As Trump Administration Guts Two Beloved National Monuments, Conservation Lands Foundation Urges Senate to Advance Community-Driven Public Lands Protections
“Congress should advance these locally driven bills and stand against efforts to dismantle America’s national monuments,“ says Conservation Lands Foundation CEO Chris Hill
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - July 15, 2026
Contact: Kris Deutschman
916-425-7174
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Conservation Lands Foundation Chief Executive Officer Chris Hill today urged Congress to advance three locally developed public lands bills, contrasting the collaborative approach behind the legislation with the Trump administration’s sweeping attack on Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments this week.
In testimony submitted to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining, Hill expressed support for the Gunnison Outdoor Resources Protection Act, the Douglas County Economic Development and Conservation Act, and the Caja del Rio Protection Act. Together, the bills would protect hundreds of thousands of acres while preserving traditional land uses, safeguarding public access, supporting local economies, and respecting Tribal connections to the land.
Below is a statement from Chris Hill, CEO of the nonpartisan Conservation Lands Foundation, which represents a national network of advocates who are solely focused on the National Monuments and National Conservation Lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
“The contrast between the administration’s actions on Monday and today’s hearing 48 hours later could not be more stark,” said Hill. “The three bills before the Senate demonstrate what responsible and durable public lands policy looks like: Tribes, local communities, ranchers, recreationists, conservationists, and elected leaders sitting down together and developing solutions that reflect the needs of the people who know these lands best.”
“These bills recognize that conservation does not involve shutting people out,” Hill said. “We can protect clean water, wildlife corridors, sacred places, and outdoor access while honoring traditional uses and strengthening the communities connected to these landscapes. That is how public lands policy should be made, not through unilateral actions that silence Tribes and the public and hand treasured landscapes over to extraction and profit.”
“While the administration is trying to erase protections from nearly three million acres at Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante with the stroke of a pen, disregarding Tribal leadership, public input, science and years of careful land-management planning,” Hill continued, “Congress should advance these locally driven bills and stand against efforts to dismantle America’s national monuments.”
Earlier this week, President Trump issued proclamations reducing Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument from approximately 1.87 million acres to about 181,500 acres and Bears Ears National Monument from approximately 1.36 million acres to about 121,100 acres. Conservation Lands Foundation has condemned the action as unlawful and warned that it puts Tribal resources, wildlife habitat, clean water, recreation, and nearby communities at risk.
The three bills discussed by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining, and supported by CLF are:
S. 1791, the Gunnison Outdoor Resources Protection Act, would implement a locally developed vision for more than 730,000 acres in Colorado’s Gunnison Basin, including approximately 250,000 acres managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The bipartisan legislation would protect clean water, wildlife, recreation and traditional uses; withdraw most BLM-managed lands in Delta County’s North Fork Valley from future oil and gas development; and preserve public access to the Gunnison Forks boat ramp.
S. 4200, the Douglas County Economic Development and Conservation Act, would address conservation, infrastructure and Tribal land-management priorities in Douglas County, Nevada. Among its provisions, the bill would designate more than 12,000 acres as the Burbank Canyons Wilderness, convey land within Lake Tahoe-Nevada State Park to Nevada and place more than 2,000 acres of culturally important land into trust for the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California.
S. 4458, the Caja del Rio Protection Act, would protect approximately 107,000 acres of ecologically and culturally significant land in New Mexico. The legislation would safeguard an important wildlife corridor, protect historic portions of El Camino Real and preserve traditional community activities including hunting, grazing and the gathering of herbs and minerals.
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