Protesters participate in the Monumental Day of Action rally outside the Governor’s Mansion on Monday, July,20, 2026 in Salt Lake City. (Kim Raff/AP Content Services for The Wilderness Society)
Nearly a thousand people gathered across the state of Utah on July 20 to protest President Donald Trump’s illegal attempt to slash Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by roughly 90 percent each, stripping protection from nearly 3 million acres of public land in total. The rallies, organized by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, filled public spaces in Salt Lake City, Ogden, Provo, St. George, Moab, and Bluff.
Trump signed the orders on July 13, flanked by Utah’s congressional delegation and Gov. Spencer Cox. Protesters directed their anger at those officials, including Representative Celeste Maloy and Senator Mike Lee, who backed the rollbacks.
“I think that anybody who’s voted into office should listen to what the people want, and people don’t want this,” said Katie Panushka, a protester in Salt Lake City. “People don’t want this in Salt Lake. People don’t want this in Ogden, and people absolutely don’t want this at the Grand Staircase.”
Polling backs this up. A 2024 poll conducted on behalf of the Grand Canyon Trust found 71 percent of Utah voters support keeping Bears Ears as a national monument and 74 percent support keeping Grand Staircase-Escalante, including majorities of Republicans. Three-quarters of Utah voters support presidents’ authority to protect public lands as national monuments.
For many demonstrators, the fight is personal. “We are not protesters. We are protectors,”said Corrina Bow, a Southern Paiute elder from the Kanosh Band, one of the Grand Staircase Tribes.
Trump also disbanded the Bears Ears Commission, a five-Tribe body that worked with the federal government to develop the monument’s management plan, breaking trust with those Tribes and ending the first official government-to-government public land management relationship in the country.
Despite the anger amongst Utahns over the cuts, Scott Braden, SUWA’s executive director, framed the rallies positively: “We’re not powered by grievance,”he said. “We’re powered by love of place and just wanting to see these places protected.”
Salt Lake City
Mimi Ortega with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance speaks to protesters during the Monumental Day of Action outside the Governor’s Mansion on Monday, July ,20, 2026 in Salt Lake City. (Kim Raff/AP Content Services for The Wilderness Society)
Protesters participate in the Monumental Day of Action rally outside the Governor’s Mansion on Monday, July, 20, 2026 in Salt Lake City. (Kim Raff/AP Content Services for The Wilderness Society)
Protesters participate in the Monumental Day of Action rally outside the Governor’s Mansion on Monday, July, 20, 2026 in Salt Lake City. (Kim Raff/AP Content Services for The Wilderness Society)
Protesters participate in the Monumental Day of Action rally outside the Governor’s Mansion on Monday, July, 20, 2026 in Salt Lake City. (Kim Raff/AP Content Services for The Wilderness Society)
Ogden
Protesters participate in the Monumental Day of Action rally outside Representative Blake Moore’s office in Ogden on Monday, July, 20, 2026; CC0 (Public Domain Dedication)
Protesters participate in the Monumental Day of Action rally outside Representative Blake Moore’s office in Ogden on Monday, July, 20, 2026; CC0 (Public Domain Dedication)
Protesters participate in the Monumental Day of Action rally outside Representative Blake Moore’s office in Ogden on Monday, July, 20, 2026; CC0 (Public Domain Dedication)
Provo
People protest Trump’s reductions of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase on Monday, July 20, 2026 in Provo, Utah; CC0 (Public Domain Dedication)
People protest Trump’s reductions of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase on Monday, July 20, 2026 in Provo, Utah; CC0 (Public Domain Dedication)
St. George
Protesters participate in the Monumental Day of Action rally outside Representative Celeste Maloy and Senator Mike Lee’s offices on Monday, July 20, 2026 in St. George. Photo credit: Autumn Gillard, Southern Paiute Tribal member and coordinator of the Grand Staircase-Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalition; CC0 (Public Domain Dedication)
A protest sign with a statue outside Representative Celeste Maloy and Senator Mike Lee’s offices on Monday, July 20, 2026 in St. George, Utah. (David Becker/AP Content Services for The Wilderness Society)
Protesters participate in the Monumental Day of Action rally outside Representative Celeste Maloy and Senator Mike Lee’s offices on Monday, July 20, 2026 in St. George, Utah. (David Becker/AP Content Services for The Wilderness Society)
Protesters participate in the Monumental Day of Action rally outside Representative Celeste Maloy and Senator Mike Lee’s offices on Monday, July 20, 2026 in St. George, Utah. (David Becker/AP Content Services for The Wilderness Society)
Moab
People protest Trump’s reductions of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase on Monday, July 20, 2026 in Moab, Utah (Niki Chan Wylie/AP Content Services for The Wilderness Society)
Davina Smith-Idjesa, the Navajo Nation representative and Co-Chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, stands with a protest sign on Monday, July 20, 2026 in Moab, Utah (Niki Chan Wylie/AP Content Services for The Wilderness Society)
Bob and Mary O’Brien protest on Monday, July 20, 2026 in Moab, Utah (Niki Chan Wylie/AP Content Services for The Wilderness Society)
Bluff
Protesters participate in the Monumental Day of Action rally at the edge of Bears Ears National Monument on Monday, July, 20, 2026 outside Bluff, Utah; CC0 (Public Domain Dedication)
Protesters participate in the Monumental Day of Action rally at the edge of Bears Ears National Monument on Monday, July, 20, 2026 outside Bluff, Utah; CC0 (Public Domain Dedication)
Protesters participate in the Monumental Day of Action rally at the edge of Bears Ears National Monument on Monday, July, 20, 2026 outside Bluff, Utah; CC0 (Public Domain Dedication)
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It's interesting that so many seem to think the national monuments are "protection" of these places. The national monument designations were the beginning of the end for these places. As soon as they hit the map, the looting by tourists increased exponentially, and the new infrastructure needed stripped away their prior character. Now, the place is loaded with tourists, human waste, infrastructure, and road grading operations that make tarmac look rough. They're now just being mined by social media influencers, CUVs, and tourists and transplants who never would have found them or gone to them without all the canned, infrastructured experiences. I'm not a fan of these places being turned into a political tug of war for politicians I don't like, but the national monuments aren't "protection" by any definition I would use. They're exploitation, infrastructure, booster-marketing beacons, and museumification all in one. Odd to celebrate it as protection, when the current state as a result of so-called protection is the leaching destruction of what once was.
I support you with contributions to NRDC and letter writing for their campaigns👍
It's interesting that so many seem to think the national monuments are "protection" of these places. The national monument designations were the beginning of the end for these places. As soon as they hit the map, the looting by tourists increased exponentially, and the new infrastructure needed stripped away their prior character. Now, the place is loaded with tourists, human waste, infrastructure, and road grading operations that make tarmac look rough. They're now just being mined by social media influencers, CUVs, and tourists and transplants who never would have found them or gone to them without all the canned, infrastructured experiences. I'm not a fan of these places being turned into a political tug of war for politicians I don't like, but the national monuments aren't "protection" by any definition I would use. They're exploitation, infrastructure, booster-marketing beacons, and museumification all in one. Odd to celebrate it as protection, when the current state as a result of so-called protection is the leaching destruction of what once was.