President Donald Trump has revoked protections for Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument and ordered the termination of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Commission. It has set the stage for a renewed legal battle over one of the Native tribes’ most sacred landscapes. This significant shift in public land policy marks a dramatic change for the region. It also severely reduces protections put in place to safeguard these historic and culturally significant areas.
According to Native News Online, the executive action signed on July 13 dictates that approximately 1.24 million acres will lose national monument protections. The order specifies that 60 days after it was signed, the lands removed from the monument will become eligible for mineral leasing, mining claims, and other public land uses. This decision is already sparking intense reactions from those who believe the land deserves long-term preservation.
This order is the latest chapter in a years-long dispute over Bears Ears, a landscape revered by Tribal Nations for its cultural, spiritual, and historical significance. As noted by PBS, this back-and-forth underscores how national monuments have become a flashpoint over the management of public lands.
The president had attempted the same action in his first term
Per Native News, the Native American Rights Fund, which has represented the Hopi Tribe, Pueblo of Zuni, and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe since 2017 in litigation involving Bears Ears, condemned the decision. “We will pursue every available legal course of action to stop these illegal attacks on Native homelands, culture, and people,” said Matthew L. Campbell, the deputy director of the Native American Rights Fund.
“Native communities worked for years with the broader public to obtain national monument status for Bears Ears,” he noted. “These protections provide a means for Tribal Nations and Native communities to preserve their ongoing relationships with the land, culture, and traditional practices. Tribal Nations have protected these lands for generations and they won’t stop now.”
PBS reported that the region contains thousands of archaeological and cultural sites. This includes cliff dwellings, rock art, ceremonial locations, and ancestral villages. Tribal citizens also continue to hunt, gather medicinal plants, and conduct traditional cultural practices throughout the landscape.
Many tribal members say this is not just about environmental policy. It is about protecting a living history that is deeply tied to their identity. As Davina Smith-Idjesa, a citizen of the Navajo Nation and co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, stated, “Our connection to this place cannot be erased by the stroke of a pen.”
The Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Commission, which Trump ordered terminated, was reportedly created to give Tribal Nations a formal role in the monument’s management. It reflected years of advocacy for co-stewardship of ancestral lands.
The Native American Rights Fund argued that the presidential action exceeds authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906, per Native News. The act authorizes presidents to establish national monuments. The organization, however, contends it does not grant presidents the authority to revoke or significantly diminish existing monuments.
“The Antiquities Act of 1906 authorizes presidents to declare national monuments. It does not give presidents the power to undeclare existing monuments,” the Fund said in a statement. “We will fight to ensure the limits on the President’s authority are enforced and that Bears Ears continues to enjoy the protections necessary to sustain it for our peoples and future generations.”
Per Trump’s order, the monument designation suffered from several flaws. The text states, “Where the President determines that the structures and objects identified by a prior monument proclamation no longer are, or never were, deserving of the Antiquities Act’s protections, the Antiquities Act permits the President to remove land from the monument and return it to its prior federally managed status.”
The proclamation further claims that the region contains resources vital to energy and resource independence. It noted resources such as silver, copper, molybdenum, lead, uranium, vanadium, and zinc, which are described as critical to national security. In a different case, the administration convened the ‘God Squad’ a few months ago to exempt oil and gas companies from complying with the Endangered Species Act.
This legal challenge is expected to revive questions raised during Trump’s first term. That was when his administration first reduced the size of Bears Ears, in 2017. At that point, Tribal Nations and conservation organizations filed lawsuits. The monument’s boundaries were later restored by President Joe Biden in 2021.
Tribal Nations and their legal advocates are once again preparing to defend Bears Ears. They argue that the monument represents far more than public land. It is an irreplaceable homeland where Native history, culture, spirituality, and identity remain deeply rooted.
Published: Jul 18, 2026 08:45 am