National Monuments

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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Latest News

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Protected Public Lands Are Still the Backbone of America at 250

Public Lands Require Constant Vigilance

You Defended Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Press Releases

October 11, 2017

The House Natural Resources Committee today will take up legislation by Rep. Bishop that would essentially gut the Antiquities Act. The bill, HR 3990, would create a de-facto ‘no more parks’ policy. The legislation is a continuation of the Trump administration’s ongoing attempts to sell out public lands to corporate polluters-- attempts also to be addressed by the committee today as it takes up legislation from Rep. Grijalva, H. Res. 555, to force President Trump and Interior Secretary Zinke to make public information related to Zinke’s sham review of national monuments across the country.

October 5, 2017

Gardner showed his hypocrisy with yes vote on Arctic drilling.

October 5, 2017

Today, the House Budget Committee passed a budget bill that advances drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

October 4, 2017

Today, the House Agriculture Committee passed Rep. Westerman’s “Resilient Federal Forests Act,” a piece of legislation that would make clear-cutting forests significantly easier and undermine environmental review. Movement on the legislation follows a directive from Interior Secretary Zinke to land managers across the country to adopt “aggressive and scientific fuels reduction management” and “pre-suppression techniques” to slow Western fires.

October 3, 2017

Instead of protecting public health and the environment, a new rule will only serve the coal industry, community members and advocates say. After the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) unreasonable request to delay the long overdue deadline for the final Texas Regional Haze plan, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is doubling down and putting the health of Texas and Oklahoma’s families and public lands at risk for the benefit of Texas coal plants. While claiming to address sulfur dioxide pollution from Texas coal plants, the final rule issued by EPA today actually allows more pollution from…

September 26, 2017

Washington, DC -- Yesterday, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, when speaking before the National Petroleum Council, claimed that nearly one-third of the staff at the Interior Department are “not loyal to the flag.” He even went so far to claim that people at Fish and Wildlife Service “hated people to a degree.” Earlier this month, Zinke called for the largest rollback of protections for America’s pu

September 17, 2017

A leaked copy of Interior Secretary Zinke’s secret recommendation on national monuments shows the Secretary hopes to strip protections from public lands and waters across the country. Sites that could lose protections include Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah, Cascade-Siskiyou in Oregon, Gold Butte in Nevada, Katahdin Woods and Waters in Maine, Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks and Rio Grande del Norte in New Mexico, Northeast Canyons and Seamounts near Massachusetts and Rose Atoll and Pacific Remote Islands.

January 11, 2017

The Sierra Club praised news today that President Obama will designate new national monuments recognizing the country’s civil rights history

March 20, 2017

 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In a move championed by Rep. Young and Senator Murkowski, the Senate today passed a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to overturn the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Alaska National Wildlife Refuges Rule. Voiding the rule undermines the management of public lands in Alaska, ceding control of wildlife management on national public lands to a narrow set of extreme hunting interests.