Yesterday, President Donald Trump signed two proclamations reducing the size of the Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) issued the following statement in response:

“Right-sizing Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante restores the original intent of the Antiquities Act and corrects gross presidential overreach from the Obama and Biden administrations. Today’s actions put power back in the hands of Utahns, not bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. I commend President Trump for listening to local voices and restoring commonsense land policies.”

Background

President Trump’s two proclamations reduce the size of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument from 1.87 million acres to 181,500 acres and the size of the Bears Ears National Monument from 1.36 million acres to 121,100 acres. The Antiquities Act of 1906 authorizes the president to unilaterally establish national monuments “confined to the smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be protected.” However, numerous presidential administrations have since abused this power to lock up hundreds of millions of acres of land and water under restrictive national monument designations.

Both Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments were designated under Democratic administrations in the face of unanimous opposition from Utah’s governors and entire Congressional delegations. In 2017, President Trump reduced the size of both monuments, and, in 2021, President Biden expanded them to their original boundaries.