On July 13, 2026, President Trump revoked the Bears Ears National Monument and purported to terminate the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Commission — the body of Tribal representatives established to help guide the monument’s management. Sixty days after signing, the roughly 1.24 million acres removed from the monument will be open to mineral leasing, mining claims, and other public land dispositions.
From the opening days of his first administration, President Trump has tried to remove protections from the Bears Ears National Monument to increase profits for a select few. Since 2017, the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) has represented the Hopi Tribe, Pueblo of Zuni, and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe in defending Bears Ears. These Tribal Nations have fought tirelessly in Congress and in the courts to protect Bears Ears and manage these lands in a respectful way. The Monument has provided protections for sacred ancestral lands upon which their cultures and livelihoods depend, and which they have called home for millennia. With the latest attack, NARF restates its commitment to zealously represent these Tribal Nations in the ongoing fight to protect Bears Ears National Monument and the sacred places and cultural practices that it sustains.
“We will pursue every available legal course of action to stop these illegal attacks on Native homelands, culture, and people. Native communities worked for years with the broader public to obtain national monument status for Bears Ears. These protections provide a means for Tribal Nations and Native communities to preserve their ongoing relationships with the land, culture, and traditional practices. Tribal Nations have protected these lands for generations and they won’t stop now,” said NARF Deputy Director Matthew Campbell.
Each of the Tribal Nations has unique historical and cultural connections to Bears Ears. All of them — including the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and Pueblo of Zuni — hold the region as sacred. The Tribes also continue to rely on Bears Ears for subsistence, hunting, and collecting plants and medicines found throughout the entire region.
The Antiquities Act of 1906 authorizes presidents to declare national monuments. It does not give presidents the power to undeclare existing monuments. We will fight to ensure the limits on the President’s authority are enforced and that Bears Ears continues to enjoy the protections necessary to sustain it for our peoples and future generations.
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