By McKenzie Romero | Editor
When Bears Ears was designated a national monument in 2016 by former President Barack Obama, it became the first monument to be established at the urging of Native American tribes.
For years they had sought protections for the lands they consider sacred, and a coalition of five tribal nations joined the federal government in managing the area as part of the Bears Ears Commission. With President Donald Trump’s executive order slashing more than 1 million acres from the monument, the commission has also been cut out.
In today’s Dispatch we hear from the tribes vowing to fight the drastic reduction of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, and update you on the intersection between agriculture and tourism in the state and a move in the U.S. House to keep you from changing your clocks twice a year.
“To reduce Bears Ears again is devastating, but to abolish the Bears Ears Commission to attempt to erase years of tribal leadership relationships and work between sovereign tribal nations and our federal partners is something I am still trying to fully process.” — Davina Smith-Idjesa, Navajo Nation representative and co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, on tribes’ anger over the cuts to the national monument.
The Citadel, an Ancient Puebloan structure in the Cedar Mesa area of Bears Ears National Monument, is pictured on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
By Annie Knox
Two coalitions of Native American tribes say they weren’t consulted before President Donald Trump downsized Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by roughly 90%.
Utah’s congressional and state leaders have long condemned the monuments as too expansive and the wrong way of managing the land, saying the sweeping protections came despite opposition from neighboring rural communities. Autumn Gillard, coordinator for the Grand Staircase-Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalition, questions why tribal voices aren’t equal to others in the state.
Cross E Ranch is pictured in Salt Lake City. (Photo courtesy of Utah Department of Agriculture and Food)
By Alixel Cabrera
Many visit Utah to walk the red rock trails in its national parks or to glide across “the greatest snow on Earth.” But, tourists are also being drawn to other sites with wide open spaces, cattle and fresh produce.
According to a new study from the state’s Department of Agriculture and Food and the Utah Office of Tourism, the industry known as agritourism is growing. It is estimated to generate about $45 million in economic activity annually, the report found, with the potential to attract up to 300,000 visitors every year.
The U.S. Capitol on the evening of Sept. 30, 2025. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
DC BUREAU
By Amelia Twyman
The U.S. House voted Tuesday to make daylight saving time permanent nationwide in a bipartisan move that pushes the country one step closer to ending the long-contested ritual of semiannual clock changes. The bill’s future in the Senate is uncertain.
Permanent daylight saving time would mean keeping the clocks shifted forward one hour all year, eliminating the need to “spring forward” every March and “fall back” each November. The adjustment would extend more daylight into the evening, creating later sunrises and sunsets compared to standard time.
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