1. United States
2. Utah
3. Letter

I am writing as a constituent to urge you to oppose the reduction in the size or protections of Utah’s national monuments, including Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. These lands hold deep cultural, historical, and ecological significance, not only for Native American tribes with ancestral ties to the region, but for all Utahns who value our state’s public lands. Polling and public comment periods on past monument boundary changes have consistently shown that a majority of Utah residents and the broader American public support maintaining or expanding these protections, not shrinking them. Local businesses in gateway communities have also reported economic benefits tied to outdoor recreation and tourism at these sites. Shrinking these monuments would open protected areas to mining, drilling, and other development that could permanently damage irreplaceable archaeological sites, sacred tribal lands, and fragile desert ecosystems. Once these resources are lost, they cannot be restored. As my elected representative, I ask that you: 1. Publicly oppose any administrative or legislative effort to reduce the boundaries of Bears Ears or Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. 2. Support full restoration of the original monument boundaries. 3. Engage with tribal nations, local communities, and conservation groups before taking any position on public lands management in Utah. These are OUR lands, once you open them up to mining they are gone forever.