Scientists and organizations are urging Congress and U.S. Department of the Interior not to overturn the Resource Management Plan for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah.
The group of archaeologists, paleontologists, biologists and others calls the 1.9-million-acre expanse an “unparalleled living laboratory.”
The 150 researchers and scientific organizations like Archaeology Southwest, the Paleontological Society, and the Union of Concerned Scientists sent a letter calling on lawmakers to reject the Congressional Review Act (CRA) legislation that would overturn the 2025 monument plan.
Scientists have nicknamed Grand Staircase the “science monument” because of its stratigraphy, fossil record, ecological diversity and cultural resources.
“As scientists, researchers, and educators from across the United States, we write to reaffirm our deep concern regarding threats to the scientific integrity, management, and long-term protection of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument,” reads the letter. “Specifically, the Utah delegation’s reckless gambit to toss out the monument’s management plan using the Congressional Review Act risks not only the scientific objects of interest within the boundaries, but also the future of research and scientific discovery in this unique landscape.”
The monument’s management plan governs science, conservation, recreation and cultural protection. Researchers say the area is “indispensable to scientific discovery and a testament to our shared history as a nation.”
“This proposed legislation would cause irreparable damage to Utah’s, until now, pre-eminent position as one of the world’s most important centers of dinosaur and other paleontological research,” says Stuart S. Sumida, president of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. “Further, this proposed legislative trickery is a shortsighted landgrab that will damage the burgeoning ecotourism industry which holds the potential for hugely positive impact for the state of Utah and the American West and it demonstrates an enormous lack for respect for the indigenous groups that have supported the establishment of Grand Staircase-Escalante and other national monuments.”
The effort to scrap the plan is spearheaded by Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, who has long fought national monument and other public lands protections in the state.
He serves as chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Lee is attempting to overturn the management plan he says “dismisses the recommendations of the state and local communities and locks in binding management direction for visitation, access and allowable uses.”
Lee also says the plan was “developed in Washington, D.C., detached from the realities facing the Utah communities most affected.”
President Bill Clinton established Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in 1996. It’s administered by the BLM and extends from Arizona-Utah state line, past the town of Boulder, Utah, to Capitol Reef National Park.
