The Bears Ears Commission Was Disbanded. Now, Tribal Seals Are Disappearing from Monument Signs.

In the weeks following the executive order, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been observed removing the official seals of the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Pueblo of Zuni, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and the Ute Indian Tribe from monument entrance signs. These seals, which were installed to signify a new era of federal-Tribal partnership, are being stripped away or replaced by signs that reflect the drastically reduced boundaries of the protected area. For many, the removal of these emblems is more than a clerical update; it is a profound act of administrative erasure that signals the collapse of years of diplomatic progress and trust-building.

Davina Smith-Idjesa, a representative of the Navajo Nation and co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, expressed the deep emotional and political toll of the action. “When I first saw that the Bears Ears signs and Tribal seals had been removed, I just sat there with a lump in my throat,” Smith-Idjesa told reporters. “I know that to some people it may look like just a sign, but to me, it represented something much bigger. It was a physical reminder of how quickly years of relationship-building, trust, and progress can be stripped away.”

The seals were originally integrated into the monument’s branding to honor the Bears Ears Commission, a body established to ensure that Tribal traditional knowledge would inform the management of the 1.36 million acres of ancestral lands. Under the new directive, the BLM confirmed that the commission has been disbanded. A spokesperson for the agency stated that the removal of the signs is a logistical necessity following the modification of the monument’s boundaries. “Signs at the former boundary of the monument are being removed, as well as signs with tribal seals,” the spokesperson said. “The seals were a recognition of the Bears Ears Commission, which has been disbanded and terminated.”

A History of Political Volatility

The 2026 reduction marks the latest chapter in a decade-long political tug-of-war over the red rock canyons of southeastern Utah. Bears Ears National Monument was first designated by President Barack Obama in December 2016, following an unprecedented campaign by a coalition of five Tribes who sought to protect a landscape rich in archaeological sites, cliff dwellings, and sacred burial grounds. The original designation encompassed roughly 1.35 million acres, a victory for conservationists and Indigenous advocates who had fought for decades to protect the area from looting, vandalism, and resource extraction.

However, the monument’s status has remained precarious. In 2017, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation reducing the monument by 85 percent, a move that was met with immediate and protracted legal challenges. When President Joe Biden took office, he issued an executive order in 2021 that restored the original boundaries and expanded the monument slightly to 1.36 million acres. Crucially, the Biden administration also signed a first-of-its-kind co-management agreement in 2022, formally elevating the role of the five Tribes in the day-to-day decision-making processes for the land.

The July 2026 proclamation by President Trump has not only reversed the restoration but has gone further, shrinking the monument to a mere 121,000 acres—a fraction of its original size. Nearby Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument suffered a similar fate, being reduced from 1.9 million acres to approximately 182,000 acres. Combined, the two actions have removed federal monument protections from nearly 3 million acres of public land in Utah.

The Impact on Cultural Heritage and Sovereignty

The removal of the Tribal seals is being interpreted by the Inter-Tribal Coalition as a direct assault on the principle of Tribal sovereignty. The Bears Ears region is not merely a wilderness area; it is a living cultural landscape. For the Hopi, Zuni, and Ute peoples, the land is a repository of history and a site of ongoing spiritual practice. The Inter-Tribal Commission was designed to ensure that these perspectives were not just heard, but were foundational to the land’s management.

“Seeing those signs come down made me think about our history,” Smith-Idjesa remarked. “Native people have seen promises broken, treaties ignored, reservation boundaries reduced, and lands taken when they held something others wanted. It made me wonder whether we are watching another version of that happen today.”

The Coalition argues that the "administrative erasure" of the Commission undermines the federal government’s trust responsibility to Indigenous nations. By disbanding the commission and removing the seals, the administration has effectively signaled that the voices of the original inhabitants of the land are no longer welcome in the halls of federal land management.

Recreational and Environmental Consequences

Beyond the cultural implications, the massive reduction in protected acreage has immediate consequences for the outdoor recreation economy and the preservation of biodiversity. Data provided by the Outdoor Alliance and The Wilderness Society highlights the sheer scale of the loss. The revised boundaries now exclude more than 500 miles of established trails and over 1,200 climbing routes and boulder problems from the Bears Ears National Monument.

In Grand Staircase-Escalante, the situation is equally grim for recreational enthusiasts, with 230 miles of trails and over 100 climbing routes now sitting outside the protected monument zone. Adam Cramer, CEO of Outdoor Alliance, emphasized that these changes do more than just alter maps. “Shrinking these monuments by more than ninety percent doesn’t just erase lines on a map—it also attempts to erase the vision of the five tribal nations of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition to protect their ancestral homeland in a generous and inclusive way for the benefit of all Americans,” Cramer said.

The excised lands are now vulnerable to a variety of threats that monument status previously mitigated. Without the specific protections of the Antiquities Act, these areas could be opened to new mining claims, oil and gas leasing, and expanded motorized vehicle use. The region is known to contain significant deposits of uranium and potential fossil fuel reserves, resources that have long been a point of interest for industrial developers in the West.

Legal Challenges and the Antiquities Act

The legality of the 2026 proclamation is already being questioned by legal scholars and environmental groups. The core of the debate centers on the Antiquities Act of 1906, which grants presidents the authority to create national monuments but does not explicitly grant them the power to abolish or significantly reduce them.

Advocates argue that only Congress has the constitutional authority to rescind or substantially alter a national monument designation. Previous lawsuits filed during the 2017 reductions were never fully resolved by the Supreme Court, as the Biden administration’s restoration of the boundaries rendered them moot. However, this new round of cuts is expected to trigger a fresh wave of litigation that could finally force a definitive judicial ruling on the limits of presidential power under the 1906 Act.

Conservation groups, including the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and the Center for Western Priorities, have already begun mobilizing legal teams. They argue that the 90 percent reduction is an abuse of power that ignores the "objects of historic or scientific interest" that the act is intended to protect.

A Resilience Beyond Signs

Despite the physical removal of the signs near the towns of Mexican Hat and Bluff, the Inter-Tribal Coalition remains resolute. The Coalition has stated that their connection to the land is not contingent upon federal recognition or the presence of a wooden sign on the side of a highway.

“Removing the signs does not erase our relationship to Bears Ears,” Smith-Idjesa said. “It does not erase our responsibility to this place. The Coalition Tribes will continue to carry that responsibility, no matter what signs are standing on the side of the road. Those signs represented hope, but our connection to this land is eternal.”

As the BLM continues its work to implement the new boundaries, the region enters a period of profound uncertainty. For the local communities and the millions of Americans who value these lands for their beauty, history, and spiritual significance, the empty signposts serve as a haunting reminder of the volatile nature of American land policy and the ongoing struggle for Indigenous justice in the American West. The fight for Bears Ears is far from over; it has simply moved from the monument’s gates back to the courtrooms and the halls of political power.