Mapped: Trump's cuts to Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments
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The Lampstand at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is one of the locations excluded under Trump's boundaries, which cut two Utah monuments by 90%. Photo: Tim Peterson, courtesy of Grand Canyon Trust
Many beloved landscapes and hikes have lost federal protections under maps that show President Trump's drastically-reduced boundaries of Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears.
How it works: Axios obtained the maps from the White House on Tuesday, less than a day after Trump ordered cuts to more than 90% of both of the Utah monuments.
- We overlaid those new boundaries — to our closest approximation, based on the j-pegs provided, other boundaries, roads and geographic features — with the larger boundaries declared by previous presidents, and dozens of places of interest within them.
The intrigue: We also included maps of Wilderness Study Areas, Instant Study Areas, and Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, designations that offer protections apart from national monument status.
- That shows which places of interest are left without protection.
The big picture: Grand Staircase-Escalante (GSENM) is the bigger of the two, and is generally more thoroughly explored — so we found many more sites excluded from protections there.
- Yes, but: Bears Ears was singled out for monument designation in large part because of its bounty of archeological sites — many of which researchers have avoided publicizing to prevent vandalism and theft of artifacts. BLM records occasionally cite those places of interest without giving their location, so we can't map them.
What's inside: The best-known attractions at Bears Ears — House on Fire, the Butler Wash ruins, Sand Island Petroglyphs and Mule Canyon kiva, for example — remain within Trump's boundaries.
- Same goes for the most scenic western stretch of Burr Trail Drive, Calf Creek Falls, Lower and Micro Death Hollows and Phipps Arch at Grand Staircase-Escalante.
Meanwhile, many popular sites at GSENM are in Wilderness Study Areas.Those aren't permanent, and the Trump administration has placed them under review — but the lands are protected for now.
- Among them are: Devil's Garden, Peekaboo-Spooky-Brimstone slot canyons, Cosmic Ashtray, Bighorn Canyon, Cottonwood Narrows, Toadstools and Wahweap hoodoos.
What's outside: Grosvenor Arch, Sunrise and Sunset arches, Cedar Wash Arch, Chimney Rock, Dance Hall Rock, the historic Watson Canyon, Inchworm Arch, the Lamp Stand and the Nautilus are all among the sites left unprotected funder Trump's GSENM boundaries.
- At Bears Ears, North & South Six Shooter Peak are excluded, along with three campgrounds in the Indian Creek area.
Between the lines: In some cases, renowned destinations still have some protection, but the trailheads or routes to access them are unprotected.
- Some examples are: Zebra slot canyon, Willis Creek, Round Valley Draw in GSENM and Monarch Cave in Bears Ears.
- The iconic Buckskin Gulch and Jacob Hamblin Arch were never within the monuments — but their most common trailheads were, and are also unprotected under the new maps.
