U.S. House Republicans are seeking to slash funding for the management of Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.
According to a proposed funding bill for fiscal year 2026 for the Department of Interior, the Bureau of Land Management would be required to follow the 2020 management plans for Grand Staircase-Escalante that were enacted after President Trump shrunk the monument in 2017. This would effectively limit the BLM’s ability to protect roughly 900,000 acres of land within the current monument boundaries.
The House Appropriations Committee, in a 33 to 28 vote, approved the Fiscal Year 2026 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act on Tuesday. In addition to rolling back funding of Grand Staircase-Escalante, the legislation also eliminates funding for environmental justice activities and increases funding for oil and gas leasing on federal lands, among numerous other measures.
“This bill responsibly manages our public lands and recreation, supports wildfire response, reins in wasteful spending, and rolls back Biden-era regulations that hamper American strength and jobs,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla, said in a statement Tuesday.
Environmental groups and Democrats spoke out against the legislation. “The agency cuts and harmful policy riders included in the House 2026 Interior Appropriations bill is another backdoor attempt to attack America’s cherished public lands and national monuments,” said Chris Hill, CEO for the Conservation Lands Foundation, in a news release.
More than 65 organizations, including local groups such as Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and Grand Staircase Escalante Partners, sent a letter to House leadership asking for the removal of the section regarding the monument on Monday.
“Grand Staircase-Escalante contains unique scientific and historic resources that offer unparalleled research opportunities for earth and climate scientists, paleontologists, geologists, archaeologists, historians, and conservation biologists,” the letter said.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument from Homestead Overlook outside Boulder on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024.
President Clinton first established Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in 1996. President Trump shrunk its boundaries from 1.9 million acres to roughly one million during his first term in 2017, sparking praise from Utah Republican leaders and protests from environmental groups, outdoor recreation enthusiasts and tribes.
In October 2021, Biden restored the monument to its original boundaries, and the BLM released a new management plan for the monument in January 2025 after a nearly two-year environmental review.
If the bill is ultimately approved by Congress, the BLM would be barred from using funds to manage the monument according to the 2025 plan, though, and must revert to the 2020 plans.
Stephen Bloch, legal director at the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said this creates a “tension” between the BLM’s obligation to manage the monument according to the 1.9 million acre boundary in Biden’s 2021 proclamation and funding limitations in the appropriations bill.
On the ground, Bloch said, this may impact where BLM decides to put signs or not, creating confusion for visitors over things like where they can drive their vehicle or if they can collect certain rocks from monument lands.
The 2020 plan for the 900,000 acres Trump removed from the monument also allowed uses that are “inconsistent with national monument status,” according to Bloch, such as mineral leasing.
“This really has the potential to sow the seeds of confusion among the visiting public as well as agency staff that are both really faced with the same question of what kinds of activities are allowed and appropriate on those 900,000 acres,” Bloch said.