1. United States
2. Idaho
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to protect Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and all national monuments from budget cuts and boundary reductions that threaten irreplaceable scientific resources. Grand Staircase-Escalante contains an unmatched geological record spanning 30 million to 300 million years. This nearly 1.9-million-acre monument has yielded discoveries that extend far beyond Utah. When scientists observed similar iron concretions on Mars in 2004, they confirmed the planet had a watery past by comparing them to Moqui marbles found at Grand Staircase. Researchers have identified 30 new species from fossils there, including dinosaur skin, tracks, and marble-sized bird eggs found nowhere else in North America. Understanding how life evolved under different climates in this location could provide critical insights into how species might adapt to future warming. Despite this significance, the monument has not reached its research potential. Colorado State University geoscientist Joel Pederson notes that "the research that could be done in Grand Staircase has not yet come to fruition." The monument's budget and staffing have shrunk by at least three-quarters since President Clinton established it in 1996. According to Grand Staircase-Escalante Partners, the monument recently lost multiple backcountry rangers, rangeland technicians, and its only in-house paleontologist. This leaves fossils and specimens vulnerable to vandalism and theft. The House proposal to fund only half the monument's acreage would effectively restore the Trump administration's boundary reduction, justified by a dubious "energy emergency" declaration. No mining companies leased lands within the monument even when it was opened to extraction. As retired geologist Marjorie Chan asks, "How much time did nature take to sculpt all this?" These landscapes cannot be reproduced. I urge you to oppose any legislation that reduces funding or boundaries for Grand Staircase-Escalante and other national monuments, and to support full funding that enables proper staffing and protection of these irreplaceable scientific resources.