Trump has reduced two national monuments in Utah by nearly three million acres, removing monument protections and making the land available for uranium & coal mining. On July 13, Trump signed proclamations reducing Grand Staircase-Escalante from approximately 1.87 million acres to 181,500 acres and Bears Ears from approximately 1.36 million acres to 121,100 acres. Combined, the monuments now cover less than 303,000 acres. The White House described the changes as restoring “common sense land use.” Beginning 60 days after the proclamations, excluded lands are scheduled to reopen under public-land, mineral-leasing and mining laws, subject to existing protections and applicable law. Bears Ears was established in 2016 following years of advocacy from the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Pueblo of Zuni, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation. The new proclamation also disbands the Bears Ears Commission, which gave those five sovereign Tribal Nations a ...