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The Honorable John Thune The Honorable Mike Johnson |
The Honorable Chuck Schumer The Honorable Hakeem Jeffries |
RE: Please Oppose Attacks on Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument through the use of the Congressional Review Act (S.J.Res.109/H.J.Res.151)
Dear Senators and Members of Congress,
On behalf of the 125 undersigned organizations and our millions of members, we respectfully urge you to oppose S.J.Res.109/H.J.Res.151 which would use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to overturn the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Management Plan.
The plan was finalized after more than two years of analysis and robust local, national, and Tribal engagement. It provides a science-based framework for stewarding one of the nation’s most extraordinary public landscapes. Using the CRA to rescind the plan would not only dismantle that framework, it would also prohibit the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from issuing any future plan that is “substantially the same,” creating management chaos and ensuring years of uncertainty and conflict for stakeholders.
This is the first attempt to use the CRA to attack a national monument, setting a dangerous precedent for eroding longstanding conservation protections and recreational opportunities at Grand Staircase-Escalante and other national monuments.
Combined with the unprecedented assault on Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the escalation of attacks on the nation’s wildest public lands is reaching unthinkable and deeply unpopular levels.
Americans across the political spectrum cherish their public lands, especially national monuments like the Grand Staircase-Escalante. Polling shows that 75 percent of Utah voters support the President’s authority to designate national monuments, and three in four Utah voters—including a majority of Republicans—want to keep Grand Staircase-Escalante protected as a monument.1New Bridge Strategy. (2024, December 12–18). Utah statewide survey: Key findings (Utah National Monuments Survey). Grand Canyon Trust. Available at https://www.grandcanyontrust.org/sites/default/files/resources/Utah-National-Monuments-Survey-December-2024.pdf
Region-wide, polling shows that 89 percent of Western voters oppose reducing or removing national monument protections, up from 80 percent in 2017 polls2Colorado College State of the Rockies Project. (2024, January 3–17). 2025 Conservation in the West Poll: National press release. Colorado College. Available at https://www.coloradocollege.edu/other/stateoftherockies/conservationinthewest/2025-poll-data/CC%20Poll%202025%20-%20National%20Press%20Release.pdf Attempts to weaponize the CRA against Grand Staircase-Escalante fly in the face of this strong, bipartisan public support for national monuments.
For nearly 30 years, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument has protected globally significant geology, world-class paleontological resources, diverse wildlife habitat, and irreplaceable cultural sites. At the same time, the monument forms the backbone of local economies through outdoor recreation, scientific research, and tourism. A 2026 report on the economics of the monument confirms that it plays an outsized role in supporting real per capita income of local residents, as well as overall employment in the region.3Headwaters Economics. (2026). Economic performance of communities near national monuments. Bozeman, MT: Headwaters Economics. Available at https://headwaterseconomics.org/public-lands/economic-performance-national-monuments/.
In 2025, six Tribal Nations—the Hopi Tribe, the Navajo Nation, the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and the Zuni Tribe—formed the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Inter-Tribal Coalition to advocate for the conservation of their aboriginal lands and for the continued protection and preservation of the cultural and ecological resources within the monument. The current management plan reflects close collaboration with these Tribal Nations.
If these CRA resolutions succeed, it would sow confusion and uncertainty over management of the irreplaceable cultural, historic, and scientific resources that Grand Staircase-Escalante protects. Undoing the plan will jeopardize cultural sites and ecological values, undermine long-term scientific research, and erode the quality of life and economic stability that nearby communities have built around these protected public lands.4Headwaters Economics. (2017). Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and local economics. Bozeman, MT: Headwaters Economics. Available at https://headwaterseconomics.org/wp-content/uploads/Escalante.pdf headwaterseconomics
The CRA was never meant to be a blunt instrument to attack public lands, including national monuments. Employing it this way will destabilize land management nationwide, erode public trust, and throw collaboration and long-range planning for public lands into chaos. We urge you to reject resolutions of disapproval that target the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Management Plan and to stand with Tribal Nations, Western communities, and Americans of all political backgrounds who want these lands protected, well managed, and secure for generations to come.
Please vote NO on S.J.Res.109/H.J.Res.151 and oppose attacks on Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
Sincerely,
Alaska Wilderness League Action
Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance (ABRA)
American Bird Conservancy
Archaeology Southwest
Arizona Trail Association
Basin and Range Watch
Best Friends Animal Rescue
Bikepacking Roots
Black Diamond Equipment
BLU Educational Foundation
Bozeman Birders
C4 Evergreen
CactusToCloud Institute
California Native Plant Society
Californians for Western Wilderness
CalWild
Center for Biological Diversity
Center for Progressive Reform
Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks
Colorado Public Lands Advocacy & Conservation Expertise (CO-PLACE), LLC
Conservation Colorado
Conservation Lands Foundation
Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship
Creation Justice Ministries
DarkSky International
Defenders of Wildlife
Dolores River Boating Advocates
Earthjustice
EarthKeepers 360
Earthworks
EcoFlight
Endangered Habitats League
Endangered Species Coalition
Environment America
Environmental Action
Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC)
EPIC (Environmental Protection Information Center)
Forests Forever
Fort Ord Recreation Trails (FORT) Friends
Friends of Avi Kwa Ame National Monument
Friends of Basin & Range National Monument
Friends of Big Morongo Canyon Preserve
Friends of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument
Friends of Nevada Wilderness
Friends of Rio Grande Del Norte
Friends of the Amargosa Basin
Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness
Friends of the Earth Action
Friends of the Inyo
Friends of the Lost Coast
Glen Canyon Institute
Grand Canyon Trust
Great Old Broads for Wilderness
Green Climate
GreenLatinos
Kids for Saving Earth
Las Cruces Green Chamber of Commerce
Latino Outdoors
League of Conservation Voters
Minnesota Division Izaak Walton League of America
Mountain Mamas
Mt. Madonna Challenge
MtnBio
National Parks Conservation Association
Native American Land Conservancy
Native Voters Alliance NV
Native Womens Wilderness
Natural Resources Defense Council
Nature for All
NCCCA
New Mexico Wild
Next 100 Coalition
Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness
Oregon Wild
Partnership for Policy Integrity
Patagonia
Presbyterians for Earth Care
Project Eleven Hundred
Protect Our Winters
Resource Renewal Institute
RESTORE: The North Woods
Rewilding Institute
Rocky Mountain Wild
Sage Steppe Wild
San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council
Save Our Canyons
Save Red Rock
Sempervirens Fund
Sheep Mountain Alliance
Sierra Club
Sierra Club Utah Chapter
Sierra Nevada Alliance
Soda Mountain Wilderness Council
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
Standing Trees
Stewardship Utah
Sugar Pine Foundation
SW Utah Great Old Broads for Wilderness
Taos Fly Shop
The National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS)
The Ocean Project
The Wilderness Society
The Wildlands Conservancy
Trail Access Project
Tuleyome
Union of Concerned Scientists
Unite for Parks
Utah Mountain Lion Conservation
Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment
Vet Voice Foundation
Virginia Wilderness Committee
Washington Wild
Weber County League of Women Voters
Wellspring Spa
Western Environmental Law Center
Western Slope Conservation Center
Western Watersheds Project
Western Wildlife Conservancy
Wild Connections
Wild Hope
Wild Montana
WildEarth Guardians
Wilderness Workshop
Winter Wildlands Alliance
Women of Bears Ears