President Donald Trump on Monday announced his administration would reduce two vast national monuments in Utah, arguing that the monuments amounted to a federal land grab by past Democratic presidents.
Speaking in Salt Lake City Monday afternoon, Trump signed a proclamation reducing the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by nearly 2 million acres combined, telling Utahans they were better equipped than the federal government to responsibly care for their state’s lands.
“We know that people who are free to use their land and enjoy their land are the people most determined to conserve their land,” Trump said.
Bears Ears, which covers nearly 1.4 million acres in southeast Utah, was designated a national monument by President Barack Obama in December 2016. The nearly 2-million acre Grand Staircase-Escalante national monument, which sits over a hundred miles west of Bears Ears, was established by President Bill Clinton in 1996. Conservatives have long argued that the enormous designations wrested control of vast swathes of land from the state.
“There is no doubt that specific sites within the new monument demonstrate historic, scientific, as well as cultural and spiritual significance. Native American tribes believe the area is sacred,” Utah Sen. Mike Lee, who appeared alongside Trump Monday, wrote in June. “However, the Antiquities Act is very clear that monument designations should be limited to ‘the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.’ Presidents have ignored this important qualifier in the past, locking up millions of acres that could be managed as multiple-use.’”
