GSEP March Newsletter

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The GSEP Team attended the Rally for Public Lands at the Utah State Capitol in January.

Photo provided by Jackie Grant, 2025.

Dear Grand Staircase,

As you can imagine, 2025 has been off to a rocky start. Our organization was one of many that felt the effects of the Federal funding freeze. We have been working very hard to keep our staff in place and continue to make progress on our work that supports the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and its connected watersheds and landscapes.

In January, we attended the Rally for Public Lands at the Utah State Capitol where we were joined by an estimated 1,000 people to show support for all of Utah's public lands. January also involved heated discussions over the renaming of the Burr Trail Scenic Backway to the Donald J. Trump Presidential Burr Trail Backway. Keep reading below to learn what the outcome of that proposal was.

In February, we attended the Public Lands Alliance annual conference and trade show where we were invited to share a record-breaking number of educational presentations, and received recognition for our work! Read on to learn about our experience at the Public Lands Alliance.

We are now in March and the pace hasn't slowed at all. My data visualization skills are being put to the test as the administration continues to fire public lands employees and terminate leases on the buildings where they work. Some of our Federal partners have lost their jobs, taken the deferred resignation/early retirement option, or have retired without replacement, which will impact our work and that of remaining Federal staff throughout the region.

Let's end on a more positive note because there are some! In March, I moderated the Utah Native Plant Society's Rare Plant Meeting, which was the most highly attended in its history. Rare plant enthusiasts spent the day learning about all the amazing work happening throughout Utah, and many met each other in person for the first time. A portion of our native plant program funding survived and we will soon have a plan in place to get our work done with the reduced amount that we received. The recent snowfalls in southern Utah will certainly help with our native plant work.

We remain inspired by this magnificent landscape and the people who help us protect and steward it. Remember the positive effects that volunteering and building community can have on your health, and join us if you can.

-Jackie

Your donations enable our stewardship, native plant and conservation work.

GSEP Newsletter for March, 2025

BURR TRAIL CONTROVERSY

The Burr Trail Scenic Backway is a gorgeous drive on the north side of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. In January, the Garfield County Commissioners decided to rename the road after President Trump. They were unprepared for the response from the community, which ranged from descendants of John Atlantic Burr to current residents of all political persuasions. After community meetings in Boulder, Utah, a petition signed by thousands of people, and a contentious Commission meeting in Panguitch, Utah, the motion to rename the Burr Trail or a hastily identified alternative, the Johns Valley Road, FAILED by a vote of two to one. This was a shocking outcome to say the least, but we were incredibly satisfied by the response and by the new community that came together throughout the process.

Above photo of the historic sign on the Burr Trail Scenic Backway provided by J. Grant, 2025. See more photos of the fabulous Burr Trail Road on our Flickr page.

A section of the Burr Trail Scenic Backway near Long Canyon in the Monument.

Photo provided by Jackie Grant, 2025.

Moab to Mojave Conservation Corridor Spotlights Regional Connectivity

On January 7, as one of his last actions before leaving office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order establishing the Moab to Mojave Conservation Corridor (M2M), which does the same for the Southwest. A swath of protected lands covering nearly 18 million acres and stretching approximately 600 miles from Bears Ears National Monument in southeast Utah to the newly established Chuckwalla National Monument in southern California, M2M links four national parks with five national monuments and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. According to the National Parks Conservation Association, it is the “largest corridor of protected land in the continental United States.”

Photo provided by National Parks Conservation Association

GSEP Receives $20,000 from Cross Charitable

Thank you to Cross Charitable for providing grant support to help restore, reclaim, preserve, and conserve wilderness characteristics and Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) at Grand Staircase-Escalante

National Monument through our Stewardship and

Sustainable Visitation program. We appreciate your partnership!

GSEP Attends Public Lands Alliance Convention & Trade Show

GSEP staff attended the Public Lands Alliance Convention & Trade Show, held at the Westgate in Las Vegas from Feb. 2-5. The PLA show is the premier gathering of leaders in the public lands sector.

The Convention opened with a rousing speech by Friends of Avi Kwa Ame, about that organization’s successful 2023 campaign to build community support for a national monument in southern Nevada to protect the ecological, recreational, and aesthetic values of the region.

Main sessions included roundtables, talks, films, and discussions focused on building organizational capacity, effective communication strategies, collaboration with federal agencies and tribes, and plenty of time for networking with colleagues from across the nation. Presentations featured GSEP’s very own Kaitlin Martin, Kristen Buck, and Jackie Grant, plus Tribal Liaison Georgie Pongesva.

GSEP, U.S. Forest Service, and The Hopi Tribe were also awarded the 2025 Public Lands Partner Award! The Public Lands Partner Award recognizes an exemplary partnership for its stunning achievements to protect and preserve public lands and enhance the experiences of visitors.

GSEP is a member of the Public Lands Alliance, which “protects America’s public lands by supporting and empowering the local, nonprofit partner organizations dedicated to their conservation. Its members are nonprofit organizations that have a formal partnership with a land management agency to support parks, forests, wildlife refuges, conservation areas, and other public lands sites.