View source for Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument

{{Short description|National monument in Kane and Garfield counties in Utah, United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox protected area
 | name              = Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument
 | alt_name          = <!-- acronym: ''GSENM'' -->
 | photo             = Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument in Utah - 2015-02-07.jpg
 | photo_width       = 300
 | photo_caption     = A canyon in Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument
 | iucn_category     = V
 | map               = USA#Utah
 | relief            = 1
 | map_caption       = Location in the United States
 | location          = [[Kane County, Utah|Kane County]] and [[Garfield County, Utah|Garfield County]], [[Utah]], United States
 | nearest_city      = [[Kanab, Utah]]
 | coordinates       = {{coord|37|24|0|N|111|41|0|W|region:US|display=inline, title}}
 | area_acre         = 1,870,000
 | area_ref          = <ref name=Biden/>
 | established       = September 18, 1996
 | visitation_num    = 878,000<ref name=visits>{{cite web |url=http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/blm/ut/grand_staircase-escalante/nlcs_mgrs_report.Par.61629.File.dat/GSENM_Manager_Report_FY2014_draft1-25-2015.pdf |date=January 25, 2015 |publisher=BLM |title=FY 2014 GSENM Manager's Report (PDF file link on park's home page) |page=15 |access-date=February 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312132331/http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/blm/ut/grand_staircase-escalante/nlcs_mgrs_report.Par.61629.File.dat/GSENM_Manager_Report_FY2014_draft1-25-2015.pdf |archive-date=March 12, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
 | visitation_year   = 2014
 | governing_body    = [[Bureau of Land Management]]
 | website           = [https://www.blm.gov/programs/national-conservation-lands/utah/grand-staircase-escalante-national-monument Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument]
}}

The '''Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument''' (GSENM) is a [[United States national monument]] protecting the [[Grand Staircase]], the [[Kaiparowits Plateau]], and the [[Canyons of the Escalante]] ([[Escalante River]]) in southern [[Utah]]. It was established in 1996 by [[President of the United States|President]] [[Bill Clinton]] under the authority of the [[Antiquities Act]] with 1.7 million acres of land, later expanded to {{convert|1,880,461|acre|km2|0}}.<ref name="acres">[https://web.archive.org/web/20230407054259/https://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wo/Law_Enforcement/nlcsf/online_electronic.Par.98873.File.dat/NM%20Detail%20table%20April%202012%20final.pdf "National Landscape Conservation System National Monuments"] (archive). ''blm.gov''. [[Bureau of Land Management]]. April 2012. Retrieved December 10, 2017.</ref> In 2017, the monument's size was reduced by half in a succeeding [[Presidential proclamation (United States)|presidential proclamation]], and it was restored in 2021.<ref name=Biden>{{Cite web|date=October 8, 2021|title=FACT SHEET: President Biden Restores Protections for Three National Monuments and Renews American Leadership to Steward Lands, Waters, and Cultural Resources|url=https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/10/07/fact-sheet-president-biden-restores-protections-for-three-national-monuments-and-renews-american-leadership-to-steward-lands-waters-and-cultural-resources/|access-date=October 8, 2021|website=The White House|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=October 8, 2021|title=A Proclamation on Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument|url=https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/10/08/a-proclamation-on-grand-staircase-escalante-national-monument/|access-date=October 21, 2021|website=The White House|language=en-US}}</ref> The land is among the most remote in the country; it was the last to be mapped in the [[contiguous United States]].<ref name=mainpage>[https://www.blm.gov/programs/national-conservation-lands/utah/grand-staircase-escalante-national-monument "Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument"]. ''blm.gov''. [[Bureau of Land Management]]. 2017. Retrieved December 10, 2017.</ref>

The monument is administered by the [[Bureau of Land Management]] (BLM) as part of the [[National Conservation Lands]] system. Grand Staircase–Escalante is the first and largest national monument managed by the BLM. Visitor centers are located in [[Cannonville, Utah|Cannonville]], [[Big Water, Utah|Big Water]], [[Escalante, Utah|Escalante]], and [[Kanab, Utah|Kanab]].

==Geography==
The monument stretches from the towns of [[Big Water, Utah|Big Water]], [[Glendale, Utah|Glendale]], and [[Kanab, Utah]] in the southwest to the towns of [[Escalante, Utah|Escalante]] and [[Boulder, Utah|Boulder]] in the northeast. The monument is slightly larger in area than the state of [[Delaware]]. After a reduction ordered by presidential proclamation in December 2017, the monument encompassed {{convert|1003863|acres|km2|0|abbr=on}},<ref name=mainpage/> but it was restored to {{convert|1,870,000|acre|km2|0}} in 2021.

[[File:Willis Creek.JPG|thumb|left|[[Willis Creek]] in the Grand Staircase]]
The western part of the monument is dominated by the [[Paunsaugunt Plateau]] and the [[Paria River]], and is adjacent to [[Bryce Canyon National Park]]. This section shows the geologic progression of the [[Grand Staircase]]. Features include the [[slot canyon]]s of Bull Valley Gorge, [[Willis Creek]], and Lick Wash which are accessed from Skutumpah Road.<ref name=blmmap>{{cite web|url=https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/Utah_GSENM_New2018.pdf |title=Map of Modified Boundaries – Utah GSENM New 2018 Map |website=blm.gov |publisher=[[Bureau of Land Management]] |date=2018 |access-date=December 16, 2019}}</ref><ref name=blmmap2>{{cite web|url=https://blm-egis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=31f140c64cfa40e980c910c6ef7b8f16 |title=ArcGIS Dynamic Map of GSENM |website=blm-egis.maps.arcgis.com |publisher=Bureau of Land Management |date=n.d. |access-date=December 16, 2019}}</ref>

The center section is dominated by a single long ridge, called the [[Kaiparowits Plateau]] from the west, and Fifty-Mile Mountain when viewed from the east. Fifty-Mile Mountain stretches southeast from the town of Escalante to the [[Colorado River]] in [[Glen Canyon]]. The eastern face of the mountain is a {{convert|2200|ft|m|abbr=on}} [[escarpment]]. The western side (the Kaiparowits Plateau) is a shallow slope descending to the south and west.<ref name=blmmap/><ref name=blmmap2/>

East of Fifty-Mile Mountain is the [[Canyons of the Escalante]]. The monument is bounded by [[Glen Canyon National Recreation Area]] on the east and south. The popular hiking, backpacking, and canyoneering areas include [[Calf Creek Falls]] off [[Utah State Route 12|Utah Scenic Byway 12]], and Zebra Canyon, [[Harris Wash]], and the [[Devils Garden (Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument)|Devils Garden]]. The latter areas are accessed via the [[Hole in the Rock Trail|Hole-in-the-Rock Road]], which extends southeast from Escalante, near the base of Fifty-Mile Mountain. The [[Coyote Gulch#Dry Fork|Dry Fork Slots of Coyote Gulch]] and lower Coyote Gulch are also located off the Hole-in-the-Rock Road.<ref name=blmmap2/>{{wide image|Grand Staircase-big.jpg|1200px|Geologic cross section of the Grand Staircase|center}}

==Paleontology==
[[File:Utahceratops NT.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Utahceratops|Utahceratops gettyi]]'']]
Since 2000, numerous dinosaur fossils over 75 million years old have been found at Grand Staircase–Escalante.

In 2002, a volunteer at the Monument discovered a 75-million-year-old dinosaur near the Arizona border. On October 3, 2007, the dinosaur's name, ''[[Gryposaurus monumentensis]]'' (hook-beaked lizard from the monument) was announced in the [[Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society]]. ''G. monumentensis'' was at least {{convert|30|ft|m}} long and {{convert|10|ft|m}} tall, and has a powerful jaw with more than 800 teeth.<ref name=merc>{{cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2007-10-04-duckbilled-dinosaur_N.htm|title=Duck-billed dinosaur amazes scientists |website=www.usatoday.com|access-date=December 4, 2017}}</ref><ref name=slctrib>{{cite web|url=http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_7079402|title=S. Utah dinosaur had a duck-billed snout – and 800 teeth|website=Sltrib.com|access-date=December 4, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604151740/http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_7079402|archive-date=June 4, 2011}}</ref> Many of the specimens from the [[Kaiparowits Formation]] are reposited at the [[Natural History Museum of Utah]] in [[Salt Lake City]].

Two [[ceratopsid]] (horned) dinosaurs, also discovered at the monument, were introduced by the [[Utah Geological Survey]] in 2007. They were uncovered in the [[Wahweap Formation]], which is just below the Kaiparowits formation, where the duckbill was extracted. They lived about 80 million or 81 million years ago. The two fossils are called the [[Diabloceratops|Last Chance skull]] and the Nipple Butte skull. They were found in 2002 and 2001, respectively.<ref name=deseret>{{cite news |url=https://www.deseretnews.com/article/695215611/Utahs-new-dino-stars.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122070428/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/695215611/Utahs-new-dino-stars.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 22, 2010 |title=Utah's new dino-stars: Discoveries give clues to distant past |date=October 4, 2007 |first1=Joe |last1=Bauman |first2=Ray |last2=Boren |newspaper=Deseret Morning News }}</ref> Both were later identified as belonging to ''[[Diabloceratops]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=J. I. |last1=Kirkland |first2=D. D. |last2=DeBlieux |year=2007 |title=New horned dinosaurs from the Wahweap Formation, Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, southern Utah |journal=Utah Geological Survey Notes |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=4–5 |url=http://files.geology.utah.gov/surveynotes/articles/pdf/horned_dinos_39-3.pdf |access-date=December 4, 2017 |archive-date=December 23, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223213204/http://files.geology.utah.gov/surveynotes/articles/pdf/horned_dinos_39-3.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2013 the discovery of a new species, ''[[Lythronax|Lythronax argestes]]'', was announced. It is a [[Tyrannosauridae|tyrannosaur]] that is approximately 13 million years older than ''[[Tyrannosaurus]]'', named for its great resemblance to its descendant. The specimen can be seen at the Natural History Museum of Utah.

==Human history==
[[File:Escalante Medicine Man.JPG|upright=0.7|thumb|[[Anthropomorphism|Anthropomorphic]] [[petroglyph]] along the [[Escalante River]]]]
Humans did not settle permanently in the area until the [[Basketmaker III Era]], around AD 500.<ref>[http://www.visitsouthernutah.com/Grand-Staircase-National-Monument ''Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714222657/http://www.visitsouthernutah.com/Grand-Staircase-National-Monument |date=July 14, 2014 }}. Kane County Utah Office of Tourism and Film Commission. Retrieved October 14, 2011.</ref> Both the [[Fremont culture|Fremont]] and [[ancestral Puebloan]] people lived here; the Fremont hunted and gathered below the plateau and near the Escalante Valley, and the ancestral Puebloans farmed in the canyons. Both groups grew corn, beans, and squash, built brush-roofed pithouses, and took advantage of natural rock shelters. Ruins and [[rock art]] can be found throughout the Monument.

The first record of white settlers in the region dates from 1866 when Captain James Andrus led a group of cavalry to the headwaters of the Escalante River.

In 1871 Jacob Hamblin of [[Kanab, Utah|Kanab]], on his way to resupply the second [[John Wesley Powell]] expedition, mistook the Escalante River for the [[Dirty Devil River]] and became the first Anglo to travel the length of the canyon.

In 1879 the [[San Juan Expedition]] crossed through the region on their way to a proposed Mormon colony in the far southeastern corner of Utah. Traveling on a largely unexplored route, the group eventually arrived at the {{convert|1200|ft|m|adj=on}} sandstone cliffs that surrounded [[Glen Canyon]]. They found the only breach for many miles in the otherwise vertical cliffs, which they named [[Hole in the Rock (road)|Hole-in-the-Rock]]. The narrow, steep, and rocky crevice eventually led to a steep sandy slope in the lower section and eventually down to the [[Colorado River]]. With winter settling in, the company decided to go down the crevice rather than retreat. After six weeks of labor, including excavation and using explosives to shift rock, they rigged a pulley system to lower their wagons and animals down the resulting road and off the cliff. There they built a ferry, crossed the river, and climbed back out through Cottonwood Canyon on the other side.

==National monument==
[[File:Metate Arch - Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.jpg|thumb|left|Metate Arch in [[Devils Garden (Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument)|Devils Garden]]]]
A national monument was initially proposed in 1934, but the project floundered until several decades later.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Newell |first1=Maxine |last2=Barnes |first2=Terby |title=The Untold History of Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument |date=1998 |publisher=Canyon Country Publications |location=Moab, Utah |isbn=0925685356 |page=13}}</ref>  It was on September 18, 1996, at the height of the [[1996 United States presidential election|1996 presidential election]] campaign by [[President of the United States|President]] [[Bill Clinton]], that the national monument was declared and was controversial from the moment of creation. The declaration ceremony was held at [[Grand Canyon National Park]] in [[Arizona]], rather than in Utah.<ref>{{cite web
|url = http://www.hcn.org/issues/90/2795
|title = 1996: Clinton takes a 1.7 million-acre stand in Utah
|author = Paul Larmer
|date = September 30, 1996
|access-date = January 10, 2016
|publisher = High Country News
}}</ref>

Local officials such as Democratic U.S. Representative [[Bill Orton]] from Utah objected to the designation of the national monument, questioning whether the Antiquities Act allowed such vast amounts of land to be designated.<ref name=headwaters>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.headwatersnews.org/p.021302.html
 |title       = San Rafael Swell monument proposal could prove that Bush realizes the importance of a fair and public process
 |author      = Mathew Barrett Gross
 |date        = February 13, 2002
 |access-date  = January 16, 2008
 |publisher   = Headwaters News, [[University of Montana]]
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20071126105007/http://www.headwatersnews.org/p.021302.html
 |archive-date = November 26, 2007
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news| last =Davidson| first =Lee| title =Orton's bill would erase power to declare permanent monument| newspaper =[[Deseret News]]| date =September 27, 1996| url =https://www.deseret.com/1996/9/27/19268264/orton-s-bill-would-erase-power-to-declare-permanent-monument}}</ref> However, [[United States Supreme Court]] decisions have long established the president's discretion to protect land under the Antiquities Act, and several lawsuits filed in an effort to overturn the designation were dismissed by federal courts.<ref>[https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2578208/utah-assn-of-counties-v-bush/ Utah Ass'n of Counties v. George W. Bush], District Court, D. Utah, 2004.</ref><ref name="GeorgiaLaw">[https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1533&context=articles&httpsredir=1&referer= The Monumental Legacy of the Antiquites Act of 1906] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220906222114/https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1533&context=articles&httpsredir=1&referer= |date=September 6, 2022 }}, Mark Squillace, Georgia Law Review, 2003.</ref> The area's designation as a monument also nixed the Andalex Coal Mine that was proposed for a remote location on the Kaiparowits Plateau.<ref>{{cite web | last = Grahame | first = John D. | author2 = Thomas D. Sisk | title = Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, Utah (page 3 of 4) Coal Mining vs. Wilderness on the Kaiparowits Plateau | work = Land Use History of the Colorado Plateau | publisher = Northern Arizona University | year = 2002 | url = http://www.cpluhna.nau.edu/Places/gsenm3.htm | access-date = March 5, 2007 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070203113233/http://cpluhna.nau.edu/Places/gsenm3.htm | archive-date = February 3, 2007 }}</ref>
[[National Wilderness Preservation System|Wilderness]] designation for the lands in the monument had long been sought by environmental groups; however, the designation of a monument is not the same as wilderness designation, as activities such as motorized vehicle and mountain bike use are allowed in National Monuments.

There are contentious issues peculiar to the state of Utah. Certain plots of land were assigned when Utah became a state (in 1896) as School and Institutional Trust Lands (SITLa, a Utah state agency), to be managed to produce funds for the state school system. These lands included scattered plots in the monument that could no longer be developed. The SITLa plots within the monument were exchanged for federal lands elsewhere in Utah, plus equivalent mineral rights and $50 million cash by an act of Congress, the Utah Schools and Lands Exchange Act of 1998, supported by Democrats and Republicans, and signed into law as Public Law 105–335 on October 31, 1998.<ref>{{cite web
  | title = Public Law 105-335  | publisher = US Government Printing Office
  | year = 1998  | url = http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=105_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ335.105
  | access-date = March 4, 2007 }}</ref>

A more difficult problem is the resolution of United States [[Revised statute 2477]] (R.S. 2477) road claims. R.S. 2477 (Section 8 of the 1866 Mining Act) states: "The right-of-way for the construction of highways over public lands, not reserved for public uses, is hereby granted." The statute was repealed by the [[Federal Land Policy and Management Act]] (FLPMA) of 1976, but the repeal was subject to valid existing rights.

A process for resolving disputed claims has not been established, and in 1996, the [[104th United States Congress]] passed a law that prohibited the R.S. 2477 (proposed resolution regulations) written by the Clinton Administration from taking effect without congressional approval.<ref>{{cite web | last = Gamboa | first = Anthony | title = Recognition of R.S. 2477 Rights-of-Way under the Department of the Interior's FLPMA Disclaimer Rules and Its Memorandum of Understanding with the State of Utah, B-300912 | publisher = US Government Accountability Office | date = February 6, 2004 | url = http://www.gao.gov/decisions/other/300912.htm | access-date = March 4, 2007 | archive-date = March 1, 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070301020345/http://www.gao.gov/decisions/other/300912.htm | url-status = dead }}</ref>

The right to maintain and improve the many unpaved roads in the national monument is disputed, with county officials placing county road signs on the roads they claim and occasionally applying bulldozers to grade claimed roads, while the [[Bureau of Land Management]] tries to exert control over the same roads. Litigation between the state and federal government over R.S. 2477 and road maintenance in the national monument is an ongoing issue.<ref name="rs2477">{{cite web |url=http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/blm/ut/grand_staircase-escalante/nlcs_mgrs_report.Par.61629.File.dat/GSENM_Manager_Report_FY2014_draft1-25-2015.pdf |date=January 25, 2015 |publisher=BLM |title=FY 2014 GSENM Manager's Report (PDF file link on park's home page) |pages=6, 14, 15, 55 |access-date=February 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312132331/http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/blm/ut/grand_staircase-escalante/nlcs_mgrs_report.Par.61629.File.dat/GSENM_Manager_Report_FY2014_draft1-25-2015.pdf |archive-date=March 12, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Reduction in size, restoration, and lawsuits ===
{{multiple image
| direction = horizontal
| image1 = Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument map.jpg
| caption1 = Map showing original 1996 monument boundaries
| image2 = Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument map overlay.png
| caption2 = Original boundaries outlined; revised boundaries shaded (2017–2021)
}}

On December 4, 2017, President [[Donald Trump]] ordered that the monument's size be reduced by nearly 47% to {{convert|1003863|acres|km2|0|abbr=on}},<ref name="mainpage" /> with the remainder divided into three areas, two of which border one another along the [[Paria River]].<ref>{{cite web|date=December 4, 2017|title=Presidential Proclamation Modifying the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument|url=https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/12/04/presidential-proclamation-modifying-grand-staircase-escalante-national|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171204213006/https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/12/04/presidential-proclamation-modifying-grand-staircase-escalante-national|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 4, 2017|access-date=December 4, 2017|website=Whitehouse.gov}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Siegel|first=Josh|date=December 4, 2017|title=Trump announces he will shrink Bears Ears, Grand Staircase monuments in Utah|url=http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trump-announces-he-will-shrink-bears-ears-grand-staircase-monuments-in-utah/article/2642495|access-date=December 4, 2017|website=Washingtonexaminer.com}}</ref> [[Bears Ears National Monument]] was significantly reduced in size at the same time. Conservation, angling, hunting, and outdoor recreation groups filed suit to block any reduction in the national monument, arguing that the president has no legal authority to materially shrink a national monument.<ref name="CNNLawsuit">[http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/04/politics/monument-trump-utah-shrink-conservation-tribes-sue/index.html Environmental, conservation groups sue Trump over monument changes]. [[CNN]], December 4, 2017</ref> The cases were still pending at the [[2020 United States presidential election|2020 election]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=April 9, 2019|title=Hey, How's That Lawsuit Against the President Going? - Patagonia|url=https://www.patagonia.com/stories/hey-hows-that-lawsuit-against-the-president-going/story-72248.html|access-date=November 8, 2020|website=www.patagonia.com|language=en}}</ref> The Trump administration subsequently approved logging within the national monument and coal mining in the area that was removed from the monument.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Magill |first=Bobby |date=February 6, 2020 |title=Interior Allows for Coal Mining in Former Utah Monument Land (1) |url=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/timber-and-coal-could-come-to-utah-monuments-under-interior-plan |work=Bloomberg Law}}</ref>

On his first day in office, President [[Joe Biden]] signed an executive order calling for a review of the reduction of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase–Escalante monuments.<ref name="theguardian_Moore_20210408">{{Cite news| last = Moore| first = Rico| title = 'The earth holds so much power': Deb Haaland visits sacred site Trump shrank| work = The Guardian| access-date = April 26, 2021| date = April 8, 2021| url = http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/08/deb-haaland-bears-ears-national-monument}}</ref> On October 8, 2021, he restored the original boundaries.<ref name="Biden" /><ref name=":0" />

Two lawsuits, ''Garfield County v. Biden'', filed by the state of Utah and two Utah counties, and ''Dalton v. Biden,'' filed by a mining company and recreationalists, seek to overturn the reaffirmed original boundaries and attack the [[Antiquities Act]]. The tribes filed motions to intervene.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 8, 2022 |title=NARF Stands Firm to Protect the Bears Ears National Monument |url=https://narf.org/cases/bears-ears/ |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=Native American Rights Fund |language=en-US}}</ref>

On August 11, 2023, U.S. District Judge David Nuffer dismissed both cases, explaining that "the Antiquities Act gives the president broad authority to designate national monuments and that courts cannot second-guess that authority."  The state of Utah and other parties have since appealed the dismissal, but no such challenge has been successful in 100 years of the Antiquity Act's history.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-08-18 |title=Court Dismisses Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante Lawsuits |url=https://www.grandcanyontrust.org/blog/court-dismisses-bears-ears-and-grand-staircase-escalante-lawsuits |access-date=2023-09-22 |website=Grand Canyon Trust |language=en}}</ref> The [[United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit]] heard the case in September 2024.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Magill |first=Bobby |date=September 24, 2024 |title=Biden’s National Monuments Power Set for Tenth Circuit Scrutiny |url=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/bidens-national-monuments-power-set-for-tenth-circuit-scrutiny |work=Bloomberg Law}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of national monuments of the United States]]
* [[Cottonwood Canyon Road]]
* [[Dixie National Forest]]
* [[Escalante Petrified Forest State Park]]
* [[Grosvenor Arch]]
* [[Kodachrome Basin State Park]]
* [[Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness]]
* [[Silvestre Vélez de Escalante]]
{{clear}}

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* Paul Larmer (editor), ''Give and Take: How the Clinton Administration's Public Lands Offensive Transformed the American West'' (High Country News Books, 2004) {{ISBN|0-9744485-0-8}}
* Bureau of Land Management, Grand Staircase–Escalante NM, ''Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument Management Plan'' (U.S. Dept. of the Interior Bureau of Land Management, 1999)
* David Urmann, ''Trail Guide to Grand Staircase–Escalante'' (Gibbs Smith, 1999) {{ISBN|0-87905-885-4}}
* Robert B. Keiter, Sarah B. George and Joro Walker (editors), ''Visions of the Grand Staircase–Escalante: Examining Utah's Newest National Monument'' (Utah Museum of Natural History and Wallace Stegner Center, 1998) {{ISBN|0-940378-12-4}}
* Julian Smith, "Moon Handbooks Four Corners" (Avalon Travel Publishing, 2003) {{ISBN|1-56691-581-3}}
* Fleischner, Thomas Lowe, ''Singing Stone: A Natural History of the Escalante Canyons'' (University of Utah Press, 1999) {{ISBN|978-0-87480-619-9}}

==External links==
{{Commons and category|Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument}}
{{wikivoyage}}
* [https://www.blm.gov/programs/national-conservation-lands/utah/grand-staircase-escalante-national-monument Bureau of Land Management: official Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument website]
* [http://www.gsenm.org/ Grand Staircase Escalante Partners] support for public awareness, interpretive, educational, scientific, scenic, historical, and cultural activities.
* {{cite journal |doi=10.1016/S0929-1393(02)00108-7 |title=Soil characteristics and plant exotic species invasions in the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, Utah, USA |year=2003 |last1=Bashkin |first1=Michael |last2=Stohlgren |first2=Thomas J |last3=Otsuki |first3=Yuka |last4=Lee |first4=Michelle |last5=Evangelista |first5=Paul |last6=Belnap |first6=Jayne |journal=Applied Soil Ecology |volume=22 |pages=67–77|citeseerx=10.1.1.568.38 }}
* {{cite book |first1=Hellmut H. |last1=Doelling |first2=Robert E. |last2=Blackett |first3=Alden H. |last3=Hamblin |first4=J. Douglas |last4=Powell |first5=Gayle L. |last5=Pollock |year=2000 |chapter=Geology of Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, Utah |chapter-url=http://nstars-sci.nau.edu/~koerner/geogsc.pdf |editor1-first=Douglas A. |editor1-last=Sprinkel |editor2-first=Thomas C. |editor2-last=Chidsey |editor3-first=Paul B. |editor3-last=Anderson |title=Geology of Utah's Parks and Monuments |publisher=Utah Geological Association |isbn=978-0-9702571-0-9}}
* {{cite journal |first=Justin James |last=Quigley |year=1999 |title=Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument: Preservation or Politics? |journal=Journal of Land, Resources, & Environmental Law |volume=19 |pages=55}}
* United States. Congress. House. (1997). [https://purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/gpo57820 Establishing the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument: Oversight Hearing before the Subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands of the Committee on Resources, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fifth Congress, First Session, On Establishment ... by President Clinton on September 18, 1996: April 29, 1997] Washington. D.C: G.P.O.
{{Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument}}
{{UT Parks}}
{{National Monuments of the United States}}
{{Registered Historic Places}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument}}
[[Category:Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument| ]]
[[Category:Bureau of Land Management national monuments]]
[[Category:Bureau of Land Management areas in Utah]]
[[Category:Colorado Plateau]]
[[Category:Natural arches of Utah]]
[[Category:Rock formations of Utah]]
[[Category:Landforms of Kane County, Utah]]
[[Category:Landforms of Garfield County, Utah]]
[[Category:Protected areas of Garfield County, Utah]]
[[Category:Protected areas of Kane County, Utah]]
[[Category:Protected areas established in 1996]]
[[Category:1996 establishments in Utah]]
[[Category:Units of the National Landscape Conservation System]]
[[Category:Badlands of the United States]]