WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, a U.S. District court announced that legal challenges to the Trump administration’s move to strip Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments of protections will be heard in Washington, D.C. The decision is a setback for the administration, which pushed to have the case heard in Utah. The judge also stated that Sec. Zinke’s Department of the Interior must give Tribal Nations and other affected parties advance notice of mining activities proposed within the original monument boundaries.
National Monuments
National Monuments
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
What is a 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
Why are monuments important?
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.
33
18
presidents have designated monuments
National monuments protect geologic, marine, archaeological, and cultural sites
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.
What We Are Doing
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.
What You Can Do
Congress: Urge the Trump Admin to Protect Existing National Monuments
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Press Releases
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Tomorrow marks the 25th annual National Public Lands Day, a day to give back to and enjoy our country’s great outdoors. This year’s celebration comes as the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which has protected places in almost every state is set to expire. The fund will expire Sept. 30 without Congressional action.
A Wyoming federal court issued a ruling invalidating long-term approval for a state-run elk feedground on the Bridger-Teton National Forest in the Gros Ventre River valley, east of Jackson Hole. With the deadly and highly contagious chronic wasting disease (CWD) already within the Yellowstone ecosystem, conservation groups had challenged approval of the Alkali Creek Elk Feedground, which concentrates herds of elk in unhealthy conditions for the winter months.
arlier this week the U.S. Forest Service announced it would be proposing changes to rules that govern how the agency handles oil and gas leasing by the Bureau of Land Management in National Forests. Also announced were changes to rules governing hardrock mineral locations. Unsurprisingly, given the Trump administration’s dirty-fuels first agenda, these rule changes are designed to “reduce the burden on industry” and speed leasing on public lands.
Washington, DC-- Today, the House Natural Resources Committee marked up two important bills for the protection of public lands and conservation. The committee marked up the Restore Our Parks Act which addresses the nation’s $11.6 billion park maintenance backlog. Both pieces will move to the House floor for a final vote.
SALT LAKE CITY― The Trump administration today offered up more than 200,000 acres of public lands for fossil fuel development in some of Utah’s most picturesque landscapes, including on the doorstep of Canyonlands National Park and along the Green River.
Today, the Trump Administration directly threatened the future of Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, one of America’s iconic wilderness areas. Administration officials announced that the United States Forest Service will allow companies to pursue sulfide ore mining leases immediately adjacent to the Boundary Waters. Today’s announcement also included an abrupt end to an incomplete and never-released environmental study of sulfide mining impacts in the BWCA watershed that was started under the Obama Administration.
This week Secretary Zinke’s Department of the Interior will begin another round of oil and gas leasing on public lands-- auctioning off public lands in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah to the highest bidder. The latest leases are part of an effort by Sec. Zinke to lease every possible acre of public land as quickly as possible. Every three months new swaths near our parks and treasured places are being sold out to industry, steadily eating away at the places people know and love.
GRAND CANYON, AZ – Emmy-nominated actress Yvonne Strahovski (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) stars in a new video out today calling for protection of the Grand Canyon from toxic uranium mining. The actress recently joined a Sierra Club outing to the Grand Canyon region with her husband, actor Tim Loden, to experience the wonder of Arizona’s immense national park and to see first-hand the need to permanently protect it.
Washington, DC -- Today, hours after Ryan Zinke was exposed for trying to sell off 1,600 illegally removed acres of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, the Department of the Interior reversed its decision after massive backlash.