Protecting existing monuments, expanding these cherished spaces, and fighting for new monuments is an important piece of Sierra Club's conservation work.
Allen Canyon area Hand print Bears Ears National Monument
National monuments are lands and waters designated for permanent protection by the federal government. They are widely popular across parties. They include areas of important natural, cultural, and historic resources, from geological wonders to sacred Indigenous landscapes to sites that have shaped our history.
Unlike national parks, which only Congress can designate, national monuments can be established by the President. We must fight to keep these places protected! Trump is attempting to dismantle monuments like Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante. We're fighting to safeguard these places in court!.
The United States has over 130 national monuments that are managed by federal agencies. While most are managed by the National Park Service, some are managed by other agencies like the US Forest Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management.
Canyon of the Ancients National Monument
National monuments are protected lands, waters, or historic sites that safeguard our natural, cultural, scientific, and historic resources and legacies. They are an important tool for protecting public lands and waters for generations to come.
National monuments are also part of our response to the climate crisis. Conserving 30 percent of US lands and waters by 2030 will protect the air we breathe, water we drink, and provide a powerful climate solution. Preserving wildlands will protect vital habitats for imperiled species and save more places to connect with nature. Safeguarding places of cultural and historical significance will help honor the stories, sites, and landscapes that make us who we are.
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presidents have designated monuments
Protecting wild places will keep drilling and logging from polluting our air and water, and suck existing climate pollution out of the air. Creating national monuments is one of the best ways to protect public lands and preserve homes for wildlife and opportunities for people to enjoy the outdoors together.
Paria Rimrocks, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah
The Sierra Club has been pivotal in the conservation and expansion of national monuments for more than a century, reflecting a broader commitment to preserving natural landscapes, combating climate change, and ensuring everyone’s history and connections to US lands are honored and celebrated.
Right now, Donald Trump, the billionaires who bought access to him, and their allies in Congress are waging an all-out assault on our parks and public lands, firing thousands of federal workers who steward these landscapes, shredding conservation protections for fragile ecosystems and places, and seeking to overturn more than a century's worth of conservation history. Their goal is to give public lands to corporate polluters and billionaires to mine, drill, log, and pollute as they please — activities that effectively block access to public lands for everyday people.
We must use every tool at our disposal, from the courts to pressuring our leaders to collective action, to stop this polluter giveaway. Every victory we've won to protect the places we hold dear has been thanks to the grassroots support of advocates like you who have written a letter, called your legislators, attended an event, posted on social media, talked to friends and family, donated, and so much more.
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Send my message!HARRISBURG, PA -- Responding to robust public input, the National Park Service announced plans to make the park experience more inclusive and welcoming for all visitors through its final visitor use management plan for Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and Middle Delaware National Scenic and Recreational River. The plan will allow for free entry, enhance trails, expand picnicking areas, and improve accessibility for those with disabilities.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On Friday, the Department of the Interior unveiled “descriptions” of proposed projects to be prioritized under the Great American Outdoors Act. The details ranged from confusing to entirely unhelpful and were immediately met with bipartisan criticism from members of Congress.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Trump administration today published a final rule containing rollbacks undercutting the role of science, transparency, and broad public input for decisions involving projects proposed on national forest land. The new rule will pave the way to increased logging, road, and pipeline construction.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt issued a secretarial order that thwarts the ability to pursue projects funded by the Land and Water Conservation Fund on national public land. Some of the language of this order was drawn from amendments to the original bill that were rejected in the legislative process. This is the administration’s second attack on GAOA in as many weeks, after the Department of the Interior broke the law by failing to submit required paperwork to Congress by a November 3 deadline.
The US Forest Service issued notice for a Final Record of Decision today eliminating the Roadless Rule in the Tongass National Forest. The decision opens vast swaths of irreplaceable old-growth temperate rainforest to clearcut logging, jeopardizing the subsistence culture of Indigenous communities, the forest’s role in fighting the climate crisis, and already imperiled wildlife.
DENVER— Climate groups filed new legal claims today challenging the federal government’s 1.7 million-acre resource-management plan (RMP) to expand fossil fuel development in southwestern Colorado, saying it should be overturned because it was approved during William Perry Pendley’s unlawful tenure directing the Bureau of Land Management (“Bureau”).
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Over the weekend, the Huffington Post published a story on the newly-appointed deputy assistant secretary of fish, wildlife and parks at the Department of the Interior and connections to racist and white supremacist writings.
WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Today, Rep. Raul Grijalva unveiled a landmark climate bill that would be instrumental in solving the climate crisis. The Oceans-Based Climate Solutions Act includes provisions that would ban offshore drilling and make it the federal government’s policy to protect 30 percent of public waters by the year 2030, which is a vital component of international efforts to save half the planet by the year 2050. In response, Athan Manuel, director of lands protection at Sierra Club issued the following statement.
La Corte Suprema comenzó hoy a escuchar argumentos en un desafío al desvío por parte de la administración Trump de $2.500 millones de la nómina y fondos de jubilación del Pentágono para construir el muro fronterizo que el Congreso negó explícitamente.
A federal judge in Montana issued an order late Friday invalidating decisions made while William Perry Pendley was serving illegally as head of the Bureau of Land Management. The order applies to three land-use plan revisions in Montana, but raises questions about the legality of other actions taken by the agency under Pendley’s 424-day tenure as de facto acting director.
