like one step forward, two steps back. But SUWA and the Protect Wild Utah movement are in this for the long haul, and we have a proven track record of defending the redrock against long odds.
We’re able to do the hard work of building powerful political support for public lands in Utah because we have so many passionate supporters like you nationwide. We’ll be calling on you again soon to reach out to your members of Congress, to spread the word about threats to Utah’s wild places, to join us in on-the-ground landscape protection, and more.
Thank you for standing with us in this dire moment. If you’re able, please consider financially supporting our work, and thank you if you already do. We’ll share updates as we continue to fight every day for the places we all love. SUWA has never backed down from a hard fight and we’re not going to start now.
For the redrock and our national monuments,
Scott Braden
Executive Director
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
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