In a move reverberating with historical echoes and immediate anguish, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Monday, drastically reducing the size of two revered national monuments in southern Utah – Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante – and, in doing so, effectively abolished the pioneering Bears Ears Commission, a body designed to grant sovereign tribal nations a direct voice in managing their ancestral homelands. This decisive action slashed Bears Ears National Monument by a staggering 91% and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by 90%, opening millions of acres to potential resource extraction and drawing immediate condemnation from Indigenous leaders, conservationists, and legal experts. The combined reduction of approximately three million acres of federal lands represents a profound reassertion of executive power and a stark departure from recent federal policy emphasizing Indigenous stewardship.

The swift dissolution of the Bears Ears Commission, established in 2016 alongside the monument itself, strikes at the heart of a historic endeavor in collaborative land management. Comprising representatives from the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and Zuni Tribe, the commission was envisioned as a groundbreaking model for federal-tribal co-management, ensuring that the original inhabitants of these lands had a formal, institutionalized role in their protection and preservation. Davina Smith-Idjesa, co-chair for the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and its Navajo Nation representative, articulated the profound sense of betrayal and exasperation felt by Indigenous communities. "I am angry. I am hurt, and I am tired of standing here having to explain again why Bears Ears matters to me," Smith-Idjesa stated in a poignant press call Tuesday morning, reflecting a sentiment shared across the five tribes who had tirelessly advocated for the monument’s creation and the commission’s work.

This is not the first time these sacred landscapes have faced such threats. President Trump’s latest proclamation follows a similar, though less extensive, attempt during his first administration, which saw the monuments reduced in 2017. Those reductions were subsequently reversed and the monuments restored to their original boundaries by President Joe Biden in 2021, underscoring the volatile political landscape surrounding federal land designations. The new, more aggressive cuts, widely anticipated since Trump’s return to office last year, are the culmination of a protracted campaign by the state of Utah to diminish the monuments and curtail Indigenous oversight, driven by a desire to unlock these lands for commercial development and resource exploitation.

"We have been here before, but this cuts even deeper," Smith-Idjesa emphasized, highlighting the insidious nature of the current action. "To reduce Bears Ears again is devastating, but to abolish the Bears Ears Commission is to attempt to erase years of tribal leadership, relationships and work between sovereign tribal nations and our federal partners." The Inter-Tribal Coalition further revealed that the Department of the Interior, under the previous Trump administration, had committed to consulting with the commission before any boundary modifications were considered. However, according to the coalition, no such consultation ever took place, a stark violation of established protocol and a dismissive gesture towards tribal sovereignty and partnership.

Monte Mills, director of the Native American Law Center at the University of Washington, pointed to the alarming language embedded within the new proclamation. The order, he noted, deliberately downplayed the immense cultural, historical, and scientific significance of the monument’s features, dismissing them as "not of particular historic or scientific interest" and characterizing the vast landscape as merely "generic features" "not worthy of protection." Mills interpreted this rhetoric as more than just an administrative rollback; it is, he argued, an attempt to "rewrite and trying to erase the real history and meaning and value of this place." He further contextualized this action within "a broader project of white nationalism on the part of this administration," citing other instances, such as the removal of signs from national parks that acknowledge Indigenous histories or the legacy of slavery, as part of a concerted effort to reshape national narratives.

Similar tensions have long simmered around Grand Staircase-Escalante, which President Bill Clinton established in 1996, creating a vast expanse of ecologically diverse and paleontologically rich land. Both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante had finalized their comprehensive resource management plans in 2025, after years of meticulous consultation with the public and, critically, with tribal nations to integrate Indigenous knowledge and traditional ecological practices. Bears Ears, in particular, had emerged as a beacon and a model for Indigenous leadership in land stewardship, demonstrating how federal agencies and tribal governments could effectively collaborate to manage culturally significant landscapes.

The current reductions vividly illustrate the inherent vulnerability of tribal co-management initiatives to the shifting tides of political power and external influence. While Bears Ears had become a lightning rod for ideological debate, the administration’s actions are part of a broader, more dramatic overhaul impacting all echelons of federal land management. Mills cautioned that "What we’re seeing this week is the fundamental destruction of public-lands management as we know it, from grazing rules, oil and gas rules, (Endangered Species Act) rules, Bears Ears." He observed a systematic effort to reshape the federal government’s approach to natural resources, echoing broader themes of deregulation and the prioritization of economic exploitation over environmental and cultural preservation.

Mills further elaborated that while co-management inherently demands collaboration from all parties, the Bears Ears rollback represents the federal government "fully stepping back from its obligations," and doing so, critically, "at the behest of Utah politicians." Utah state officials have historically harbored a contentious relationship with the federal monuments within their borders, viewing federal designations as an encroachment on state sovereignty and an impediment to economic development. In blistering public comments submitted in 2024 on a draft of the Bears Ears resource management plan, the state accused federal agencies under the Biden administration of a "focus on eliminating the State’s rights from this land," claiming "wholesale deference" to the Bears Ears Commission and an intent to "create a new ‘Indian Country’" through the monument. Utah also controversially demanded that the agencies be "more inclusive of living, non-Indigenous people," arguing the plan afforded "less respect, dignity and protections to their heritage when compared to the heritage of the area’s Indigenous people."

Utah’s aggressive stance is not new; the state had previously sued over Biden’s restoration of the monument boundaries in 2022. State officials also complained that the management plan promoted "a state of non-use," a sentiment echoed by President Trump at Monday’s proclamation signing ceremony, where he falsely claimed, "You can’t go hunting. You can’t go fishing. You can’t do anything. You can virtually not even walk on it" – activities that are, in fact, permitted within the monument boundaries. This narrative of "non-use" often serves as a pretext for advocating for extractive industries like mining, oil, and gas drilling, which promise economic benefits but often come at significant environmental and cultural cost.

The decision to drastically shrink the monuments has been met with a torrent of opposition from a diverse coalition including tribal leaders, members of Congress, conservation organizations, outdoor recreationalists, and local communities. On Tuesday, the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), which has represented three of the tribes comprising the Bears Ears Commission, declared that the president lacks the legal authority to shrink national monuments. "We will pursue every available legal course of action to stop these illegal attacks on Native homelands, culture, and people," asserted NARF Deputy Director Matthew Campbell in a resolute statement, signaling the imminent launch of significant legal challenges.

The legal foundation for national monuments stems from the Antiquities Act of 1906, which grants presidents the power to designate federal lands as national monuments to protect "historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest." While presidents have historically used this authority to create and, in rare instances, expand monuments, the power to reduce them significantly has been fiercely debated and litigated. Critics argue that the Act grants creation power, not destruction, and that such reductions undermine the intent of conservation and cultural preservation. This ongoing legal uncertainty, coupled with the back-and-forth over monument boundaries across different administrations, prompted Hillary Hoffmann, professor of law at the University of Wyoming and former co-director of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, to suggest that this "should be a signal to the judiciary that resolution is needed on these legal questions."

Hoffmann also posited that Congress holds the ultimate power to permanently protect Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, ensuring that tribes can continue their vital co-management roles. Despite the current setback, she maintained a hopeful outlook: "I don’t think that this strikes any kind of death knell for collaborative management or co-stewardship." Indeed, the very existence of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition predates the monument itself, formed by the tribes to advocate for the land that ultimately became the monument. That foundational work, the five tribes affirmed this week, will unequivocally continue.

As Smith-Idjesa powerfully articulated, embodying the enduring spirit and deep spiritual connection of her people: "Our connection to Bears Ears did not begin with a presidential proclamation, and it will not end with one. You can abolish a commission, you can redraw a boundary, but you cannot erase our prayers from this land. You cannot erase the footprints of our ancestors from this land. You cannot erase us. We are still here." This unwavering declaration serves as a powerful reminder that while political decisions may alter maps and dismantle institutions, they cannot sever the profound, ancient bonds between Indigenous peoples and their ancestral lands, nor can they extinguish the relentless fight for justice and self-determination. The battle for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, both in the courts and on the ground, is far from over.