In a move reverberating across Indigenous communities and environmental circles, President Donald Trump on Monday drastically scaled back two iconic national monuments in southern Utah, effectively abolishing the Bears Ears Commission, a groundbreaking body designed to give tribal nations a direct voice in the management of their ancestral lands. The president’s proclamation slashed Bears Ears National Monument by a staggering 91% and simultaneously reduced the nearby Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by 90%, freeing up millions of acres for potential resource extraction and igniting a fierce backlash from tribal leaders, conservationists, and legal experts. This decision marks a significant escalation from previous attempts by the Trump administration to diminish these protected areas, reversing the restorations made under President Joe Biden and reigniting a long-standing battle over federal land management and tribal sovereignty.

The Bears Ears Commission, established alongside the 1.35 million-acre Bears Ears National Monument in 2016, represented a historic achievement in collaborative conservation. It brought together representatives from the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and Zuni Tribe with federal agencies to co-manage lands imbued with profound cultural, spiritual, and historical significance. Its abolition, a direct consequence of the monument’s dramatic reduction, struck at the heart of Indigenous self-determination and the principle of co-stewardship. "I am angry. I am hurt, and I am tired of standing here having to explain again why Bears Ears matters to me," stated Davina Smith-Idjesa, co-chair for the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and its Navajo Nation representative, during an emotional press call Tuesday morning. The Coalition, a non-profit formed by the five tribes, has been a tireless advocate for the monument, emphasizing its irreplaceable value.

The combined reduction of approximately 3 million acres of federal lands is far more extensive than the boundary adjustments enacted by Trump during his first term, which were subsequently reversed and the original protections reinstated by President Biden. This latest proclamation, widely anticipated since the president’s return to office last year, culminates a persistent campaign by the state of Utah to curtail the monuments and diminish Indigenous oversight. "We have been here before, but this cuts even deeper," Smith-Idjesa lamented, highlighting the profound impact of not just shrinking the sacred lands but dismantling the very mechanism of tribal governance. "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."

Adding to the outrage, the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition revealed that the Department of the Interior under the Trump administration had promised to consult with the commission before considering any changes to the monument’s boundaries. This crucial consultation, a cornerstone of respectful government-to-government relations with sovereign tribal nations, never materialized, deepening the sense of betrayal. The legal foundation for such designations, the Antiquities Act of 1906, grants presidents the authority to create national monuments to protect "historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest." While presidents have historically used this power to establish and expand protected areas, the authority to significantly shrink or abolish them remains a contentious legal question, setting the stage for protracted court battles.

Monte Mills, director of the Native American Law Center at the University of Washington, pointed to the language of the new order as particularly insidious. It dismisses significant cultural and geological features within the monument as "not of particular historic or scientific interest" and the landscape as merely "generic features" unworthy of protection. "This isn’t just about, ‘Oh, we’re going to undo this monument,’" Mills explained, but rather "trying to rewrite and trying to erase the real history and meaning and value of this place." He further contextualized the proclamation as part of "a broader project of white nationalism on the part of this administration," aligning with other governmental efforts to downplay or remove Indigenous histories from public discourse and national park narratives.

Similar tensions have long surrounded Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, initially established by President Bill Clinton in 1996 to protect its vast paleontological and geological treasures. The Inter-Tribal Coalition, expanding its advocacy, formed last year to defend this monument as well and ensure the inclusion of tribal perspectives in its management. Both monuments had finalized their comprehensive resource management plans in 2025, following extensive public and tribal consultations aimed at integrating Indigenous knowledge and practices into their stewardship. Bears Ears, in particular, had emerged as a pioneering model for Indigenous leadership in land management, demonstrating the profound benefits of culturally informed conservation strategies.

The abrupt reversal underscores the inherent vulnerability of tribal co-management initiatives to shifts in political power and the enduring influence of extractive industry interests. While co-management necessitates collaboration, Mills described the Bears Ears rollback as the federal government "fully stepping back from its obligations" at the explicit "behest of Utah politicians." This move, he argued, signals a broader assault on the very foundations of public lands management, aligning with concurrent changes to grazing regulations, oil and gas leasing rules, and even the weakening of the Endangered Species Act. "What we’re seeing this week is the fundamental destruction of public-lands management as we know it," Mills asserted, characterizing it as a systemic reshaping of federal environmental policy across the public landscape.

Utah state officials have historically maintained a contentious relationship with the expansive federal monuments within their borders. In blistering public comments submitted in 2024 on a draft of the Bears Ears resource management plan, the state vehemently accused federal agencies under the Biden administration of an "eliminating the State’s rights from this land" and exhibiting "wholesale deference" to the Bears Ears Commission. Utah further alleged that the plan sought to "create a new ‘Indian Country’" through the national monument, demanding that agencies be "more inclusive of living, non-Indigenous people" and claiming the draft plan gave "less respect, dignity and protections to their heritage when compared to the heritage of the area’s Indigenous people." The state, which famously sued over President Biden’s restoration of the monuments in 2022, also criticized the plan for promoting "a state of non-use." These sentiments were 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" – all activities that are, in fact, permitted within the monuments.

The decision has been met with widespread condemnation from a diverse coalition of tribal leaders, members of Congress, conservation organizations, outdoor recreationalists, and local communities. On Tuesday, the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), representing three of the tribes on the Bears Ears Commission, unequivocally 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," stated Matthew Campbell, NARF Deputy Director, signaling an imminent legal challenge that is expected to escalate to the highest courts.

Hillary Hoffmann, a professor of law at the University of Wyoming and former co-director of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, underscored the critical need for judicial intervention, noting that the constant political seesaw over monument boundaries over the past decade "should be a signal to the judiciary that resolution is needed on these legal questions." She suggested that congressional action could provide a permanent solution, by legislatively protecting Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante and enshrining tribal co-management into law. Despite the current setback, Hoffmann expressed optimism, stating, "I don’t think that this strikes any kind of death knell for collaborative management or co-stewardship."

Indeed, long before the Bears Ears Commission was officially established, the five tribes united to form the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, fighting tirelessly for the recognition and protection of their ancestral lands. That unwavering commitment, tribal leaders affirmed this week, will continue unabated. "Our connection to Bears Ears did not begin with a presidential proclamation, and it will not end with one," declared Smith-Idjesa with defiant resolve. "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." The legal and political battles ahead will determine the future of these sacred landscapes and the fundamental principle of Indigenous self-determination in federal land management.