Could Trump Abolish National Monuments?

 by Tim Peterson, Utah Wildlands Director

The results of this month’s presidential election have a lot of people asking: If President Obama establishes new national monuments, is there anything that would prevent President Trump or Congress from abolishing them?

Assuring the longevity of a Bears Ears National Monument is a top priority for the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and for the conservation community as a whole. While it is likely that Utah’s congressional delegation will attempt to limit funding or even undo the designation of a monument, several factors make that a daunting task. 

First, no large national monument designation has even been “undone,” including the similarly controversial Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument designated in Utah by then-President Bill Clinton in 1996. In the words of prominent public lands legal scholar John Leshy: “the record is pretty clear, these designations are sticky.” 

Secondly, during the Bush administration, the Congressional Research Service studied the issue of reversing Grand Staircase and found that: “the proclaiming of a national monument [is] a special category of action that may not simply be undone.” When designating monuments, presidents are acting under authority delegated by Congress, so the designation is tantamount to an act of Congress itself, not simply reversible by executive action taken by President Trump. 

Defense of the Antiquities Act (the law that delegates authority to presidents for monument designation) is among the highest priorities for our conservation allies in Washington D.C. If Bears Ears were threatened, all monuments are threatened, and our allies in Congress will be reluctant to let that happen. Nationally, conservation groups are coordinating to do all we can to defend all Obama monuments and the Antiquities Act itself in the coming session of Congress.

Finally, Bears Ears in particular will likely prove to be even more “sticky” than Grand Staircase because it carries the steadfast support of five sovereign Native American governments and the endorsement of more than 250 tribes nationwide. There is something in this national monument for everyone; the history and resources found here tell the story not just of Native Americans, but of local pioneer history. As such, Bears Ears is an unprecedented opportunity for a national monument to blossom into a model for collaborative land management and to write the next chapter in the region’s rich contemporary history together. The promising future of Bears Ears will grow in to a model of which even present-day opponents can be proud.