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U.S. Representative Paul Gosar of Arizona has introduced two bills that propose to eliminate two national monuments in Arizona. The bills would eliminate Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument, designated by President Joe Biden in 2023, and Ironwood Forest National Monument, designated by President Bill Clinton in 2000. Both monuments were designated using the authority granted to presidents by the Antiquities Act of 1906.
Both monuments have been in the crosshairs since the beginning of the second Trump administration. In his first day on the job, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered a "review" of national monuments designated by previous presidents. An internal Interior Department memo from April 2025 confirmed that eliminating national monuments—including Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni and Ironwood Forest—remains a policy objective of the administration and its allies in Congress. Ironwood Forest National Monument was featured during the Center for Western Priorities' Keep Parks Public road tour stop in Tucson, Arizona last month.
"This is an affront to the freedom of all Americans who rely on these landscapes for cultural, recreational, economic and health benefits," Scott Miller, southwest regional director at The Wilderness Society, said in a statement. "It will threaten critical habitat for wildlife and desecrate our treasured natural places, and flies in the face of the massive broad Tribal and local support for these places."
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From sweeping executive orders promoting 'energy dominance' to secretive agency directives expanding oil and gas leasing, we’re in the midst of a wholesale attack on public land protections nationwide. The 'multiple use' doctrine has been weaponized to mean one thing: corporate use.”
