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Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has recommended that President Biden fully restore two national monuments in Utah and a marine reserve off of the East Coast which were stripped of protections by President Trump. In 2017, Trump slashed Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by 85% and 50% respectively, and removed protections from Northeast Canyons and Seamounts, initiating the largest rollback of public land protections in history. President Biden campaigned on his opposition to this move, and on his first day in office he directed the Interior Department to review Trump's actions to inform a path forward for these monuments.
In April, Secretary Haaland visited Utah to meet with stakeholders and tour the locations under consideration. The restoration of Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears is long awaited by tribes and nearby communities, and is supported by a strong majority of voters in the West. 77% of Western voters support restoring protections to areas with archaeological and Native American sites, despite the presence of oil, gas, and mineral deposits. Both monuments have significant natural and cultural resources that have been under threat since protections were removed. Bears Ears was the first national monument proposed by tribes, and the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition continues to push for protection for this important landscape.
President Biden's decision will impact ongoing legal challenges over whether President Trump had the authority to reduce national monuments. The White House has not yet made a decision on its next steps, however, Secretary Haaland's recommendation is a positive sign for the protection of these important landscapes.
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Tracy [Stone-Manning] will be an incredible administrator of the BLM. Politics will be left at the door when she's managing the BLM, and it's a real shame that they [Barrasso] want to play these sort of political hit jobs on someone who has an incredible record of bringing people together, and being direct in managing diverse interests."
