Public lands have been at the center of several conflicts in the West. A few national monuments in Utah and Nevada are potential targets to have their boundaries redrawn by the Trump administration in a push to expand energy production.
Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah and Avi Kwa Ame in Nevada could make the shortlist. The two Utah monuments were recently expanded, and Avi Kwa Ame, which was also known as Spirit Mountain, was made a national monument by President Joe Biden in 2023.
The Utah sites are also part of an ongoing conflict.
During his first term, in 2017, President Trump reduced the size of Bears Ears by three-quarters and Grand Staircase-Escalante by half, President Biden subsequently restored the acreage in 2021.
Environmentalists and Indigenous tribes say the tug-of-war over the sites undermines the mission of national monuments — to protect the environment for future generations.
Mathilda Guerrero-Miller is the government relations director at Native Voters Alliance Nevada. She feels the reduction of the national monuments focuses on profit and leaves out Native perspectives.
To make these decisions without any input from Indigenous people “it’s a big slap in the face to every single Indigenous person out there,” said Guerrero-Miller.
This new order was one of several directives the Department of the Interior has issued under Trump, including reversing some regulatory restrictions on oil, coal and gas industries.
“He only cares about one thing – making his billionaire backers richer while every day Americans lose access to the places that make this country great,” said Guerrero-Miller.
The Department of the Interior issued a secretarial order called “Unleashing American Energy” that supports President Trump’s push to expand energy production. Doug Burgum, the new Secretary of the Interior, mandated federal agencies to create a plan to review monuments and potentially scale back acreage.
Environmentalists say this order withdraws millions of acres of public land, including trails and campsites.
Phil Francis, Chair of the Executive Council of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, said, “These lands must be protected for future generations. Our national parks and public lands are treasured by the American people as places for enjoyment, refuge, education, and adventure. They protect clean drinking water, air, and wildlife, preserve our nation’s cultural and ecological heritage, and ensure outdoor access for all Americans. In addition, our parks and public lands provide incredibly important support to local economies across the country.”
While energy production is a priority for the Trump administration, protecting some lands is still important to the public. According to a recent poll by the Center for Western Priorities, issues such as conservation still resonate with voters in the West and candidates who balanced economic development with environmental concerns did well in the 2024 election.
The same poll said that Western voters are more concerned that the government won’t do enough to protect natural resources (63% of respondents) versus people who think the government will go too far with regulations (37%). Also, 87% of voters said a candidate’s support for conservation played a role in how they chose to vote.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio (KNPR) in Las Vegas, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
