ExecutiveOrdersEO
Proc 9682ProclamationTrump 45 · R

Proclamation 9682

Modifying the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

This proclamation reduces the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument from approximately 1.7 million acres to about 1 million acres, removing roughly 862,000 acres from monument status. The reduced monument is reorganized into three units (Grand Staircase, Kaiparowits, and Escalante Canyons), and the excluded lands are opened to mining, mineral leasing, and other disposition after a 60-day waiting period.

Federal Register Open PDF 82 FR 58089

Impact dates

  1. Excluded lands open to entry, location, sale, mineral/geothermal leasing, and mining

Key directives

  • Reduce monument boundaries to approximately 1,003,863 acres across three named units
  • Open excluded lands to public land laws, mineral/geothermal leasing, and mining laws after 60 days
  • Require Secretary to prepare management plans for each unit with tribal and government consultation
  • Establish advisory committees under FACA with balanced stakeholder representation
  • Allow motorized/non-mechanized vehicle use on pre-1996 roads and trails
  • Modify livestock grazing provisions to clarify continued governance by other laws
  • Authorize ecological restoration and active vegetation management

Who is ordered

Timeline

Immediate

  • Monument boundaries reduced to three units
  • Approximately 861,974 acres removed from monument designation

Near term (90d)

  • Excluded lands open to entry, location, sale, mineral/geothermal leasing, and mining at 9:00 a.m. EST on February 2, 2018 (60 days after signing)
  • Secretary of Interior to develop management plans for three units with public involvement and tribal consultation

Long term

  • Advisory committees to be established for ongoing management advice
  • Potential shift in land use patterns on excluded lands toward extraction and development
  • Ongoing management of remaining monument lands under revised provisions

Risks & tensions

  • Legal vulnerability: reduction of national monuments by presidential proclamation is legally contested and was subsequently litigated
  • Conflict between extraction interests and conservation/preservation goals
  • Tribal consultation requirements may create tension with expedited resource development timeline
  • Scientific dispute over whether reduced boundaries truly represent 'smallest area compatible' with protection
  • Potential precedent for other monument reductions
Proclamation 9682: Modifying the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument · Executive Orders