In 2017, when President Trump rode into town to slash Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument nearly in half, he left intact a hard-wrought, two-decade-old bargain to end cattle grazing in a tiny but cherished part of the monument.
Now the administration is back, taking aim at that historic deal by announcing plans to once again pasture cows in a beautiful maze of red rock canyons along the Escalante River. This decision would shunt livestock into the most popular destination in the monument and undo a practical, market-based agreement between ranchers and conservationists...