Reductions in size to the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments in southern Utah will be reviewed by the Biden administration amid a flurry of orders addressing the environment.
In his first day in office on Jan. 20, President Joe Biden also moved to rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate change, canceled the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, and placed a temporary moratorium on oil and natural gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
He also began efforts to restore more than 100 environmental regulations that were weakened or rolled back by the Trump administration.
Grand Staircase was created by President Bill Clinton in 1996, and President Barack Obama created Bears Ears in 2016 at the request of five Native American tribes with ancestral ties to the lands. The Trump administration redrew borders for both monuments to allow coal mining and oil and gas drilling on lands that used to be off limits.
Grand Staircase was cut from 1.9 million to 1 million acres and Bears Ears from 1.3 million to 200,000 acres. Both moves were applauded by Utah’s state and congressional Republican leaders, who called the monuments federal government overreach and who oppose the review ordered by the Biden administration.
Lawsuits have been filed by environmental, tribal, and outdoor recreation organizations to restore the full sizes of the monuments, arguing that presidents do not have the authority to change monuments created by predecessors.
The lands are sacred to tribes in the American Southwest, and are popular for outdoor recreation.
The Bureau of Land Management, an agency of the US Department of Interior, talks about its oversight of the monuments here.
Biden’s order asks his choice for Interior Secretary, US Rep. Deb Haaland, Democrat of New Mexico, to review the cuts made to the monuments and submit a report within 60 days providing recommendations for restoring the lands that were cut.
Holland is a member of the Laguna Pueblo and calls herself a 35th-generation New Mexican. If confirmed to the post, she would be the first Native American to serve in a president’s Cabinet.
Clinton and Obama used the federal Antiquities Act to create the monuments, saying their actions were necessary to protect cultural artifacts, fossil resources, and natural wonders. The moves blocked future mineral development and limited motorized access, but allowed livestock grazing to continue.