Bears Ears reductions and restoration (2017 and 2021)

What happened

On December 4, 2017, President Donald Trump issued Proclamation 9681, "Modifying the Bears Ears National Monument." It recalls that Proclamation 9558 had reserved about 1.35 million acres and argues that many of the objects it named are "otherwise protected by Federal law." It says it is in the public interest to exclude "approximately 1,150,860 acres of land" that the President found unnecessary for the care and management of the monument's objects. The Federal Register text also revised the Bears Ears Commission: it was renamed the Shash Jáa Commission, limited to the Shash Jáa unit, and expanded to include a San Juan County commissioner.

The Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition's site says the 2017 action reduced the monument by "approximately 87 percent." Other figures circulate; the proclamation's own acreage is the number used here.

On October 8, 2021, President Joseph Biden issued Proclamation 10285. It states that Proclamation 9681 "removes protection from objects of historic and scientific interest across the Bears Ears landscape," notes that multiple parties had challenged the reduction in federal court, and "confirms, restores, and supplements the boundaries and protections" of Proclamation 9558. It also says the Bears Ears Commission "is reestablished." A 2026 proclamation later describes the 2021 action as expanding the monument to about 1.36 million acres.

The Coalition's site adds that in summer 2022 the Coalition tribes, the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service signed an Inter-Governmental Cooperative Agreement on collaborative management.

Good to know. Sources give different percentages for the 2017 cut: about 85 percent by the proclamation's own acreage, about 87 percent by the Coalition.

Summarized with AI assistance from 5 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error