Poll: Utah voters divided on future of two national monuments

Most Utahns surveyed in a new poll support shrinking the Bears Ears National Monument but broadly oppose doing the same to Grand Staircase-Escalante.

The poll, released Tuesday by the Salt Lake Tribune and the University of Utah, found 51 percent of respondents consider Bears Ears, established under former President Barack Obama, to be too large.

But 53 percent of voters also said the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument should be preserved and not split into smaller monuments, something supported by 27 percent of those polled.

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Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante — both controversial monuments in the Beehive State — are two of nearly 30 large national monuments that the Interior Department considered for changes earlier this year.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has said he will recommend President Trump shrink Bears Ears, a 1.3-million acre expanse established by the Obama administration late last year containing cultural sites from Native American tribes.

Reports indicate Zinke will also recommend Trump shrink Grand Staircase-Escalante, a 1.8-million acre monument established by President Clinton in 1996.

The White House has not released details about Zinke’s monuments review, which was sparked by concerns over the expansive use of presidential monument-making authority under the Antiquities Act.

Conservation groups have vowed to sue over any decision to shrink previously declared monuments, saying the Oval Office has the power to make the designations, but not reverse them.