Another Voice for the Land

My thoughts on Donald Trump's shrinking of our national monuments

Jul 22, 2026

How do I explain that I have felt holiness in a place? That I have felt sacred in a temple made of rock, of sandstone carved by water, wind and time.

I have sat in such silence that I heard a far away drumming, only to realize it was the beating of my heart. I’ve been shaken by the awareness that my soul was so in need of quietude that it brought me to tears.

I’ve wandered on trails until I found myself. I’ve been alone except for hopping juncos, unperturbed. I’ve followed them through winding slot canyons where I’ve met no one else but a departing cloud of bats.

Vistas are so wide, so expansive that to take it all in, I have to take many breaths. The horizons force you to breathe. You feel your humility deepen with each breath. You feel your breath connected to the earth.

Some strive for outer space. But what humans need is space, just space. Nature’s holy places, unspoiled by caverns clawed out by machines, by trucks, pumpjacks, noise and light pollution. Humans need darkness and stars.

How do we explain what is sacred, to people for whom the word is foreign, for whom nothing is precious but the metals they can extract from the ground? How do we ask people to honor what we find sacred, when to them nothing is—not the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness for everyone, not beloved institutions, not democracy, not the Golden Rule, not our bodies, not civility, not TRUTH.

I write to add my voice to the loud chorus protesting Donald Trump’s shrinking of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase National Monuments, and our leaders’ shirking of their duties to uphold the will of the people. I’m here to echo the fact that the president lied in his statements justifying his actions during the recorded publicized signing of his declaration, while our cowardly representatives stood behind him nodding like mesmerized bobble heads, as if psychologically entrapped by some version of bystander effect.

These lands should not be political pawns. They were designated for a million good reasons, millions of acres of good reasons and, especially in the case of Bears Ears, as a result of efforts by a coalition of tribes seeking to protect ancient lands and spiritual sites. If you haven’t explored, hiked, or ridden through the monument (you can do all these things, in contrast to what Trump said), you can still care about it and protect it. Why? Why not? Why are we all not wanting Native American peoples to win every fight for land forever going forward? Do we not have enough? Do we not have enough places to develop, to grind our machines–our graters, our toys, our drills–into the earth?

The reasons to protect the monuments are as vast as the landscapes. Vast as the peoples that fight for them. The reason to shrink them is one. It is simple. It is money.

The data is easily at hand to learn and digest.

Follow these stewards and warriors on Instagram:

@hellsbackbonegrill

@grandstaircasecoalition

@bearsearscoalition

@nativeamericanrightsfund

@protectwildutah

@stewardshiputah

@conservationutah

@carolinegleich

Links

Grand Staircase Data