Trump cuts Bears Ears and Grand Staircase, repeating 2017 pattern despite century of sacred-site recognition
President Trump signed proclamations on July 13, 2026, shrinking Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by ~90%, restoring the boundaries he set in 2017 and implementing Project 2025's blueprint for energy extraction on public lands—despite over a century of federal recognition of the lands' sacred status to Tribal Nations.
On July 13, 2026, President Trump signed proclamations reducing Bears Ears National Monument from 1.36 million acres to ~121,100 acres and Grand Staircase-Escalante from 1.87 million acres to ~181,500 acres—roughly 90% cuts that reinstate his 2017 boundaries. These actions directly implement the Project 2025 playbook, which calls for shrinking or eliminating national monuments to unlock lands for fossil fuel and mineral extraction. The proclamations undo the Biden-era restorations and return the monuments to their 2017 reduced sizes. This is not a routine boundary adjustment but a deliberate dismantling of cultural and environmental protections under the guise of 'local control' and 'energy dominance.' The harms are immediate: looting of archaeological sites, desecration of burial grounds, loss of intact ecosystems, and a broken promise of tribal co-management that President Biden had codified. Eight major lawsuits have already been filed over the boundary changes, but the administration is betting that court delays will allow extraction to proceed before legal challenges can succeed.
The humanitarian alternative
Congress should pass the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante Protection Act, which would permanently codify the monument boundaries at their maximum extent (the 2021 boundaries) and enshrine tribal co-management as a statutory requirement. This bill would remove the antiquated Antiquities Act as a political yo-yo for these lands, giving Tribal Nations and the public a permanent, court-enforceable right to protection.
In the near term, the administration should immediately reinstate the original boundaries and establish a Tribal-led community consultation process to identify additional areas of cultural and ecological significance. Any leasing or extraction activities on the newly excluded lands should be halted pending full environmental review under NEPA and consultation under the National Historic Preservation Act. This approach respects the original purpose of the Antiquities Act—protecting objects of historic and scientific interest—while honoring trust responsibilities to Tribal Nations.
Falsifiable predictions
What this entry claims will happen, and what data would prove it wrong. The Reckoner revisits these against current reality.
- Within 90 days, the Bureau of Land Management will issue at least one oil and gas lease sale or mining permit on lands newly excluded from the monuments.
- At least one federal district court will issue a preliminary injunction blocking the boundary reductions within six months, citing violations of the Antiquities Act.
- The number of recorded archaeological looting incidents in the excluded areas will increase by at least 50% within one year, compared to the 2023–2025 average.
Grounded in
Original source — excerpted
news The US has acknowledged Bears Ears and Grand Staircase as sacred for over a century, but keeps stripping away protections"President Donald Trump signed proclamations on July 13, 2026, cutting the size of Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by roughl..."