The proclamations reduced by 90% the protected areas of Bears Ears and the Grand Staircase-Escalante.
Together, the two presidential proclamations could open up more than 3 million acres of formerly protected land—including sacred tribal sites—to exploration for oil, minerals, and gas, as well as motorist and non-motorist recreation.
The Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition—which includes the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Pueblo of Zuni, and Ute Indian Tribe—said that the sites contain “thousands of sacred cultural sites and important areas of spiritual significance.”
The coalition has since said that the governments it represents require “a meaningful voice in the development of a land management plan” for Bears Ears. TIME has reached out for comment.
The SUWA expressed plans to contest the proclamations in court.
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“For too long, presidents have weaponized monument designations to lock up millions of acres, close roads, restrict grazing, and cut rural communities off from lands their families have lived on and worked for generations,” Republican Sen. Mike Lee said in a statement on Monday.
He continued: “We deeply value these natural, cultural, and scientific treasures. The historic landmarks and other nationally significant resources remain under federal protection, while allowing agencies to direct limited resources toward caring for these specific sites rather than millions of surrounding acres.”
What Is the Antiquities Act?
Unlike national parks, whose designations must be approved by Congress, national monuments are given that status by the sitting president under the Antiquities Act. It was signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906.
While presidents have frequently used the Act to enlarge existing monuments, Trump is the first President since John F. Kennedy to reduce the scale of a monument. Several earlier presidents—including William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy—also reduced monument boundaries. However, Trump's reductions are unprecedented in scale and may therefore face greater legal scrutiny.
Its exact language has been carefully scrutinized over the years. Of particular note is the line that says national monuments must be limited to the “smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be protected.”
The Trump Administration alleges that both Clinton and Biden sought to protect a sweeping landscape that overly broadened the scope of the legislation as it is written.
He also wrote that the previously established Bears Ears National Monument “suffers from several flaws under Antiquities Act analysis” and that “generic” features “are not historic landmarks, historic or prehistoric structures, or other objects of historic or scientific interest.” The proclamation also argues that the Bears Ears region “contains several resources that are vital to energy and resource independence and, in turn, critical to national security.”
Historically, courts have upheld broad presidential authority to grant monument status under the Antiquities Act, but they have not definitively ruled on a President’s power to revoke or reduce that designation.
The proclamations will go into effect in 60 days.
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