The Trump administration’s threats to revoke national monument status or shrink the boundaries of monuments threatens drinking water for millions, according to a new report from the nonpartisan Center for American Progress.
Presidents can designate national monuments using the Antiquities Act of 1906. The law is an important tool in preserving cultural, historic, natural and areas of scientific value.
During his first term, President Donald Trump shrunk the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, both located in Utah. Now, the administration is looking to revoke the status of monuments altogether—something no president has ever done.
The Center for American Progress’s report identifies 31 monuments whose national monument status could be under threat. According to the report, about 83% of the waters on these landscapes have no other conservation protections other than their national monument status. Revoking monument status would jeopardize these watersheds and the millions of people who rely on them, the report says.
Among the monuments identified in the report are several in the Colorado River Basin. That includes Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears in Utah, as well as Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon, which surrounds Grand Canyon National Park. Over 40 million people use the Colorado River for water in the West.
“We think about the value that these national monuments provide for outdoor recreation and chances to get out and hike and hunt and camp and fish, we think about scenic vistas,” said Drew McConville, one of the report’s authors. “If you've seen photos of some of the national monuments out west, like Bears Ears and Grand Staircase, you might think about the petroglyphs and the cultural histories that are really protected here.”
“I don't think we think as often about the clean water and the downstream benefits that we are getting from having these lands intact and still protected, and really how that could be at risk,” he added.
Extraction activity, like mining and drilling for oil and gas, is not allowed in national monuments. Revoking monument status could open up delicate landscapes to the environmental impacts from these activities.
McConville said when the first Trump administration shrunk the boundaries of Bears Ears in 2017, dozens of mining claims were made in the following weeks.
“So these aren’t just theoretical threats,” he said.
According to the report, there are 395 existing uranium mines along the Colorado River corridor and 800 pending new claims. Earlier this year, the Department of the Interior approved the expedited permitting process for the Velvet-Wood Uranium Mine near Monticello, Utah—not far from the boundaries of Bears Ears.
“That area has had a long history of development, including uranium mining,” McConville said of the Grand Canyon. “That has led to public health concerns, (and) has raised the specter of even more impacts to drinking water, both subsurface and surface water,” McConville said.
The report also looks at the impacts of climate change on these landscapes, especially drought. It estimates that almost 90% of watersheds overlapping with Grand Staircase-Escalante are expected to see declines in water availability by 2040.
McConville said that only underscores the need for protections for these landscapes in the face of climate change.
“You’ve got waters that are—no matter what happens—going to have increased pressure on them as you see more drought conditions,” he said. “Which means potentially more concentrated pollution. We could also see more wildfires related to climate change and drought, which leads to water pollution downstream as well.”
Copyright 2025 Rocky Mountain Community Radio. This story was shared via Rocky Mountain Community Radio, a network of public media stations in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico, including Aspen Public Radio.
