Trump’s July 13 order strips national monument protections from about 1.24 million acres at Bears Ears and terminates the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Commission, reopening a fight over one of Native nations’ most sacred landscapes.
In 60 days, the removed land becomes eligible for mineral leasing, mining claims and other public-land uses, making resource development the immediate practical effect of the order.
NARF, representing the Hopi Tribe, Pueblo of Zuni and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe since 2017, called the move illegal and said it will challenge Trump in court under the Antiquities Act.
The dispute revives Trump’s first-term 2017 rollback of Bears Ears, which triggered lawsuits before Biden restored the monument’s boundaries in 2021.
Can a president legally shrink national monuments? A century-old law now faces its biggest test.
What specific cultural and natural resources are now at risk within the nearly 3 million acres of reduced monument lands?
Trump Shrinks Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in 2026: Legal Showdown and Consequences for Public Lands
Overview
On July 13, 2026, President Donald Trump signed executive orders that drastically reduced the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, marking a major shift in federal land management. This move reversed protections restored by President Biden in 2021 and opened the lands to increased development and resource extraction. Native American tribes and conservation groups immediately expressed deep dismay, highlighting the cultural and environmental importance of these areas. The orders sparked intense legal challenges, centering on whether the Antiquities Act allows a president to reduce monuments, a question that remains unresolved and fuels ongoing debate over presidential authority and public land stewardship.