A Major Win at Grand Staircase
A coalition of readers, tribal nations, scientists, and Utahns just beat one of the most powerful public lands villains in Washington. Anyone who says your phone calls don’t matter wasn’t watching.
Before anything else, thank you.
This one belongs to you. To everyone who reads this newsletter and picked up the phone. To the Protect Wild Utah movement that’s fought for this redrock for decades. To the six tribal nations, the scientists, the hunters and anglers, and the communities like this one all over the country that refused to look away. Mike Lee threw the full weight of the Utah delegation at Grand Staircase-Escalante, and you helped beat it back.
The attack is dead. For now. The management plan governing 1.87 million acres of southern Utah canyon country is still standing. That doesn’t mean the fight is fully over, and we’ll get to that part below. But the specific weapon Lee aimed at this monument, the one we’ve been warning you about since March, just failed in his hands.
Take a breath. Take a screenshot. Then keep reading, because you should know exactly how this happened and why it matters.
