OUTDOOR retailer Patagonia has joined a coalition of Indigenous nations and environmental groups in suing the Trump administration over its decision to shrink two major national monuments in Utah – Bears Ears and Grand Staircase‑Escalante – by around 90 per cent.
The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday, argues that President Donald Trump does not have the legal authority to reduce the size of national monuments designated under the Antiquities Act, reviving litigation first brought in 2017 during Trump’s previous term in office. Those earlier cases were paused after the Biden administration restored and expanded the monuments in 2021. The original suits were put on hold when the Biden reversed course from Trump and expanded the monuments..
Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert described the move as “tragic”, saying the rollback betrayed tribal sovereignty and undermined years of collaborative management planning for culturally significant landscapes. The company maintains that the Antiquities Act grants presidents the power to create monuments, but contains no provision allowing them to dismantle or reduce them.
The Trump administration reduced the monuments in July, opening millions of acres of previously protected land to oil drilling, uranium mining and other forms of development. At least nine mining claims have already been filed on lands that were protected until the policy shift took effect.
An Interior Department spokesperson defended the decision, saying the administration was “righting the wrongs of past administrations” and delivering “commonsense conservation” by restoring access and economic opportunity for Utah residents.
Bears Ears holds particular significance for Indigenous communities. It was the first national monument created at the request of Native American nations and the first in U.S. history to be co‑managed by Tribal governments, including the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe and the Pueblo of Zuni.
Tribal representatives say years of co‑management work have been disrupted by the policy reversal.
“It’s been disappointing to see how much work has been put into trying to do co‑management, and then having all that work put on hold or shelved,” said Angelo Baca of the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe.
Utah’s Republican governor Spencer Cox and the state’s congressional delegation supported the reductions, arguing that the monuments were oversized and exceeded the intended scope of the Antiquities Act. Cox said the designations should be limited to “the smallest area possible” to protect specific antiquities, noting that the monuments had grown larger than the state of Delaware .
Patagonia’s filing also situates the monument cuts within what it describes as a broader “whole‑of‑government campaign” by the Trump administration to roll back environmental protections, climate action and public land safeguards – changes the company says will take “years if not decades to undo”.
The White House and Justice Department have been contacted for comment.
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