Utah Polls Show Majority Opposed Monument Shrinking

A majority of Utah residents opposed shrinking Bears Ears National Monument before President Donald Trump drastically reduced its size last week, according to multiple polls conducted over the past few years. These findings contrast with statements from Utah’s political leaders who argued that the cuts reflected the desires of Utahns. President Donald Trump signed two executive orders shrinking Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments by approximately 90 percent each.

Trump announced the change flanked by members of Utah’s congressional delegation and Governor Spencer Cox, all Republicans. The proclamation stated the move would "better align the use of these public lands with the public interest," citing the region’s deposits of critical minerals such as copper, nickel, and uranium. On Monday, hundreds gathered outside the Governor’s Mansion in Salt Lake City to protest the cuts, part of organized efforts by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance across the state to pressure lawmakers.

The two monuments, which totaled about 3.3 million acres in southern Utah before Trump’s executive orders, were initially created by Democratic presidents despite protests from Utah’s elected Republican leaders. During the signing ceremony in the Oval Office, Utah Representative Celeste Maloy, a Republican, stated that supporters of shrinking the monuments included "the locals who are worried about losing multiple uses on these federal lands," and that Trump was "listening to the people of Utah" by reducing the size of both monuments. Trump himself remarked, "It was very unfair to the people of Utah, and now fairness has been brought back."

However, separate polls conducted before Trump shrank the monuments indicate that most Utahns and residents of other Mountain West states favored keeping their existing designations. Michaelann Nelson, a professor of environmental rhetoric at Utah State University, described the administration's claims as "very contradictory of our findings."