Review of Designations Under the Antiquities Act

Executive Order 13792 was signed on April 26, 2017, directing the Secretary of the Interior to review all national monument designations made since January 1, 1996, and report on their legality and appropriateness. The order resulted in the Interior Department recommending changes to multiple monument designations, leading to the subsequent reduction in size of Bears Ears National Monument (Utah) and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (Utah), which removed federal protections from approximately 2 million acres of public land.