President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday that sharply reduces the size of two protected national monuments in Utah, according to The Guardian.
The decision scales back protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, opening public land for corporate developers and energy industries.
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The order cuts close to 1.5 million acres from each site, which contain ancient cliff dwellings, petroglyphs, and rich mineral deposits like coal and uranium.
"They took the land from the people quite honestly," Trump said. "We're giving it back."
This marks Trump's second attempt to shrink these designations, following a 2017 effort later reversed by the Biden administration.
Republican officials from Utah supported the reductions, citing limits under federal law.
"We believe that under the Antiquities Act, it's very clear that these monument designations are supposed to be the smallest area possible to protect the antiquities," said Governor Spencer Cox.
Environmental law specialists and tribal coalition leaders condemned the move and promised immediate legal opposition.
"President Trump's attack on Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments is just as illegal today as it was in 2017," said Heidi McIntosh of Earthjustice.
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Environmental groups argue the Antiquities Act allows preservation, not elimination, of historic sites.
"Today's proclamations are a slap to the face of public lands visitors across the country," McIntosh added.
Indigenous representatives expressed heartbreak, noting federal authorities failed to formally consult with impacted tribal nations.
"From a Navajo perspective, Bears Ears is not simply a piece of federal public land," said Davina Smith-Idjesa, co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition.
The landscape holds immense spiritual value as a joint-management site for the Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Ute Mountain Ute, and Uintah-Ouray Ute tribes.
"This is a living cultural site that holds our histories, our ceremonies, our traditional foods and medicines and our ancestors' footprints," Smith-Idjesa said.
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The boundary changes align with broader efforts by Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to review monument protections and expand domestic energy production.
