A Utah national monument is once again at the center of a national battle over public lands.
On Wednesday, Patagonia announced a new lawsuit against the Trump administration for removing protections from 91% of Bears Ears National Monument. President Trump made the decision in July, choosing to prioritize mining and resource extraction rather than preserving the land for the public. In addition, Trump removed land protections from 90% of the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, also located in Utah.
In the lawsuit, Patagonia argues that the Antiquities Act — long used by presidents to designate national monuments — does not also grant power to undo them. It’s not a new argument for Patagonia, which sued Trump for exactly the same thing back in 2017, when he shrank the monuments the first time. President Biden later overturned that decision.
Patagonia has pushed for the protection of Bears Ears since 2013, and will never stop defending it, he said in a release. However, several other groups have joined Patagonia’s lawsuit against the White House, including environment-focused nonprofits like the Access Fund and Earthjustice.
Patagonia Vs. White House
In a statement, Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert noted that Trump’s insistence on undoing protections for Bears Ears is also an affront to Tribal leaders, who led efforts to protect it.
“Slashing Bears Ears and dismantling the Bears Ears Commission is a betrayal of Tribal sovereignty and needlessly throws away years of effort to create the first Tribal co-management structure of a national monument in U.S. history,” said Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert. “Patagonia worked with the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, scientists, conservation groups, outdoor industry advocates and more to establish the monument in 2016, and we are committed to defending it today and into the future.”
Responding to a GearJunkie request for comment, an anonymous spokesperson from the Interior Department defended Trump’s decision to remove protections from Bears Ears.
“President Trump is righting the wrongs of past administrations by ending the abuse of the Antiquities Act, restoring access, protecting our heritage, and putting Utahns and all Americans first,” the spokesperson said. “By right-sizing national monuments, President Trump is delivering commonsense conservation by ensuring the protection of historic landmarks while restoring access, opportunity, and the economic and recreational lifeblood of Utah and the American West.”
A Second Lawsuit
At this point, Bears Ears National Monument has become one of the most contested land areas in U.S. history.
It was designated a national monument by President Obama in 2016. A year later, President Trump turned the tables for the first time, reducing the size of Bears Ears by 83% to a size of just 230,000 acres. That led to Patagonia’s first lawsuit against Trump, becoming the first company ever to sue a sitting president over public land protection. The lawsuit became moot in 2021, when President Biden restored the national monument to its former size.
Now the cycle seems to be repeating itself, as Patagonia again sues President Trump for once again reducing two national monuments to less than 10% of their original land area. In both cases, Trump’s insistence on shrinking the monuments amounts to the “largest cut to public lands protection in U.S. history,” environmental groups said.
As for the legal argument over the Antiquities Act of 1906, it seems to be a gray area. While the law does give the president power to establish national monuments, legal scholars continue to debate whether it also grants the power to remove them. Patagonia is joined in the lawsuit by other organizations, including the Access Fund.
Bears Ears and Patagonia
It’s no surprise that Patagonia’s leadership feels so strongly about Bears Ears. The company has supported nonprofit organizations working to establish the monument since at least 2013. It has contributed more than $1.64 million in grants since then, and “published several stories and films on Bears Ears’ cultural significance, outdoor recreation opportunities and natural beauty,” the company said in a release.
“Indigenous peoples have stewarded the area for thousands of years, and Tribal Nations led the effort to protect the region,” Patagonia said. “Bears Ears is the first national monument created at the urging of Tribal Nations, and before the proclamation, was the first national monument with a Tribal-led resource management plan. It is home to thousands of culturally significant and sacred sites.”
Moreover, Bears Ears is a popular destination for outdoor recreation, especially rock climbing.
“We need leaders in all levels of government and from across the country to push back against the administration’s order and the greater whole-of-government assault on public lands, climate action and environmental protection,” Gellert said. “We must hold them accountable if they do not.”
The news of Patagonia’s lawsuit comes amid several other controversial moves by the Trump administration involving public lands. Those include the bulldozing of critical habitat at Big Bend National Park and the potential sale of a parcel of land at Yosemite National Park.
