Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance

09/29/2026

An informative read from High Country News:

Doug Burgum was once seen as a conservationist. Reality shows otherwise.

09/28/2026

From 2018-2021 (during the previous, illegal reduction) there were a total of 20 mining claims filed in the lands cut from Bears Ears National Monument. As of Monday, Sept. 28 (two weeks after the mineral withdrawal was lifted during the second illegal reduction), more than triple that number – 72 claims – have been filed in Bears Ears.

Claims have been filed by Land Survey Advisors LLC (36), Kimmerle Mining (33), and George W. Schultz (3). A map of all claims can be found below.

For more info, visit: https://suwa.org/in-less-than-a-month-mining-claims-filed-in-bears-ears-already-triple-the-total-number-filed-during-previous-trump-reduction/

09/23/2026

September's Redrock Report is here, check it out!

👨‍⚖️ SUWA Files Lawsuit, Mining Claims Begin as Backlash Grows Over Attack on National Monuments
📣 Deadline Alert: Submit Your Comments in Support of Quiet, Roadless Forests!
🌹 Support Continues to Grow for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act
📰 What We’ve Been Reading

Read the details:
https://suwa.org/september-2026-redrock-report/

09/23/2026

Since our press release last Wednesday, Kimmerle Mining has filed 7 additional mining claims. All are located near Natural Bridges National Monument—the first International Dark Sky Park.

This brings the total mining claims to 20 from Kimmerle Mining and 23 total (3 from George W. Schultz) in lands cut from Bears Ears National Monument.

Now is a critical time to contact your members of Congress and urge them to speak out against the cuts to these extraordinary places, as well as the inexcusable disbanding of the Bears Ears Commission.

To learn more or see an updated map of these mining claims, visit:
https://suwa.org/first-mining-claims-filed-in-lands-cut-from-bears-ears-national-monument-9-16-26/

09/18/2026

Today is the 30th anniversary of the designation of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. While we could lament on those who are trying to destroy it, let’s instead honor the people who have dedicated their lives to protect it.

If you’ve been to Grand Staircase, you know just how easy it is to be wild and free there. The landscape is a living one, an ancestral land to indigenous peoples, and home to so many living species. From the deeply rooted biological soil crusts to the stories told in the dark night skies—let’s celebrate this incredibly magical place as it continues to inspire us forward.

Please continue to support and magnify the voices of protectors like the Grand Staircase Coalition.

Let today be a reminder of how deeply we love Grand Staircase-Escalante and how far we're willing to go to protect it. Protect Wild Utah!

Photo credits: Daniel Richardson

09/17/2026

From The Salt Lake Tribune on the recent mining claims in Bears Ears National Monument. SUWA Legal Director, Steve Bloch, is quoted.

“Hobby miners who want to go locate claims, play miner on the weekend, [still] leave disturbance and pollution in their wake that really damages the monument resources..."

"He [Trump] was kind of flagging for people that he, [and] the administration, think that mining is a better use of these areas,” Bloch said.

Read more:

Environmental groups decry actitivities that might distrub tribal and cultural resources at the site, but local miners say the lands were meant for multiple uses.

09/17/2026

This week, Sen. Lee took a major step toward overturning the Bears Ears Monument Management Plan by adding a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) opinion to the Congressional Record.

Under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), this opens the door for Congress to introduce a resolution of disapproval, which we anticipate will happen soon. If passed by a simple majority in both the House and Senate and signed by the President, the Bears Ears Management Plan would be undone.

The plan lays out how the monument will be managed for wildlife, outdoor recreation, dark skies, grazing, and other uses. Not to mention it would unravel years of collaboration between Tribal Nations and federal agencies while preventing a similar plan from being created in the future.

The move comes just days after 16 new mining claims were filed within Bears Ears National Monument.

For more info, visit: https://suwa.org/senator-lee-formally-begins-process-to-fast-track-the-destruction-of-bears-ears-national-monument-in-utah-9-17-26/

Photo Credit: Tim Peterson

09/16/2026

The Forest Service is rewriting its longstanding Travel Management Rule, which determines where off-road vehicles (ORVs) can travel across national forests and grasslands. The proposal places a heavy thumb on the scale to prioritize ORV use at the expense of all other uses and values, including the protection of wildlife, cultural sites, healthy streams, and the solitude of wild places.

❗Submit a comment NOW: https://suwa.quorum.us/campaign/169538/ ❗

There are already hundreds of thousands of miles of Forest Service roads nationwide, facing a $9 billion maintenance backlog. Both the proposed Travel Management Rule change and the proposed rescission of the Roadless Rule (alert from earlier this week) are part of the administration’s systematic dismantling of the rules and safeguards that keep national forests healthy and safe for the benefit of all.

09/16/2026

16 new mining claims have been filed on previously protected land in Bears Ears National Monument. These lands became subject to mining claims on Friday, September 11th—60 days after President Trump decimated Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante. All 16 claims were recorded on September 11 by noon.

For more info on the mining claims, visit our full statement:
https://suwa.org/first-mining-claims-filed-in-lands-cut-from-bears-ears-national-monument-9-16-26/

09/15/2026

Informative article on Bears Ears and the Antiquities Act from The Durango Herald:

“Bears Ears, first and foremost, is indigenous land. It is a place essential to the physical, spiritual and cultural identity of the Hopi, Zuni, Ute, and