The Trump Administration is Targeting National Monuments

What happened: This month, newly installed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum signed six secretarial orders that included a sneak attack on national monuments, cloaked in obscure legalese. The orders tell agency staff to prioritize industry profit over all other values in land-use decisions – a strategy that puts all our public lands on the chopping block.

Why it matters: This order lays the groundwork for federal agencies to propose downsizing national monuments. Right now, Burgum and his staff are deciding which monuments, if any, they will attack. Support for public lands crosses political divides and runs deep. Now is the time to remind Burgum of that political reality.

When the first Trump administration tried to revoke national monument protections, Earthjustice stepped in alongside Tribes and other conservation groups with a vigorous defense. We’re ready to challenge the second Trump administration and defend our public lands again.

Join us in telling Burgum that we won’t stand for his attacks on cherished public lands that belong to all Americans.

How do Burgum’s orders threaten monuments, people, and the environment?

• In one order, he directs agencies to “review and, as appropriate, revise all withdrawn public lands.” In plain language, this means agencies must assess public lands that are currently shielded from extractive industries, like national monuments or areas deemed inappropriate for mining, and decide whether to remove their protections.
• Agencies were given 15 days to present “action plans” that carry out these orders. That deadline has passed, but the Interior has thus far not disclosed the plans or invited public feedback.
• Monuments that the first Trump administration targeted will likely come back in the crosshairs, particularly Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah. The administration may also come for recently created monuments, such as the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints monument in the Grand Canyon region of Arizona, which former president Biden designated in 2023.
• Other parts of the order could lead to agencies resurrecting cancelled oil and gas leases in protected areas, like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. They may also reopen lands that the government previously withdrew from mining or oil and gas development, like the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota, which is currently threatened by a copper sulfide mine.

How did we get here?

• In 2017, President Trump illegally shrank the size of Bears Ears National Monument by 85% (more than a million acres) and that of Grand Staircase-Escalante by 45%. He announced a plan to open hundreds of thousands of acres of Bears Ears to destructive drilling, logging, and mining.
• To defend the monuments, a coalition including Earthjustice and other conservation groups sued Trump, alongside native Tribes who also brought lawsuits against the government.
• In 2021, President Biden restored the monuments and enlarged Bears Ears. We successfully intervened in a legal challenge to that restoration brought by the state of Utah, mining interests, and other monument foes. A federal court in Utah dismissed that suit, and a ruling from the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals is expected shortly.
• Now, the second Trump administration is setting a course toward new attacks on monuments, along with most public lands protected with a special designation that “withdraws” areas from mining and/or oil and gas development.

Why it matters

• Tribal importance: The significance of Bears Ears National Monument to Native tribes can hardly be overstated. Years of tribal advocacy culminated in its designation under former President Obama, and Native peoples continue to visit the site to hold ceremonies and connect with their ancestors. It is home to centuries-old cliff dwellings, over 100,000 Native American cultural sites, innumerable historic landmarks, and iconic wildlife such as bears, bighorn sheep, and mountain lions.
• Vandalism: Before Bears Ears gained its national monument designation, looters routinely stole the centuries-old objects that were left by the area’s Indigenous inhabitants. Ancient rock art was vandalized, and pottery was destroyed. After President Trump revoked Bears Ears’ monument status in 2017, the site was once again exposed to looting. Destruction by off-road vehicles and mining proposals also threatened the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
• Industry threats: Monument designations also protect sensitive ecosystems, cultural resources, and sacred sites from extractive industries. Mining and fossil fuel development destroy the land and can poison waters with cascading impacts on the communities and species that depend on them. Industry has lobbied President Trump for more access to our public lands, and Burgum’s order risks giving it to them with little federal protections.
• Protecting lands for everyone: Public support for national monuments and the Antiquities Act remains incredibly strong. Hundreds of thousands of people wrote to the government to condemn the shrinking of national monuments for corporate greed. This January, a poll found that 75% of Utah voters support presidents’ ability to protect public lands as national monuments. A separate poll found that 72 percent of voters in Western states prefer their elected leaders choose protecting the environment and wildlife over more oil and gas development.

We’re ready to defend our country’s cherished national monuments.

• The law is clear. Under the Antiquities Act, President Trump does not have the authority to revoke or decrease previously designated national monuments.
• If Trump acts, Earthjustice and our partners will again defend these public lands in court, just as we did in 2017 when Trump illegally cut Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah. National monuments exist to protect land that belongs to all Americans – not line the pockets of greedy corporations and their lobbyists.