Original source (on modern site)
On Oct. 8, 2021, President Biden issued Presidential Proclamation 10286 restoring the boundaries for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The Monument now spans across nearly 1.87 million acres of America's public lands in southern Utah, and is an outstanding biological resource, spanning five life-zones - from low-lying desert to coniferous forest. When visiting, you'll be traveling the land of the Ancestral Puebloan and Fremont people, who were experts at farming this rugged land and built granaries to store what they grew. Their descendants, including people from the Hopi, Paiute, Zuni, Ute, and Navajo tribes, have strong ties to this land today, leaving behind rock art panels, occupation sites, campsites and granaries.
Stepping further back in time, fossil excavations have yielded more information about ecosystem change at the end of the dinosaur era than any other place in the world. The Monument's size, resources, and remote character provide extraordinary opportunities for geologists, paleontologists, archeologists, historians, and biologists in scientific research, education, and exploration. This unspoiled natural area also remains a frontier with countless opportunities for quiet recreation and solitude.