Utah delegation seeks to revoke Grand Staircase monument status
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Utah conservation groups are lining up to oppose a move by the state's congressional delegation which would jeopardize the national monument status of Grand Staircase-Escalante.
Trump administration allies cited a recent report from the Government Accountability Office and have introduced a resolution to overturn the Biden-era Resource Management Plan for the 1.9-million-acre preserve.
Steve Bloch, legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, called removing Grand Staircase-Escalante from Bureau of Land Management oversight "a very bad idea."
"If the plan is undone through the Congressional Review Act, it's not clear what plan would replace it," Bloch pointed out. "That's a big part of the concern I think you'll hear from folks is that the plan provides that certainty for land management."
A Congressional Review Act resolution filed two weeks ago by Senator Mike Lee, R-Utah, would revoke the management plan for the monument, which currently provides for recreational access, protection of cultural sites, safeguards for wildlife habitat, restrictions on off-road vehicles in sensitive areas and more. Congress has not yet voted on the resolution.
Autumn Gillard, coordinator of the Grand Staircase Intertribal Coalition, said the monument is sacred to tribal nations as an ancestral homeland. She noted the move bypasses tribal consultation and would remove protections for some of the area's unique resources.
"With this imposement of the CRA, it would leave many cultural resources and environmental resources open for harm," Gillard stressed. "When management frameworks are dismantled, it affects cultural survival and spiritual continuity for Indigenous people."
Other groups opposing the move include the National Parks Conservation Association, the Sierra Club, the National Wildlife Federation and others. It is the latest move in a long-standing battle over the monument, which was reduced in size during President Donald Trump's first term in 2017 before being restored by President Joe Biden in 2021.
