Outdoor apparel maker Patagonia has thrown its weight behind a legal challenge to the Trump administration's decision to drastically reduce two sprawling national monuments in Utah. The company joined forces with tribal nations and environmental advocacy groups on Wednesday to revive litigation originally filed in 2017 over similar cuts to Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante.
The latest executive orders, signed in July, shrink both monuments by more than 90 percent, opening vast tracts of public land to potential oil drilling, uranium mining, and other commercial ventures. Patagonia, in a statement, called the reductions an illegal attempt to transfer federal land to state control and facilitate resource extraction. The company argued that Utah political leaders have long sought local oversight of these areas, spending millions on promotional campaigns to that end.
“The shrinkage is an attempt to force secession of federal land to the state and allow private companies to extract natural resources from that land,” the retailer said. The orders, it added, “betray Tribal sovereignty and scrap years of work to create groundbreaking management plans for some of the most culturally significant places in the country.”
The lawsuit, now backed by the Natural Resources Defense Council and other green groups, asserts that the reductions violate the Antiquities Act of 1906, which grants presidents the authority to protect historic landmarks and objects on federal lands. Patagonia pointed to the legislative history of that law, noting it was designed to safeguard Indigenous archaeological and cultural sites—specifically including the area now called Bears Ears.
Both monuments are jointly managed by intertribal coalitions, including the Navajo Nation, the Hopi Tribe, and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, among others. The Trump administration's move threatens to upend those co-stewardship arrangements and undermine years of collaborative planning.
“All of us must support the Tribes, leaders and organizations working together to protect the places we love,” Patagonia stated, “or prepare to lose them forever.”
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The legal challenge comes amid broader concerns about the administration's approach to public lands, including a proposed land swap that would grant part of Yosemite National Park to a private real estate firm for commercial development.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has been vocal in his opposition. “Trump is hell-bent on destroying everything that is sacred and beautiful about this country,” Newsom wrote on X. “California won't stand by while he grifts our public lands.”
Patagonia emphasized that public lands are vital to millions of workers in the $1.2 trillion outdoor industry, as well as to those who rely on them for cultural and recreational purposes. The company's involvement signals growing corporate opposition to the administration's environmental rollbacks.
The legal battle is likely to escalate as more parties join and courts weigh the legality of the executive orders. For now, the fate of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante hangs in the balance, with the Trump administration's push for development clashing with conservation and tribal rights.
