Biden Administration Restores Protections for Three National Monuments

Today, the Biden administration signed three proclamations restoring protections for Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monuments. The Trump administration not only drastically cut the sizes of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, it also eliminated critical protections from the damage caused by commercial trap/pot fishing in Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.

“We applaud today’s action by the Biden administration to restore protections and acreage to Bears Ears, Grand-Staircase Escalante and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monuments,” said Jamie Rappaport Clark, Former President and CEO for Defenders of Wildlife. “The lands of the two Utah monuments are culturally significant to Indigenous peoples to whom these landscapes are sacred. By prioritizing these monuments and conserving these lands and waters, the Biden administration has underscored its commitment to equity, biodiversity and addressing climate change.”

The proclamation restores the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah to their established boundaries and retains  11,200 acres for Bears Ears that was not included in the original monument but added by President Trump. Additionally, the restoration of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument in federal waters off the coast of Massachusetts, once again prohibits commercial fishing in the National Monument and directs that fishing for American lobster and red crab is to be phased out by September 15, 2023.

Earlier this year in Utah, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland met with stakeholders, Tribes and elected leaders to inform the administration’s next steps for restoring Bears Ears and Grand-Staircase Escalante National Monuments. Despite that both of these monuments are sacred to Tribal Nations, the Trump administration reduced the size of Bears Ears National Monument in 2017 by roughly 85% and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by nearly half.  Then, in 2020 the management plans for both were revised, heightening the vulnerability of the artifacts, sacred sites, wildlife habitat, and paleontological resources to mining, grazing and other destructive activities.

In 2020, President Trump signed a proclamation that reopened Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument to commercial fishing activities. Today’s restoration will help protect irreplaceable habitats for 54 species of deep-sea coral and hundreds of other marine species, including seabirds, sharks, whales and dolphins, fish and sea turtles.