May 8, 2018
Department of the Interior pushes anti-immigrant agenda.
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
states with national monuments
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
Tell Congress to urge the Trump Administration to not attack national monument designations. Send your message today!
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Press Releases
April 18, 2018
Ryan Zinke continues to hide behind EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s ever growing list of scandals and legal violations as he extorts the American taxpayers to pay for his luxurious travel, pretends he’s a geologist (perhaps he’s been watching too much Seinfeld), and uses his position to set himself up for a future presidential run. While Zinke has been focusing on himself, he’s been failing in his attempts to further a dangerous agenda at Interior.
April 17, 2018
Las Vegas, NV-- Tomorrow, the Forest Service will host a hearing on their “Focused Management Plan for Lovell Canyon” focusing on important conservation questions like the landscape’s recreation opportunities, maintenance requirements and preservation for future generations.
April 13, 2018
Salt Lake City, UT - Today concludes the scoping period for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The planning efforts will focus only on areas designated in President Trump’s proclamation and will exclude almost a million acres of lands rich with sensitive resources. Sierra Club Utah helped generate over 8,700 public comments that stridently opposed the BLM moving forward with the planning process. Ashley Soltysiak, Utah Chapter Director made the following statement
April 13, 2018
Salt Lake City, UT-- Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will close the public input period for the land use planning, for 15% of Bears Ears National Monument. The process would provide monument protection to the Indian Creek and Shash Jáa Units while excluding 85% of the original monument, leaving those areas vulnerable to drilling and mining and without adequate protection for the dense cultural and sacred resources. The comment period lasted a mere 45-days.
April 13, 2018
Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity and Western Watersheds Project today renewed opposition to President Trump’s illegal proclamation to strip protections from Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. The conservation groups, which submitted comments as the first round of public input closes today, also criticized the Interior Department’s disregard for preserving irreplaceable objects of cultural and natural value and its destructive push for dirty fuel development.
April 11, 2018
Zinke's actions more questionable by the day.
April 10, 2018
WHAT: A Sierra Club webinar featuring a panel of bilingual border issues experts to discuss strategies to build a unified environmental front to protect communities and wildlife on the border.WHEN: Thursday, April 12, at 1 pm ET (12 CT)
April 9, 2018
Conservation groups appeal border waiver decision.
April 6, 2018
DENVER, CO -- After just 15 days, today marks the close of the public comment period on a proposal by the Department of the Interior to open public lands near Great Sand Dunes National Park and the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness to destructive drilling, mining and fracking. The proposal is part of a nationwide effort by Interior Secretary Zinke to sell out public lands to the oil and gas industry. All of the parcels set to be auctioned off by Sec.