SALT LAKE CITY — A public opinion survey commissioned by an environmental group finds a majority of Utahns support protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments.
The survey of around 500 Utah voters, conducted last month by New Bridge Strategy for the Grand Canyon Trust, found that 66% of those polled believed "greater protections should be restored to all of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante." The remaining 33% believed "Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante should only have greater protections in a smaller area."
"We had a majority of Republicans, of independents and nearly all Democrats feeling like the greater protection should be restored to the entirety of the area," pollster Lori Weigel said in a news conference on Wednesday. "We also saw that the view that greater protection should be restored was evident throughout the entire state."
Higher numbers of support were registered in Salt Lake County, Weigel said. The poll had a margin of error of +/- 4.38%.
Both monuments have been controversial since their creation. President Clinton designated Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in 1996. President Obama created Bears Ears National Monument in 2016. In 2017, President Trump shrunk both monuments' boundaries. In 2021, President Biden reinstated them (and added more to Bears Ears). In July, President Trump shrunk them by 90%.
Advocates for the monuments have argued there are precious cultural and historical artifacts in them that should be protected. Opponents have argued the land mass in the original boundaries is too much. Lawsuits challenging President Trump's authority to shrink the monuments have been filed.
"I know these landscapes do not recognize political party lines," said Davina Smith-Idjesa, a member of the Navajo Nation who serves on the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition.
When he slashed the monuments' boundaries, President Trump also disbanded tribal input on the management of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante. The poll also found widespread support for tribes' involvement.
"Tribal participation is not a partisan request. It is broadly supported by the people of Utah. Meaningful tribal code management should begin at the earliest stages of decision making, not after policies, projects, or management plans have already been drafted," said Autumn Gillard, a southern Paiute descendant from the Cedar Band, who serves on the Grand Staircase Inter-Tribal Coalition.
Republican political leaders on Utah's Capitol Hill have questioned the surveys, arguing they do not believe they are truly reflective of public opinion or what is happening to the monuments now that their boundaries are reduced. At his monthly news conference on PBS Utah, Governor Spencer Cox said as much about similar surveys.
"You've asked me a million times, I answered the same way. Yes, we support shrinking it. We did it once before, we should do it again," the governor told reporters at the August news conference. "What's interesting is, and I think you, you saw this with some of the polling... there are a lot of people who are, who are upset about that announcement and I understand that. But I think there are also a lot of people who don't understand what that announcement means. I think too many people think that this means that we're now selling off those lands or something. That those lands aren't protected and that's just not the case at all."
Smith-Idjesa suggested to reporters on Wednesday that Utah political leaders have been looking at the wrong numbers.
"Utah's elected leaders have repeatedly said that the voices of Utah residents must be heard. So this poll allows those voices to be heard clearly. It shows that Utah voters across political parties and regions supporting restoring protections to Bears Ears and Grand Staircase and on supporting a strong tribal role in co-managing culturally significant lands and oppose the termination of the Bears Ears mission," she said. "Whether every elected official agrees with the results or not, these findings are profoundly telling and should not be ignored."
