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, D.C. – Today, the Trump administration took a step in revoking a major federal rule protecting public lands in its latest giveaway to corporate polluters.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued an order that would potentially require Interior sites to reinstate any monuments, memorials, statues, or markers that have been removed or altered.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Early Thursday morning, Rep. Blake Moore cast the deciding vote to advance Donald Trump’s massive budget reconciliation package that would endanger Utahns’ clean air and water, fast-track reckless oil and gas leasing and development, and raise costs on Utah’s working families—all to give more tax cuts and handouts to billionaires and corporate polluters. The bill passed 215-214 and now heads to the United States Senate.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Reports emerged Thursday morning that Donald Trump would pick a top oil and gas lobbyist to oversee federal public lands in Alaska. Kara Moriarty will be Trump’s pick to lead the Department of the Interior’s work in Alaska. Moriarty currently serves as the president and CEO of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The final House version of the Republican reconciliation package will not include mandates to sell potentially hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands in the West. Other public land provisions, such as advancing the Ambler mining road in Alaska, controversial provisions affecting the Western Arctic, and rollbacks to land use plans were also stricken from the bill.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum begins two days of testimony on Capitol Hill to House and Senate appropriators.Burgum is scheduled to appear before the House Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee Tuesday morning, followed by the Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee Wednesday morning.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum will appear before Congressional committees for the first time since his confirmation in January.
PORT ANGELES, WA -- Today, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is beginning a tour of national park sites – including some in the Pacific Northwest. It comes as the Trump administration continues one of the most serious attacks on American public lands in recent memory.Burgum is scheduled to visit Olympic National Park today during a visit to Washington State. It is Burgum’s second field tour in a week, after visiting an LNG processing facility in Louisiana earlier this month.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – After an all-day markup, the House Committee on Natural Resources advanced its portion of the Republican reconciliation package in a vote in the dead of night.
WASHINGTON, DC – Yesterday, The Washington Post reported that the Interior Department temporarily suspended an air-quality monitoring program in the national parks.
