On January 20, President Biden issued an executive order 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 Marine National Monument. While the executive order included a 60-day review deadline, following the recent confirmation of Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, where she committed to visiting Utah, this initial recommendation deadline has been extended.

In the meantime, because of the executive order, and with the consent of the National Trust and other litigating parties, the lawsuit challenging the revocation of Bears Ears National Monument has been temporarily put on hold. The key question in that litigation is whether Congress delegated the president's authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to revoke monument designations. While the case had been fully briefed for some time, the D.C. federal district court has stayed the litigation until June and ordered the parties to provide periodic updates to the court. The National Trust and our many partners continue to communicate our support for restoring the national monument and restarting the monument management planning process to ensure that the area is adequately protected.