Protecting existing monuments, expanding these cherished spaces, and fighting for new monuments is an important piece of Sierra Club's conservation work.
Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument
National monuments are lands and waters designated for permanent protection by the federal government. They include areas of important natural, cultural, and historic resources, from geological wonders to sacred Indigenous landscapes to sites that have shaped the history of the United States.
Unlike national parks, which only Congress can designate, national monuments can either be established by the President under the authority of the 1906 Antiquities Act or by an act of Congress.
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 MessageWashington, DC-- Today, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on the Protecting America’s Wilderness Act (PAW)-- a bill to protect more than 1.3 million acres of Wilderness and thousands of miles of Wild and Scenic rivers. Efforts will conserve critical habitat, create greater access to the outdoors and protect threatened lands in California, Colorado, and Washington.
Washington, DC-- Today, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on the Protecting America’s Wilderness Act (PAW)-- a bill to protect more than 1.4 million acres of wilderness, conserve critical habitat, and safeguard thousands of miles of rivers across the United States. The package includes designations for new Wilderness areas, Wild and Scenic rivers, forests and other protections across California, Colorado and Washington.
Salt Lake City, UT-- Today, the Trump administration’s Interior Department released final resource management plans for the reduced Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. In 2017, President Trump illegally announced intentions to eliminate 2 million acres of public lands from the national monuments. The action is still being challenged in court.
Washington, DC-- Today, the House of Representatives hosted a hearing on the Boundary Waters Wilderness Protection and Pollution Prevention Act-- a bill that would permanently protect more than 200,000 acres of the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota from copper, nickel and precious metals mining. The legislation would safeguard the watershed of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness from toxic sulfide-ore copper pollution.
Washington, DC-- Tomorrow (1/29), the House Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on several wildlife conservation bills-- including the Protect America’s Wildlife and Fish in Need of Protection Act (PAW and FIN Act) that will undo the Trump administration’s recent rollbacks to the Endangered Species Act.
Reno, NV-- Today, Nevada Sen. Cortez Masto introduced a bill to eliminate the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) practice of leasing low and no potential public lands for oil and gas drilling.
Las Vegas, NV-- On Martin Luther King Day, conservation organizations and members of the Las Vegas community will join for a day of service at Ice Age Fossils State Park to remove debris, remove invasive weed species, and help restore the public landscape. The 315-acre park-- a unique part of the Mojave Desert-- contains preserved traces of mammoths, camels, bison, horses, sloth and dire wolves.
FT. LAUDERDALE-- Gov. Ron DeSantis today announced that the state will purchase 20,000 acres in Broward County from Kanter Real Estate. The state’s action follows tremendous public opposition to plans by Kanter to drill for oil on the land, which is part of the Everglades Protection Area. The area is vital to the region’s water, Everglades restoration and endangered species.
LOS ANGELES— Conservation groups sued the Trump administration today challenging the last step in the administration’s plan to allow oil drilling and fracking on more th
Washington, DC-- Over the holidays, it was revealed that the Trump administration’s Department of the Interior (DOI) will remove “sexual orientation” from the agency’s anti-discrimination guidelines. The change could have an effect on both LGBTQ people applying for jobs at DOI, as well as existing employees seeking to report discrimination internally. The decision could lead to more workplace discrimation.
