What is Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument?

Grand-Staircase Escalante National Monument protects incredible rock formations, mazes of slot canyons, massive natural arches, prehistoric artifacts, fossils and hundreds of special species.  This swath of land in the Utah desert is incredible – because of its natural beauty, unique scientific importance, and indigenous significance.

What’s in its name?

The Grand Staircase part of the name describes the rock layers that gradually ascend from the Grand Canyon to the monument’s south all the way to Bryce Canyon to its north. The stunning landscape features five “stairsteps,” which is a geological term for the multi-colored cliffs and plateaus that look like stairs. Escalante is the river that flows through the area, which, along with its many tributaries, has carved out many slot canyons through the slickrock in the Escalante Canyons area of the monument. The Kaiparowits Plateau, which separates these two sections of the monument, contains incredible fossils thanks to its unique sedimentary rock formations.

This land is so special that President Bill Clinton used his powers granted by the Antiquities Act of 1906 to establish the National Monument in 1996. In doing so, he created the first monument managed by the Bureau of Land Management to conserve its cultural, ecological, and scientific values.

Why is Grand Staircase-Escalante so special?

Grand Staircase-Escalante, thanks in part to its protection as a National Monument, comprises wild, rugged terrain. (Fun fact: It is so rugged that it was the last part of the U.S. to be mapped.) Because of its beautiful landscape, the monument attracts many hikers, wildlife photographers, and canyoneers. The monument’s unique ecosystems and remnants of ancient peoples attract archaeologists, paleontologists (fossils of more than 20 previously undiscovered dinosaur species have been found in the monument), and biologists looking to learn about the region’s fascinating history and ecology. And it’s large enough that each of those visitors can experience the solitude and quiet that comes from being far from human activity. That’s pretty impressive when you consider that more than 900,000 people visited in 2016.

Grand-Staircase Escalante National Monument is an incredible place to recreate. Hikers enjoy traveling to the many arches, hoodoos, and domes in the Navajo sandstone that also provides excellent climbing. Rivers in the area have carved out spectacular slot canyons across much of the monument, which draw hikers and canyoneers to admire the depths of their beauty. The Escalante river itself can be rafted, offering a unique way to experience this wild land.

The area now protected by Grand-Staircase Escalante National Monument has been inhabited for an incredibly long time – over 10,000 years. It is held sacred by many indigenous tribes who recognize it as their ancestral homelands. On March 25, 2025, six of these tribes – the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and Zuni Tribe launched the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Inter-Tribal Coalition to advocate for the conservation of their indigenous land and the continued protection of the National Monument. 

What happened to Grand-Staircase Escalante?

In 2017, just one year after hitting a record-breaking number of visitors, President Donald Trump used the power of the Antiquities Act to shrink the monument by 50 percent in order to extract oil and coal deposits in the boundaries, according to a memo from then-Department of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. 

President Joe Biden restored Grand-Staircase Escalante National Monument to its rightful size on October 8, 2021. While announcing this restoration – and the restoration of nearby Bear’s Ears National Monument – Biden said, “This may be the easiest thing I’ve ever done as president.”