For the second time in ten years, the Trump administration rolled back protections for the Bears Ears National Monument and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southwest Utah. This time the monument removals are even larger, reducing the protected acreage by 90% and leaving behind classic whitewater rivers and multi-day river trips that were previously protected. Critical protections for these watersheds are lost, while we also lost years of meaningful work that American Whitewater put into management plans for how recreation and river trips would be managed.
Despite the political pendulum swing, American Whitewater remains committed to the preservation of these landscapes, to ensuring that their management is informed by science and input from the recreation community, and to advancing meaningful co-management with the Tribes that have called them home since time immemorial.
To determine the full impacts on some of America’s most sought-after river trips, American Whitewater conducted a geospatial analysis of the restored 2021 National Monument boundaries with the latest rollback in July 2026. We found that the 2026 rollback that reduced the monuments by nearly 3 million acres removed protections from nearly half (48%) of the whitewater river miles compared to previous protections in 2021. To determine the loss of directly protected river miles, we compared the number of whitewater river miles within 0.15 miles of the two different National Monument boundaries.
Bears Ears National Monument by the Numbers
Protecting the Bears Ears Monument region has been a significant priority for American Whitewater, primarily because the area encompasses classic multi-day river trips on both the San Juan and the Colorado rivers.
The San Juan River
Photo by Tom O’Keefe
With vast archeological resources, a geologically marvelous and deep canyon, reliable flows, and family-friendly whitewater, the San Juan is one of the finest multi-day river trips in the country. The 2021 monument boundaries protected 21.5 river miles across the Upper and Lower San Juan River sections. Under the reduced monument boundaries, the San Juan has lost over half of its protected mileage, including the entire section within the lower San Juan.
The Colorado River
Photo by Tom O’Keefe
Much like the San Juan formed the southern boundary, the Colorado River downstream from Moab formed the northernmost boundary of Bears Ears National Monument. The boundary lined up with Canyonlands National Park, which provided contiguous landscape-level protection for the river above the confluence with the Green River near Cataract Canyon. This is the most common run to start a multi-day Cataract Canyon trip and is also used for shorter trips, especially for canoes, with a popular jet boat shuttle back from the confluence.
Under the reduced Monument boundaries, 13.9 miles of the Colorado River below Moab lost protections they enjoyed since the National Monument was restored in 2021. Now, none of the Colorado River is protected by the Monument.
The Bears Ears National Monument had directly protected over 35 river miles, and that has been reduced by 74% to include just 9.2 miles of the Upper San Juan.
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by the Numbers
The Escalante River
Photo by Lindsey Wilson
The one whitewater river unimpacted by the Monument reductions is the Escalante River, a desert classic that drains into Powell Reservoir from the north. The landscape surrounding the Escalante River, for which Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is partially named, houses some of the southwest’s most legendary terrain. Mythic slot canyons drop off the plateau into the canyon where semi-rare desert flows allow for a floating tour of these cathedral-like confluences. Over twenty miles of the Escalante River remain protected in the 2026 boundary reduction. The fact these protections for the Escalante remain gives us hope that we can find more permanent solutions to safeguarding more of the most incredible areas in this region in the future.
The Paria River
The Paria River is a rarely paddled but incredible slot canyon, 2.6 miles of which were included in the 2021 Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument boundary. Now, all of those miles fall outside the reduced Monument boundary, and none of the Paria River watershed is protected by the Monument.