Native America Calling: Tribal leaders condemn Trump’s downsizing of Utah national monuments

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Native America Calling: Tribal leaders condemn Trump’s downsizing of Utah national monuments

Thursday, July 16, 2026

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Tribal leaders condemn Trump’s downsizing of Utah national monuments

President Donald Trump, once again, reduced the size of Bears Ears National Monument and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah on Monday.

Both monuments were downsized by about 90 percent, opening up nearly three million acres to resource developers. Several tribes have cultural and sacred ties to the respective monument areas and have been fighting to protect them for years.

Indianz.Com Audio: President Trump ‘terminating’ Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments

The president’s proclamation also dismantles the Bears Ears Commission, a coalition of five tribes designated by then-President Barack Obama in 2016 and tasked with co-management of monument lands with federal officials. Now, the move puts the Antiquities Act, which gives presidents the power to designate monuments, under the legal scrutiny of politicians, conservationists, and tribes that argue the 1906 law can or cannot be used to reduce already established national monuments.

Also, Indigenous Venezuelans are among the thousands of people affected by devastating, back-to-back earthquakes that destroyed hundreds of buildings and homes along the country’s north coast in June. The death toll is currently around 4,700 and Indigenous communities struggle to keep up with traditional burial practices amid recovery and aid initiatives.

The Bears Ears National Monument in Utah gets its name from two buttes resembling the ears of bears. Photo by Tim Peterson

Guests on Native America Calling

Davina Smith–Idjesa (Diné), co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and representative for the Navajo Nation

Keitti Jake (Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah), environmental program coordinator for the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah and member of the Grand Staircase-Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalition

Alicia Moncada (Wayúu), director of advocacy and communications for Cultural Survival