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.
33
18
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 – Last night, the Senate Parliamentarian ruled against multiple provisions included in the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee’s portion of Donald Trump’s so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill,” including the fire sale of millions of acres of public lands and “pay to pollute” provisions to skirt environmental protections.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, the Department of the Interior released a draft plan that would open up the largest contiguous piece of public lands in the country to oil and gas drilling. The draft plan would open up 82 percent of the Western Arctic to drilling. The Western Arctic comprises 23 million acres of public lands in northwest Alaska.
JUNEAU, Alaska — Senate Republicans are supercharging an effort to sell huge swaths of public lands to private developers in Alaska to pay for extending Donald Trump’s tax cuts for billionaires.
SALT LAKE CITY, UT – Utah Senator Mike Lee is supercharging an effort to sell huge swaths of public lands to private developers in Utah to pay for extending Donald Trump’s tax cuts for billionaires.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum is appearing before the House Natural Resources Committee to defend the Trump Administration’s sweeping proposed budget cuts to the country’s largest land management agencies.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senate Republicans are supercharging an effort to sell huge swaths of public lands to private developers.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Trump Administration is moving to break with a legal precedent that could threaten the integrity of national monuments across the country.With little fanfare, the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel issued a legal opinion yesterday concluding presidents have the authority to revoke national monument designations made by their predecessors.
WASHINGTON, DC – During a Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources hearing today, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum restated his department’s intentions to cut nearly a billion dollars from the National Park Service’s operating budget – a cut that could eliminate the budget and staffing for roughly 350 NPS sites.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Department of the Interior announced it would revoke 18 federal rules overseeing geothermal energy projects and mineral mining on public lands and wilderness areas.
The Trump administration’s official budget request for fiscal year 2026 includes a massive rollback of a major conservation funding program, unprecedented cuts to the National Park Service, and further reductions to federal programs aimed at connecting kids and communities with the outdoors.
