07/14/2026
Yesterday, President Trump signed proclamations that reduced the size of two of America’s most iconic national monuments: Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah. Together, those changes removed monument protections from nearly three million acres, reducing the protected areas by roughly 90 percent. Supporters argue this restores multiple-use management and local control, while opponents warn it opens the door to mining, drilling, and other development in landscapes that were previously protected. Legal challenges are already expected because the scope of a president’s authority to shrink national monuments remains disputed.
For me, this conversation is bigger than Utah. It’s about the future of America’s public lands. It’s about places like the Boundary Waters, our national forests, our BLM lands, and the wild landscapes that belong to every American, not just those who can afford private ranches or exclusive clubs.
Public land is the great equalizer. Whether you’re wealthy or barely scraping by, you have the opportunity to hunt, fish, hike, camp, ride horses, or simply sit beside a river and experience something bigger than yourself. That access is one of the most uniquely American ideas we have.
This is also a socioeconomic issue. If access to nature becomes increasingly privatized, the people who lose the most are ordinary families, young hunters, anglers, and future generations who deserve the same opportunities many of us grew up with.
And healthy public lands aren’t just about recreation. Large, connected landscapes support migration corridors, clean water, biodiversity, and resilient wildlife populations. Conservation isn’t about locking people out, it’s about ensuring these places remain healthy enough to support both wildlife and people for generations to come.
No matter where you fall politically, I hope we can agree on one thing: once wild places are fragmented or developed, it’s incredibly difficult, and sometimes impossible, to get them back. Stewardship is one of the greatest responsibilities we have, because we aren’t just borrowing these lands from the past, we’re holding them in trust for the future.