Conservationists sound alarm over spending bill's impact on Utah monument
More than 60 organizations — including the Conservation Lands Foundation, Grand Canyon Trust, Grand Staircase Escalante Partners, New Mexico Wildlife Federation, The Wilderness Society and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance — signed onto a Monday letter asking House leaders to remove a provision targeting the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument from the fiscal 2026 spending bill.
'Among the most beloved of the National Conservation Lands, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah is the first and largest national monument entrusted to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to conserve, restore, and protect,' the groups wrote in the letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), and Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and ranking member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.).
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The current spending bill would direct BLM to follow a 2020 Trump administration land-use plan for the monument in southwestern Utah.
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New poll finds 96% Idaho voters say public lands should remain in public hands
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