The US has acknowledged Bears Ears and Grand Staircase as sacred for over a century, but keeps stripping away protections

President Trump signed proclamations on July thirteenth cutting the size of Utah's Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by roughly ninety percent. The action will strip nearly three million acres of monument protections by September, opening the land to mining for copper, uranium, and other minerals. According to The Conversation, the five tribal nations that consider these lands sacred—including the Navajo, Hopi, Ute, Zuni, and Paiute—were not consulted and have condemned the decision. Tribal leaders describe the monuments not as isolated sacred sites, but as sacred landscapes where their people gather plants for ceremonies, conduct pilgrimages, and maintain spiritual connections that span generations. The rollback follows an eighteen-month campaign by Utah's Republican leadership and marks another chapter in what scholars describe as a century-long pattern: the federal government acknowledging these lands' cultural significance while ultimately stripping away their protections.

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