Modifying the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Key Points

• Trump is shrinking the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah from about 1.87 million acres down to roughly 181,541 acres, split into two smaller units.
• The roughly 1.69 million acres removed from the monument will reopen to mining claims, oil and gas leasing, and land sales 60 days after the proclamation, partly to boost domestic supplies of critical minerals like uranium and cobalt.
• For the land that remains protected, the proclamation directs officials to prioritize grazing, expand motorized access, and treat grazing lands as culturally significant, shifting management toward traditional uses.
• The administration argues the 2021 expansion protected generic scenery and common resources that do not meet the Antiquities Act's requirement to protect only unique historic or scientific objects in the smallest area necessary.
• The change is likely to draw legal challenges from environmental and tribal groups, echoing the lawsuits that followed the similar 2017 reduction of the monument, which was itself reversed by the 2021 expansion.