The National Monument People Can’t Stop Fighting About: Grand Staircase–Escalante

In the ongoing debate over public lands in Congress, one national monument has received an outsized amount of attention. For 3 decades, multiple administrations and politicians have sparred over the size and fate of Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument in Utah.

This week, the controversy reached a new phase when Republican legislators introduced a resolution to throw out the resource management plan for the land that was adopted in the last days of the Biden presidency. The ultimate use and size of the monument will affect multiple stakeholders, including local communities, Native American tribes, and livestock owners.

What Is Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument?

Located in Southern Utah, close to Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks, Grand Staircase is a 1.9-million–acre parcel of land that received its national monument status in 1996.

It is popular with many outdoor enthusiasts, including hikers, campers, and off-roaders. It’s well-known for its spectacular, multicolored rock formations. According to a report from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), 936,000 people visited the national monument in 2024, up from 890,000 in 2023.

The area is also culturally and spiritually significant to multiple local Native American tribes, including the Hopi Tribe, the Navajo Nation, the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and the Zuni Tribe.

The Resolution

The issue at hand dates back to the final days of the Biden administration. On Jan. 13, 2025, the BLM adopted a resource management plan (RMP) for Grand Staircase. An RMP is an expansive document that guides the use, zoning, and permitting of an area.

On Jan. 15, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) judged that the RMP counts as a rule under the Congressional Review Act (CRA). This law requires that “before a rule can take effect, an agency must submit the rule to both the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as the Comptroller General,” the GAO explained. Putting something under the CRA means that Congress can endorse or reject a federal agency’s actions.

That decision opened the door for what came this week: Sen. Mike Lee and Rep. Celeste Maloy, both Republicans from Utah, introduced a joint resolution of disapproval. If it passes, it would nullify the 2025 RMP, making it so that “no substantially similar plan can” be adopted, and instead restore the 2020 RMP.

The change would maintain “full protections that apply to all federal public land while restoring road access and traditional uses like hunting, grazing, and responsible land stewardship,” Rep. Maloy said in a press release.

“The 2025 Biden RMP was developed with little to no meaningful input from local leaders, county governments, or the people who live and work in the region. It was opposed by virtually every local elected official in the area,” she said.

The move has the support of multiple other Utah legislators, including Reps. Mike Kennedy and Blake Moore.

“Our lands are best managed and most appreciated by those who live closest to them. Unfortunately, the Biden Administration’s overreaching management plan for the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument clearly does not reflect the full spectrum of voices who live and work in the area,” Utah Senator John Curtis said in a press release. “This resolution will help ensure that future management plans better serve the long-term interests of Utahns, not distant federal agencies.”

Opposition

Objections came from multiple conservation and environmental nonprofits. There is concern about what nullifying the plan would mean for commercial development and wildlife.

“This is another thinly veiled attempt to exploit this landscape for mining, oil and gas drilling, unchecked OHV use and more,” Cory MacNulty, Southwest Campaign Director at the National Parks Conservation Association, said in a press release.

“These wild public lands are quintessential southern Utah redrock country with stunning geology, irreplaceable cultural resources, unique fossils, and wide-open spaces. All of that is at risk if this effort succeeds and the monument management plan is undone. We intend to move heaven and earth to stop that from happening,” Steve Bloch, legal director at the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said in a press release.

The 2025 plan was designed with substantial input and cooperation from local Indigenous tribes, and what throwing it out would mean for these groups is unclear.

“The Resource Management Plan, developed in consultation with sovereign Tribes, incorporated the use of traditional knowledge, protection of sacred sites, and ensures Indigenous communities would have access for traditional, spiritual, and subsistence usage,” Garrit Voggesser, senior director of Tribal partnerships and policy at National Wildlife Federation, said in a press release.

“If this resolution passes, it will subvert any efforts to uphold trust responsibility and set a precedent that will create uncertainty for Indigenous self-determination across the country.”

The Context

This recent debate is just the latest battle in what has been a 3-decade war over Grand Staircase. The controversy dates back to the beginning, when then-President Clinton created the national monument in 1996. The move killed a possible coal development project in the area, angering some locals.

In 2017, President Trump sparked major controversy when he shrank Grand Staircase by nearly 50%, reducing its size to just 1 million acres. Then in 2021, Biden restored Grand Staircase to its former size, a decision that courts upheld in a 2023 ruling.

What’s Next

The measure will need to pass both houses of Congress. There is not yet a clear timeline on when a vote may occur.