Southern Utah鈥檚 red rock desert is home to towering canyons and the clear, shallow Escalante River. It鈥檚 also home to many ancient petroglyphs. Jonathan Paklaian is trying to find one along the banks of the river. He scrambles along a cliff wall until he spots it 鈥� a petroglyph he says was drawn more than 800 years ago by the Indigenous Fremont people.
鈥淭hat one looks a little unfinished,鈥� Paklaian says. 鈥淏ut who knows what the artist had in mind, whether that鈥檚 the beginning or the end.鈥�
Paklaian works for a local environmental non-profit, Grand Staircase Escalante Partners, that鈥檚 fighting to protect this place from development. He鈥檚 lived out here for a year and loves it.
鈥淕etting out here for a trail run, it鈥檚 rejuvenating and it鈥檚 kind of like hitting a reset button on your mind,鈥� he says.
But underneath all this beauty 鈥� the river, the canyons, the quiet 鈥� there are other treasures.
鈥淐oal seams. Under the ground there鈥檚 oil and gas. There鈥檚 some uranium. There鈥檚 tar sands,鈥� says John Freemuth, a public lands policy expert and professor at Boise State University. He says industry has been kicking the tires of Utah鈥檚 red rock desert for decades. 鈥淭here are a lot of extractable mineral resources in that area.鈥�
And now, with the Trump administration鈥檚 decision in 2017 to drastically reduce the boundaries of both the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, it鈥檚 possible those minerals could actually be extracted 鈥� especially since the administration this week released .
But so far, drillers and miners aren鈥檛 really biting. Outside of a few small mining claims, no big oil, gas or coal companies have announced they鈥檙e setting up shop. Freemuth says there are many reasons for that.
鈥淚ndustry is not stupid about the cost of producing things,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 think they鈥檙e fairly astute on the market, and some of that stuff is deep, harder to get to, expensive to produce.鈥�
And in some cases, there isn鈥檛 much of a market demand right now for minerals like coal or uranium. So they may just stay underground.
But above ground, another industry has been growing 鈥� tourism.
鈥淭ourism is a vital part of this community,鈥� says Nathan Waggoner, the long-time owner of an outdoor gear shop in the town of Escalante. Tourism employs almost half the people who live and work in the area, most of them in the service industry. All in all, tourism pumps into the two counties that make up Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument every year.
鈥淎s people come to enjoy this place, different industries are popping up. Main Street has changed in the last 15 years and it鈥檚 good to see,鈥� Waggoner says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 good to see that in a small town in the West.鈥�
That鈥檚 why Waggoner鈥檚 baffled the Trump administration would shrink the national monuments and boost the prospects for mining and drilling. He says that could damage the pristine nature of this place and scare away tourists.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like kicking the legs out from underneath the stool,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 mean, we were all beginning to find our place on this.鈥�
But there are other locals who welcome the monuments鈥� downsizing and Trump鈥檚 call for more resource development on public lands in southern Utah.
鈥淭o open up for logging, mining, manufacturing that Trump is doing is a healthy thing for this country,鈥� says Breck Crystal, a rancher and owner of a horseback-riding trail guiding business. 鈥淚t gets people to work with their hands. It gets people to produce things.鈥�
Even though tourism is a major industry in the area, Crystal says it has a lot of downsides for the community, like vacation homes driving up land prices, low wages and influxes of seasonal workers.
鈥淜ids come here and they work for the tourism season. Then they go on unemployment. And they hike around here,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 ask them if they want a job moving irrigation for me. 鈥楴o, I don鈥檛 want to work that hard. I only want to work a few hours a week. And I want to work at one of these fancy restaurants where I can get tips from people and pay for me playing.鈥欌��
Crystal thinks it鈥檚 this kind of culture that鈥檚 hurting America. He longs for the days when there were good-paying, hard-working jobs in the West. But whether those kinds of jobs will return to southern Utah now that the monuments have been downsized remains to be seen.
Conservation groups and Indigenous tribes are suing the Trump administration for shrinking the monument boundaries and for making this land available to development. If the pending lawsuits are successful, this expanse of Utah鈥檚 red rock desert will be off-limits to extractive industries once again.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUER in Salt Lake City, KUNR in Nevada, the O鈥機onnor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, and KRCC and 萝莉少女 in Colorado. Follow Nate Hegyi on Twitter .
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