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As one of President Biden’s first acts in office, an Executive Order was issued on January 20, 2021 directing the Secretary of the Interior to review the revocation of the Bears Ears National Monument, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monument.

The Secretary is required to complete the review and submit a report to the President within 60 days with recommendations for actions consistent with the Antiquities Act.

The ongoing litigation challenging these monument revocations will likely be stayed while this review is completed and next steps are determined. It is widely anticipated that legal protections for these monuments will ultimately be restored. The National Trust will continue to be deeply engaged and provide updates on this critical issue.

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The Bureau of Land Management has released its final management plan and Environmental Impact Study for Bears Ears National Monument and it is terrible.

Our lawsuit challenging President Trump’s illegal rollback of the monument’s land area by approximately 85 percent is still pending. But the Bureau of Land Management is moving forward anyway—with a final management plan and Environmental Impact Study that only address the two smaller national monument units created by the Trump Administration.

This plan should not be finalized before the litigation is complete. Furthermore, the plan completely lacks appropriate measures to ensure protection of the vast cultural and historic resources that prompted national monument designation in the first place. This leaves the land vulnerable to threats like mining, oil and gas extraction, looting, and vandalism.

But all is not lost. The public comment period to weigh in on the plan is now open.

Join us in making a strong statement of support for protecting this cultural, historic, and sacred site from a fundamentally flawed and inadequate plan!

The National Trust and our partners took another step to ensure that the cultural resources within Bears Ears National Monument are protected.

On August 26, 2019, we filed a formal protest of the Monument Management Plan released by the Bureau of Land Management earlier this summer. The Plan does not include sufficient protections for cultural resources, and only includes the two small national monument units created by President Trump in 2017.

Further action on this flawed management plan should be put on hold until the courts resolve the legal challenges against the revocation of Bears Ears National Monument.

The National Trust has released a statement in response to the release by Bureau of Land Management (BLM) of its final management plan and Environmental Impact Study for the two small national monument units created by President Trump in 2017 to replace the Bears Ears National Monument.

Read the full statement here.

Each year, the list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places sheds light on important examples of our nation’s heritage that are at risk of destruction or irreparable damage. Over 300 places have been listed in its 32-year history, and in that time, fewer than 5 percent of listed sites have been lost.

On this year’s list is Ancestral Places of Southeast Utah. Archaeologists believe this area to be one of the country’s most culturally rich but unprotected landscapes open to oil and gas extraction.

In the last two years, the Bureau of Land Management dramatically escalated leasing activity in the region, despite concerns from the National Trust, affected tribes, and our regional partners.

Send a letter to the Department of the Interior urging them to recognize the cultural significance of these lands.