What will Trump's reelection mean for Bears Ears, other Utah public lands?

SALT LAKE CITY — Bears Ears has often been referred to as a "political football" since former President Barack Obama established the national monument in southeast Utah toward the end of his presidency.

That's because its borders have changed twice since then through presidential proclamations, shifting back and forth between Democratic and Republican power. President Donald Trump shrank the monument's size by 85% — and also cut into the size of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument — with a proclamation in 2017, only to have President Joe Biden reverse that decision in 2021.

Now that the presidency is shifting back to Trump in 2025, the football will likely be kicked again.

Utah Rep. John Curtis, now headed into the Senate next year, said Wednesday that he'd be "surprised" if Trump doesn't undo Biden's decision, which undid Trump's decision nearly seven years ago. However, he adds Congress may also get involved to potentially settle the issue once and for all.

"Everybody's tired of the back and forth on both sides of this," he said in a meeting with KSL and Deseret News reporters on Wednesday.

A new approach to Bears Ears?

Federal land managers are in the middle of developing long-term plans for Bears Ears National Monument, with its existing size reestablished three years ago. Bureau of Land Management officials released an environmental impact statement for the project last month, which features ways to protect the monument's "cultural and natural resources," while also "providing continued opportunities for outdoor recreation such as hiking, camping and hunting."

It's unclear what's next for the plan, especially with likely changes in leadership after Trump is sworn back into office on Jan. 20, 2025.

Republicans will also regain control of the Senate next year, though the Associated Press projects that they won't make enough gains to clear the 60-seat advantage and avoid filibusters. The party could also remain in power in the House of Representatives, which would give it an upper hand on policymaking over the next two years.

Curtis said Wednesday that he hasn't talked with Trump about Bears Ears yet, but he suspects the president-elect will likely overturn many of Biden's orders. Instead, he's "talked about it extensively" with Sen. Mike Lee and state and local leaders, where the sides have discussed what they should request once the new administration begins.

Those conversations, Curtis said, have focused on a legislative approach so that the monument's future isn't determined by which political party holds the presidency at any given moment. That means Congress could step in and determine the sizes of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante.

"The beauty of legislation is you can't you can't ram legislation with just one side of this. You have to have consensus," he said. "I'm hopeful we can put long-term resolution to that so we don't have this back-and-forth."

Legal repercussions?

John Ruple, a research professor of law at the University of Utah's S.J. Quinney College of Law and director of the Wallace Stegner Center Law and Policy, points out that there have been multiple bills over time that sought to reduce the size of specific monuments or convert them into parks, so it wouldn't surprise him to see Congress take up the issue.

He believes that's a better option than what has taken place since Bears Ears was first designated.

A Native American tribe coalition and conservation groups sued over Trump's 2017 order, while Utah leaders sued over Biden's 2021 one. The latter is still playing out in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals after a federal judge sided with Biden's order.

Those cases are in addition to lawsuits over multiple public land decisions over the past decade, including the state's new effort to secure control over 18.5 million acres of "unappropriated" federal land.

Should another proclamation be ordered, Ruple expects it to spark "immediate litigation" once again. Utah would likely switch sides to defend the presidential decision, and groups defending Biden's decisions would flip to try to protect them.

"I think it's safe to assume the state of Utah will continue to be engaged in costly and lengthy litigation," he told KSL.com, adding he's unsure what the change will mean for Utah's unappropriated federal land lawsuit.

Local and regional conservation groups are already gearing up for more challenges.

Scott Groene, director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, wrote in a public letter Wednesday that the organization plans to " defend against the anti-public-lands Trump administration backed by Utah's politicians."

"Much of the progress we've achieved ... is now at risk," he wrote. "We will show up every day, whether it's through legal action, community rallies or stopping the sure-to-come bad legislation."

Jennifer Rokala, director of the nonprofit Center for Western Priorities, said the Denver-based organization also plans to fend off any efforts to "sell off public lands, open lands to destruction, or put corporate profits ahead of public access" that could arise over the next four years.

A congressional act on items like Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, however, could end some of the political football games. Moving the debate to Congress can bring the groups together to potentially form a more definitive plan for the monuments that would be less likely to change every time a new party is in the executive office.

"Maybe that's the best place for these discussions to play out," Ruple said. "We can have arguments on both sides of the public forum rather than a courtroom, which is better situated on the legality of those actions."

Contributing: Bridger Beal-Cvetko

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