Protect Grand Staircase-Escalante

Protect Grand Staircase-Escalante

TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress to protect Grand Staircase-Escalante

Grand Staircase–Escalante, a 1.9-million-acre national monument in southern Utah, is under attack. The Trump Administration and allies in Congress are moving to gut its management plan, weaponize the Congressional Review Act (CRA), and reopen surrounding lands to drilling.

This iconic public land is meant for exploration, not extraction. It fuels Utah’s $9.5 billion outdoor recreation economy, supporting rural jobs and communities that depend on certainty, not boom-and-bust pollution.

Using the CRA, Congress could wipe out protections with a simple majority vote and block future rules that look “too similar,” locking in weaker protections for decades. Drilling would fuel pollution, increase emissions, and fracture landscapes that act as carbon sinks and buffers against heat, drought, and wildfire. It also threatens long-term economic stability, trading sustainable outdoor jobs for short-term gains and costly cleanup.

“Grand Staircase-Escalante has provided me with many formative adventures from kayaking down the Escalante River to exploring wild slot canyons, wandering endless mesas, and experiencing one of the few places left where it still feels possible to get lost. Opening this protected landscape to drilling and extraction would not only damage this fragile desert environment, but cause irreparable harm to recreational use and most significantly to the Southern Paiute, Pueblos, and Ute Peoples who regard it as Sacred.” —Angela Hawse, POW Climb Alliance member

The bottom line is that public lands are good for business. Drilling isn’t. Sacrificing Grand Staircase-Escelante for short-term profit would destroy access, wipe out local jobs, and devastate Utah’s $9.5 billion outdoor economy. Let’s let Congress know that the Outdoor State chooses clean air, open land, and local jobs, and we won’t stand by while this monument is dismantled.

Tell Congress to protect Grand Staircase-Escalante from oil and gas extraction and support Utah’s thriving outdoor economy