Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance

06/17/2026

We are strongest together ♡ Thank you for standing up for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument!

06/17/2026

Last Friday, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a decision authorizing private airplanes to take off and land in the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness by designating the previously unauthorized Keg Knoll backcountry airstrip as open for aircraft use. The airstrip is located on the west side of Labyrinth Canyon and north of Canyonlands National Park.

For more info, visit: https://suwa.org/suwa-statement-on-approval-of-keg-knoll-airstrip-in-the-labyrinth-canyon-wilderness-6-16-26/

06/16/2026

A great article from friend, Stephen Trimble celebrating the anniversary of the Antiquities Act. See pull quote below.

"All Americans have equal say over national public lands, yet the Utah delegation claims state rights that have no basis in law or history. They pepper the Supreme Court with lawsuits, and are attacking Grand Staircase right now, seeking to overthrow the current conservation-leaning resource management plan.

The American people believe otherwise. An impressive 91 percent of Western voters say national monuments should retain existing boundaries; 94 percent say rollback of environmental laws is a serious problem. In Utah, 75 percent of voters want the delegation to prioritize conservation on public lands over energy production.

On its 120th anniversary, let’s celebrate this essential law that allows presidents to maintain, strengthen and highlight the bedrock values of our diverse lands, cultures, and communities."

Read the full piece:

This June, the Antiquities Act turns 120 years old. Since Teddy Roosevelt signed the law on June 8, 1906, nearly...

06/16/2026

Yesterday, the Center for Biological Diversity filed a notice of intent to sue the Trump administration’s Bureau of Land Management for quietly approving a hydrocarbon highway through Utah’s scenic, culturally and historically significant Gate Canyon in the West Tavaputs Plateau region of eastern Utah.

Gate Canyon feeds into Nine Mile Canyon — a world-renowned archaeological area that contains more than 10,000 unique, irreplaceable cultural, historical and archaeological resources. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) filed a similar 60-day notice in April. Both notices say the BLM and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act by not considering the project’s threats to Mexican spotted owls, despite the fact that the BLM identified the cliffs near the proposed blasting areas as potential owl habitat.

Read more in our full press release:
https://suwa.org/lawsuit-launched-to-challenge-oil-highway-that-threatens-world-renowned-nine-mile-canyon/

06/15/2026

A really great and informative piece from More Than Just Parks. See pull quote below:

"Lee and Maloy told you themselves their focus is unchanged. They still want to drag management back to the weaker 2020 framework. Bears Ears remains in the crosshairs. So does the rest of the redrock. And the threats keep landing on every front. This same month, BLM announced results from an oil and gas lease sale covering nearly 700,000 acres of the Arctic Refuge coastal plain.

So take the win. You earned this one. Then keep your boots on, because the people who want to sell, drill, and pave our public lands are still running the agencies that manage them."

Read more:

A coalition of readers, tribal nations, scientists, and Utahns just beat one of the most powerful public lands villains in Washington. Anyone who says your phone calls don’t matter wasn’t watching.

06/15/2026

🚨 DEADLINE TOMORROW 🚨 Act Now!

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is proposing to designate the High Desert Trail, a roughly 810-mile off-road vehicle (ORV) route running north to south across western Utah.

As currently proposed, the High Desert Trail would push a highly promoted ORV route through one of the most sensitive landscapes in southwestern Utah. In Washington County, the proposed route would thread a narrow passage between the designated Cougar Canyon and Slaughter Creek Wilderness Areas, continue through the Beaver Dam Wash National Conservation Area (NCA), and terminate in “Zone 6” of the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve near St. George—a world-class recreation area and important habitat for the threatened Mojave desert tortoise.

ACT NOW: https://suwa.quorum.us/campaign/164154/

The BLM is accepting public comments through Tuesday, June 16.

06/15/2026

"The key deadline that has come and gone would have allowed a change in how the monument is managed with a simple majority vote in the Senate, rather than the 60 votes needed and the threat of a filibuster. Lee and Congresswoman Celste Maloy, who introduced the House version, had touted the plan as allowing for more local input.

But it was Lee’s office in the Senate that was in charge of filing the relevant paperwork, and knowing that the deadline from the Senate’s rules chief, the Parliamentarian, would have been June 11...Lee’s spokesperson has not yet responded to follow-up questions by ABC 4 on why the deadline was missed and to comment on his office’s responsibilities."

From ABC4 Utah:

The Senate missed a deadline to change the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument management plan, and Senator Mike Lee was unsuccessful bringing a resolution to the table.

06/12/2026

“We celebrate with gratitude today that Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument’s 2025 management plan still stands,” said Autumn Gillard, Southern Paiute and coordinator of the Grand Staircase Coalition, in a statement Friday morning. “That plan, for the first time, heeded our voices and our Traditional Knowledge by establishing a framework for Tribal co-stewardship over our ancestral lands.”

From the The Salt Lake Tribune:

The Senate missed the 60-day window that would have allowed lawmakers to scrap the national monument's management plan with a simple majority vote

06/12/2026

A HUGE thank you to all the activists, partners, and organizations who spoke up for Grand Staircase-Escalante! This wouldn't have been possible without you. 🧡🧡🧡

Senator Mike Lee’s effort to fast-track an attack on the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Management Plan using the Congressional Review Act (CRA) has failed. The CRA includes a provision that allows the Senate to pass a joint resolution via a simple majority, but it must act within 60 Senate session days after that action is entered into the Congressional Record. Thursday, June 11, that clock ran out—meaning Senator Lee’s resolution is now subject to the 60-vote filibuster should he attempt to bring it up for consideration.

The Utah elected officials leading this attack, Senator Mike Lee and Rep. Celeste Maloy, were some of the same members behind the 2025 failed public lands sell-off attempts. Then, as now, their ideas are deeply unpopular and have been fiercely opposed. https://suwa.org/breaking-news-mike-lee-fails-grand-staircase-escalante-protections-remain-in-place/

Photo Credit: Tim Peterson

06/09/2026

Thank you Sierra Club, for standing up for Grand Staircase-Escalante! Help them reach their goal at: sc.org/protectGSE