September 4, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Documents obtained by the Sierra Club provide a glimpse of the scale of the Trump administration’s attacks on federal land management agencies.
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.
Allen Canyon area Hand print Bears Ears National Monument
What is a national monument?
National monuments are lands and waters designated for permanent protection by the federal government. They are widely popular across parties. They include areas of important natural, cultural, and historic resources, from geological wonders to sacred Indigenous landscapes to sites that have shaped our history.
Unlike national parks, which only Congress can designate, national monuments can be established by the President. We must fight to keep these places protected! Trump is attempting to dismantle monuments like Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante. We're fighting to safeguard these places in court!.
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
Defend Grand Staircase & Bears Ears Monuments!
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Press Releases
September 3, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Republicans passed a series of resolutions seeking to overturn safeguards for wildlife, water, and recreation on Western landscapes, including areas vital to Tribal communities.In an unprecedented move, House Republicans utilized the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to vote to overturn three Resource Management Plans developed to oversee areas of public lands in Alaska, Montana, and North Dakota. The resolutions now move onto the Senate.
August 25, 2025
Washington, DC – A review of official Trump administration documents obtained by the Sierra Club shows further opposition to Donald Trump’s attempt to whitewash history on public lands.
August 22, 2025
MIAMI – A federal judge has ordered a stop to expanding operations at “Alligator Alcatraz,” the controversial immigration detention facility in the Florida Everglades.
August 11, 2025
Denver, Colo. – Today, the Sierra Club Colorado Chapter is urging Colorado U.S. Representatives Jeff Hurd,Lauren Boebert, and Jeff Crank, all members of the House Committee on Natural Resources, to support legislation that places a moratorium on devastating Reductions in Force (RIFs) at the Department of Interior, The U.S. Forest Service, and the Department of Energy.
July 10, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, the Supreme Court ruled that Donald Trump’s mass firings of federal workers could move forward.The ruling reversed lower court injunctions pausing the layoffs and paved the way for federal agencies to implement widespread reductions in force.
July 10, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Days after its Congressional allies sought to privatize vast swaths of public lands across the country, the Trump administration is launching a new commission charged with making those landscapes “beautiful.”
July 2, 2025
PORTLAND, Ore. — As many Oregonians seek outdoor spaces for the Fourth of July holiday weekend, the Sierra Club Oregon Chapter commends the Oregon congressional delegation for defending against recent attempts to force the sale of public lands in both the U.S. House and Senate. Over the past two months, people across Oregon have expressed strong opposition to multiple proposals that would sell the state’s shared Forest Service and BLM natural spaces to fund tax cuts for billionaires.
June 28, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Sen. Mike Lee announced he would withdraw language forcing the sale of more than a million acres of public lands from the sprawling Republican budget reconciliation bill. The move comes after Lee previously failed to win approval from the U.S. Senate parliamentarian to include an earlier version of the proposal in the bill.
June 28, 2025
Washington, DC – Late last night, Senate Republicans released updated text of Donald Trump’s dangerous Budget Reconciliation bill that doubles down on efforts to endanger public health, sell off our nation’s public lands, kill clean energy jobs and their economic impact, and raise costs for working families and small businesses—all to hand big tax breaks to billionaires and corporate polluters.