For Immediate Release, September 2, 2026

Access Fund Sues Trump Administration For Reduction of Bears Ears National Monument

BOULDER— Against the recommendations of Access Fund and the climbing community; President Trump issued a proclamation on July 13th, drastically reducing Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah. President Trump has removed protections from nearly 91% of the 1.36-million-acre Bears Ears National Monument - reducing the monument to just 121,000 acres. Under this proclamation, more than 1.2 million acres lose national monument designation, including world-class climbing areas.

The national monument reduction reverses the mineral withdrawal for over one million acres of federal lands and puts undue risks on the environment, recreation, wildlife, paleontological resources and cultural heritage of Bears Ears. Bears Ears National Monument includes Indian Creek, one of the world’s greatest rock climbing areas. The reduction also undermines the work that has been done by local Tribal Nations, in collaboration with Access Fund, to designate and protect the land. The monument was proposed and conceived of by five sovereign tribal nations—Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Zuni Tribe, and Ute Indian Tribe.

President Trump first reduced the size of Bears Ears National Monument in 2017, after it was originally designated in 2016. As a result, Access Fund filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the monument reduction in federal court. In 2021, the lawsuit was temporarily suspended when President Biden restored the monument.

On September 2, Access Fund filed a motion asking the court to re-open its existing lawsuit against the President’s unlawful actions and permit it to challenge this latest attempt to dismantle Bears Ears National Monument.

“The illegal reduction of Bears Ears National Monument threatens a landscape of extraordinary ecological, cultural, historical and recreational significance,” says Access Fund executive director Heather Thorne. “Bears Ears protects critical habitat, sacred places and cultural resources of deep importance to Indigenous peoples, irreplaceable archaeological and paleontological sites, and some of the country’s most exceptional outdoor recreation opportunities, including world-class climbing. Sacrificing these lands for the short-term interests of extractive industries would cause far reaching and unnecessary harm to America’s public lands.”

For more information about Bears Ears and what Access Fund is doing to protect it, visit www.accessfund.org and follow the conversation at @accessfund.

About the organizations:

Access Fund is the national advocacy organization that keeps climbing areas open and conserves the climbing environment. Founded in 1991, Access Fund supports and represents millions of climbers nationwide in all forms of climbing: rock climbing, ice climbing, mountaineering, and bouldering. Six core programs support the mission on national and local levels: climbing policy and advocacy, stewardship and conservation, local support and mobilization, land acquisition and protection, risk management and landowner support, and education. For more information, visit www.accessfund.org.

For more information on this history of Access Fund’s work at Bears Ears, read more here.