The biggest undoing of federal land protection in American history

IN THE sere wilderness of southern Utah, green highlands retain and filter water from storms, providing sustenance for plants, animals and people. The Navajo, who lived in the region long before Europeans set foot on the continent, refer to such areas as nahodishgish—places to be left alone. They sit at the centre of Bears Ears—a 1.35m-acre reserve teeming with archaeological, paleontological, and natural wonders that Barack Obama designated as a national monument on December 28th 2016.

On December 4th President Donald Trump shrunk Bears Ears by 85%, splitting the remaining roughly 200,000 acres into two separate, discontiguous monuments. He also shrunk the nearby 1.9m acre Grand Staircase National Monument, created by Bill Clinton in 1996, and split its remaining roughly 1m acres into three separate monuments. It was the single biggest undoing of federal land protections in American history.