Bears Ears National Monument (2016-2026): designation, reductions, restoration and the July 2026 action (context, not a treaty claim)

What happened

This is context, not an adjudicated treaty violation. Bears Ears National Monument in Utah was created and changed by presidential proclamation, not by treaty.

The Federal Register text of the July 2026 proclamation says President Obama's Proclamation 9558 of December 28, 2016 reserved approximately 1.35 million acres. In Proclamation 9681 of December 4, 2017, President Trump excluded approximately 1.15 million acres and reserved about 11,200 acres not previously covered. On October 8, 2021, President Biden's Proclamation 10285 expanded the monument to approximately 1.36 million acres. It said it "confirms, restores, and supplements" the 2016 boundaries. It also reestablished the Bears Ears Commission, so that management would reflect "expertise and traditional and historical knowledge of Tribal Nations."

On July 13, 2026, President Trump signed Proclamation 11043. It says a smaller reservation of approximately 121,096 acres, in two units called Shash Jáa and Indian Creek, is the smallest area compatible with protecting the monument's objects. It also says "The BEC is hereby disbanded and terminated," while directing the Secretaries to keep consulting Tribal Nations under other authorities.

Archaeology Southwest, which posted a Conservation Lands Foundation press release, says groups asked the federal court in Washington, D.C., to reopen the case first filed in December 2017 so they can challenge the 2026 proclamation.

Good to know. Bears Ears was created and changed by presidential proclamation; no treaty claim is involved.

Summarized with AI assistance from 4 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error