President Joe Biden will take action today to restore protections to three national monuments. The new proclamations will reestablish the boundaries previously in place at Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah, and restore management conditions to the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument in the northwest Atlantic Ocean.
“The president’s protection of these three national monuments is among a series of steps the administration has taken to restore protections to some of America’s most cherished lands and waters,” the White House stated, “many of which are sacred to Tribal Nations.”
Interior Department Secretary Deb Haaland, who had recommended the changes to the president, said she supported the decisions.
“On my visit to Utah, I had the distinct honor to speak with many people who care deeply about this land,” Haaland said. “The historical connection between Indigenous peoples and Bears Ears is undeniable; our Native American ancestors sustained themselves on the landscape since time immemorial and evidence of their rich lives is everywhere one looks. This living landscape must be protected so that all Americans have the profound opportunity to learn and cherish our history.”
Utah legislators, who were working on a legislative solution to the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments, said they were disappointed by Biden’s executive order announcement. The statement came from Utah Sens. Mike Lee and Mitt Romney and Reps. John Curtis, Black Moore, Burgess Owens and Chris Stewart.
“President Biden is delivering a devastating blow to the ongoing efforts by our delegation, along with state, local, and tribal leaders, to find a permanent, legislative solution to resolve the longstanding dispute over the boundaries and management of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments,” the legislators said. “Rather than take the opportunity to build unity in a divided region and bring resources and lasting protections to sacred antiquities by seeking a mutually beneficial and permanent legislative solution, President Biden fanned the flames of controversy and ignored input from the communities closest to these monuments. We will continue to support efforts to ensure that our monuments’ boundaries and management reflect the unique stakeholder interest and uses in the area, but today’s ‘winner-take-all’ mentality moved us further away from that goal.”
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack joined Haaland in supporting the decisions.
“The Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah conserves one of most significant cultural landscapes in the United States, with thousands of archaeological sites and important areas of spiritual significance to Native American people in the region,” Vilsack said.
Bears Ears National Monument is the first national monument designated at the request of Tribal Nations. In 2016, President Barack Obama established the 1.35-million-acre national monument in Utah. Biden’s executive order restores the boundaries established in 2016 and retains the 12,000 acres added by President Donald Trump.
In 1996, President Bill Clinton established Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument on public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management. On three separate occasions, Congress adjusted the acreage of lands reserved within the monument boundary to approximately 1.87 million acres. The executive order restores those boundaries.
In 2016, President Obama established the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument to be jointly managed by the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The proclamation reserved 4,913 square miles in the northwest Atlantic Ocean and prohibited harmful activities. Biden’s executive order restore the area and restrictions.
