On September 17, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah started the Congressional Review Act (CRA) process for the Bears Ears National Monument Resource Management Plan (RMP).
The Congressional Review Act allows Congress to review any rule by federal agencies. Before a rule can take effect under the CRA, the agency must send Congress and the Comptroller General a report with a copy of the rule, a brief description (including whether it is a major rule), and its proposed effective date. Congress then has set time periods to introduce and act on a joint resolution of disapproval under the CRA's fast-track procedures. There is a 60 day timeline on CRA's. If both houses pass it, the resolution goes to the President, and Congress can override a veto.
A disapproved rule "shall not take effect (or continue)." It is treated as never having had any effect, so provisions already in force are voided retroactively. The agency also cannot reissue the rule in "substantially the same form" unless a later law specifically authorizes it. The CRA does not define that phrase, and it bars judicial review of any "determination, finding, action, or omission under" the Act.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded that the plan counts as a "rule" under the CRA, and that the Department of the Interior never submitted it to Congress as the law requires. A resolution of disapproval will now follow. If both chambers pass it by simple majority and the President signs it, the plan is overturned, and BLM can't reissue a plan that is "substantially the same."
The 2025 Bears Ears Resource Management Plan was rushed out the door two days before President Biden left office, and it is one of the most restrictive land management plans ever produced by the Bureau of Land Management. BlueRibbon Coalition overwhelmingly supports this effort to review the 2025 Bears Ears Resource Management Plan through the Congressional Review Act.
The plan is still a problem after the monument was reduced
On July 13 a proclamation from President Trump reduced the Bears Ears monument boundaries, and BRC supports that decision. The management plan BLM finalized on January 13, 2025 still governs the monument lands that remain. The reduction is facing legal challenges and if a court happens to reverse the reduction, the full plan applies again across all 1.36 million acres. Revising the boundary doesn't remove the plan, however, the CRA can.
Key Elements of the 2025 Bears Ears RMP
- Arch Canyon (TM-14): Arch Canyon is the only route in the monument singled out by name, and every motorized trip on it needs an individual Special Recreation Permit. Commercial trips and organized group events are banned. Part of the route also closes seasonally from March 1 through August 31. Local clubs and events have had changes to their special use permits for Arch Canyon since the 2025 RMP was signed, putting the San Juan ATV Safari out of business for the coming years.
- OHV closures: 591,185 acres are closed to OHV use.
- No path for mountain bikes: A "Remote Zone" of about 775,000 acres is managed as non-motorized and non-mechanized, with no way to reconsider bike access later.
- No new routes for recreation: New routes are allowed only when "necessary for public safety or protection of BENM objects." Recreation doesn't count as a reason to add one.
- Group size caps (REC-19, REC-23): Motorized use is limited to two groups of 12 vehicles per route per day. In the 542,361-acre Outback Zone, groups of 25 people need a Special Recreation Permit, so a casual outing of nine to twelve trucks needs a federal permit.
- Peavine Corridor (REC-20): All motorized and mechanized Special Recreation Permits are banned across the corridor. That means no commercial trips and no organized events.
- Uneven treatment of events (REC-26): Bicycle races on designated roads "may be considered," while motorized events on the same roads are banned outright.
- No game retrieval or firewood access (TM-19, TM-20, FOR-17): Cross-country OHV travel to retrieve an elk or gather firewood is prohibited, with no exceptions.
- Raptor closures (SSP-11): A single nesting site can justify temporarily or permanently closing any OHV route that near it.
- Camping: Dispersed camping is allowed only at designated sites, with no-camping buffers around water sources and developed areas. Existing "unapproved" sites are slated for reclamation.
- Everyday activities: Recreational target shooting is prohibited monument-wide. Casual mineral collecting, geocaching, rock stacking, public drone use and several aerial sports are banned. Dogs must be leashed and are banned outright in some locations. Every existing climbing route can be closed, and new bolts need approval through a process "to be defined later."
The plan leaves too much undecided
The unanswered questions are the most troubling part of the plan. Under REC-14, any activity found "inconsistent with the protection of BENM objects and the Bears Ears cultural landscape" can be prohibited. Because "BENM objects" were considered the "landscape" and not actual objects, that clause lets managers ban almost anything almost anywhere - including hiking.
The plan also splits its decisions into two tiers. The 2025 RMP draws the zones and reserves the authority to close things, but it formally closes only a couple dozen miles of routes. The actual route closures are left to future travel plans or Bears Ears Commission recommendations, which will carry out decisions already made at the RMP level. When the public objects, each tier points to the other. Monument closures happen as a process, not a single event.
Many of these later decisions go through the Bears Ears Commission together with BLM. The plan sets aside no seat for the hikers, riders, hunters, climbers and families who use these lands.
This was a plan that closed access to a huge piece of public land, it restricted numerous activities, and it laid the foundation to close even more.
Make Your Voice Heard
BRC will keep tracking the CRA resolution and the travel planning that follows. Use the tool below to let your members of Congress know they should cancel this plan.
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