
Original
boundary
UTAH
Detail
New
delineation
Indian
Creek
70
15
UTAH
Escalante
Canyons
Grand
Staircase
Kaiparowits
Shash Jaa
Glen Canyon
Dam
ARIZONA
Grand Staircase-
Escalante
Bears
Ears
Was: 1.86 million acres
Now: 1 million acres
Was: 1.35 million acres
Now: 201,876 acres

Original boundary
New delineation
UTAH
Arches
N.P.
70
Detail
UTAH
Moab
Capitol
Reef
N.P.
Canyonlands
N.P.
15
Indian
Creek
Original Grand Staircase-
Escalante boundary
Escalante
Canyons
Bryce
Canyon
N.P.
Blanding
Shash
Jaa
Glen Canyon
Nat’l Rec.
Area
Kaiparowits
Grand
Staircase
Lake Powell
Glen Canyon
Dam
ARIZONA
Bears Ears:
Grand Staircase-Escalante:
Was: 1.86 million acres
Now: 1 million acres
Was: 1.35 million acres
Now: 201,876 acres

Original
boundary
70
15
Arches
N.P.
UTAH
New
delineation
UTAH
Moab
Capitol
Reef
N.P.
Detail
Canyonlands
N.P.
Indian
Creek
Original Grand Staircase-
Escalante boundary
Escalante
Canyons
Bryce
Canyon
N.P.
Original
Bears Ears
boundary
Blanding
Shash
Jaa
Glen Canyon
Nat’l Rec.
Area
Kaiparowits
Grand
Staircase
COLO.
Lake Powell
Kanab
Monument
Valley
Glen Canyon
Dam
N.M.
ARIZONA
Grand Staircase-Escalante:
Bears Ears:
Was: 1.86 million acres
Now: 1 million acres
Was: 1.35 million acres
Now: 201,876 acres
President Trump drastically reduced the size of two national monuments in Utah on Monday, potentially opening about 2 million acres of public land to mineral extraction and other activities in a state in which about 65 percent of all land is federally owned. The sites, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, contain rich troves of archaeological and paleontological finds in addition to large deposits of coal, uranium, oil and gas.

LAND OWNERSHIP IN UTAH
Federal: 64.5%
State: 10%
Tribal: 5%
Other: 21%
(Includes county, municipal agencies
and private groups)
50 MILES
Great
Salt
Lake
80
Salt Lake City
70
Moab
15
Federal lands administered by:
Bureau of Land Management
Department of Defense
National Park/Forest Service
Tribal nation
National Monument

LAND OWNERSHIP IN UTAH
Federal: 64.5%
State: 10%
Tribal: 5%
Other: 21%*
Federal lands administered by:
Bureau of Land Management
Department of Defense
15
National Park/Forest Service
Great
Tribal nation
Salt
National Monument
Lake
Salt Lake City
80
Utah
Lake
15
50 MILES
70
Moab
Escalante
Canyons
Indian
Creek
Kaiparowits
Shash
Jaa
Grand
Staircase
15
*Includes county, municipal agencies and private groups
The day after Trump’s announcement, Utah’s governor and several House Republicans said the changes would not lead to wider energy development. One, Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah), proposed banning mineral extraction within the original boundaries of Bears Ears.
“The idea that we’re going to give these over to oil and gas companies is a false narrative,” said Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.
Parts of Bears Ears are rich with oil, gas and uranium potential

OIL AND GAS DEVELOPMENT
POTENTIAL
High
Medium
Low
Original
Bears Ears
boundary
UTAH
Indian
Creek
Detail
Shash
Jaa
25 MILES
URANIUM DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL
High
Medium
Low
Uranium mines
Indian
Creek
Original
Bears Ears
boundary
Shash
Jaa
Daneros Mine area

URANIUM DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL
OIL AND GAS DEVELOPMENT
POTENTIAL
High
High
Medium
Original
Bears Ears
boundary
Medium
Low
Low
Uranium mines
UTAH
Indian
Creek
Indian
Creek
Detail
Shash
Jaa
Shash
Jaa
Daneros Mine area
25 MILES

OIL AND GAS DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL
URANIUM DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL
Medium
High
Low
High
Low
Medium
Uranium mines
Original
Bears Ears
boundary
UTAH
Indian
Creek
Indian
Creek
Detail
Shash
Jaa
Shash
Jaa
White
Mesa
Mill
Daneros Mine area
25 MILES
Bureau of Land Management maps show high-to-moderate oil and gas development potential in much of the original Bears Ears footprint, which encompasses more than 100,000 archaeological and Native American cultural sites, such as cliff dwellings and ancient petroglyphs. Most of the areas thought to have the most oil and gas — and the few existing drilling leases — are outside the new boundaries, according to the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
The Red Canyon area of Bears Ears is known for its Triassic Period fossils, and it also contains extensive uranium deposits. Uranium mines were humming around southeastern Utah during the Cold War but have shuttered in recent years as nuclear power has fallen out of favor. Dormant mines and mining leases dot the area. The owners of the now-closed Daneros Mine, which lies three miles from the old Bears Ears border, have planned a large expansion that is opposed by the Navajo Nation and environmental groups. Ore would be trucked 62 miles through the monument to White Mesa, the country’s only operating uranium mill.
A group of House Republicans proposed prohibiting mineral extraction in the original Bears Ears monument area.
Grand Staircase-Escalante sits atop Utah’s largest coal field

COAL DEPOSITS
25 MILES
Original Grand Staircase-
Escalante boundary
UTAH
Escalante
Canyons
Detail
Kaiparowits
Grand
Staircase
Lake
Powell
ARIZONA

COAL DEPOSITS
Original Grand Staircase-
Escalante boundary
UTAH
Detail
Escalante
Canyons
Kaiparowits
Grand
Staircase
Lake Powell
25 MILES
ARIZONA
The U.S. Geological Survey estimated that 62 billion tons of coal lies in the Kaiparowits Plateau, an area that was within Grand Staircase-Escalante and that is important to paleontologists for its Mesozoic Era past. It is Utah’s biggest coal field, but there are no mining leases within it. In 1996, the year President Bill Clinton designated the monument, the federal government bought out the 18 existing leases.
The original Grand Staircase-Escalante area also contains limited oil and gas reserves and about 50 authorized oil and gas leases, according to the wilderness protection group. Most lie outside the new borders.

The sun sets over Bears Ears National Monument (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)

Thirteenth-century pueblo ruins in Bears Ears National Monument. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
About this story
Land-ownership data via University of Utah, Bureau of Economic and Business Research, and U.S. Geological Survey. Resource data is from the BLM Monticello Field Office and the Utah State Geographic Information Database, distributed via the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
More stories
The United States of oil and gas
President Donald Trump said he plans to double down on oil and gas exploration.
Appalachia comes up small in era of giant coal mines
As the coal industry is squeezed, the most productive mines employ huge machines and relatively few people.