1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

Oppose Trump's reductions to Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments and push to restore their full boundaries. These two monuments together cover more than 3.2 million acres of irreplaceable land — ancient cliff dwellings, petroglyphs, ceremonial sites, and burial grounds that belong to all of us and cannot be rebuilt once destroyed. Bears Ears was the first monument designated at the request of tribal nations, honoring the Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Ute Mountain Ute, and Uintah-Ouray Ute peoples. Davina Smith-Idjesa of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition called the reduction "heartbreaking" and noted that federal officials bypassed their legal obligation to consult with tribal nations. This isn't just bad policy — it's a broken promise to Indigenous communities who fought for this protection. Trump made these same cuts in his first term and Biden reversed them. Congress should act now to permanently protect these monuments by statute so no future administration can strip them down to make way for coal and uranium extraction. Utah's ancient landscapes are worth more than what's buried beneath them.