Review and shrink national monuments, including those in Maine and Oregon

Partially done

Printed page 532 16. Department of the Interior

“Monuments in Maine and Oregon, for example, should have been adjusted downward given the finding of Secretary Ryan Zinke’s review that they were improperly designated. The new Administration’s review will permit a fresh look at past monument decrees and new ones by President Biden.”

What has happened

Jul 13, 2026 Partially done
Two proclamations cut Bears Ears National Monument from about 1.36 million acres to 121,096 acres (two units; the Bears Ears Commission ended) and Grand Staircase-Escalante from about 1.87 million to 181,541 acres — deeper than the 2017 reductions Biden had reversed in 2021. The Maine (Katahdin Woods and Waters) and Oregon (Cascade-Siskiyou) monuments the Mandate names were not modified, and Biden's 2025 California monuments stand.
- Proclamation — Modifying the Bears Ears National Monument
  Primary Executive branch Jul 13, 2026
- Proclamation — Modifying the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
  Primary Executive branch Jul 13, 2026
- Modifying the Bears Ears National Monument (proclamation text: reservation reduced to approximately 121,096 acres)
  Primary Executive branch Jul 13, 2026
- Modifying the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (proclamation text: reservation reduced to approximately 181,541 acres)
  Primary Executive branch Jul 13, 2026
May 27, 2025 Attempted
The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel advised the White House that the Antiquities Act lets a President alter or entirely revoke a prior monument designation, and withdrew the 1938 Attorney General opinion to the contrary — clearing the legal path for reductions.
- Office of Legal Counsel memorandum opinion for the Counsel to the President: Revocation of Prior Monument Designations (slip opinion)
  Primary Executive branch May 27, 2025
Feb 3, 2025 Attempted
Secretary's Order 3418 §4 directed each Assistant Secretary to plan, within 15 days, 'actions to review and, as appropriate, revise all withdrawn public lands, consistent with existing law, including 54 U.S.C. 320301' — the Antiquities Act. The review was ordered; no boundary had changed.
- Secretary's Order No. 3418, Unleashing American Energy (§4: review and revise withdrawn public lands under 54 U.S.C. 320301)
  Primary Executive branch Feb 3, 2025
- SO 3418 — Unleashing American Energy (Department of the Interior, February 3, 2025)
  Primary Executive branch Feb 3, 2025

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

Litigation: SUWA, Earthjustice and the five Bears Ears Commission tribes announced on 2026-07-13 that they would sue (suwa.org, earthjustice.org, narf.org — off the allowlist). No complaint against the 2026 proclamations was found: the federal court dockets we keep and search, from CourtListener, run only to 2026-06-30, before them, and CourtListener’s search could not be reached at the time. The pre-existing Utah cases challenging the 2021 restoration (Garfield County v. Biden) were remanded by the Tenth Circuit on 2026-06-23 per off-allowlist reports. A filing alone would not change the Status; an injunction would (blocked).
Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands (California, January 2025): a March 2025 White House fact sheet reportedly said the administration was “terminating” them and the language was later removed (off-allowlist reports); no proclamation is among the federal records we keep and search.
The CRS report R49048, “Presidential Authority Under the Antiquities Act” (congress.gov), would not open for us — a lead.

Action: restrict
Object: National monument designations under the Antiquities Act
ID: 1495