GRAND STAIRCASE-ESCALANTE NATIONAL MONUMENT

Monument Updates:

 

Monument Weather & Road Conditions

• Printable weather forecasts for various tourist destinations around southern Utah.
  Click "Get a forecast"
   
• GSENM-KFO Weather Kiosk
• GSENM Road Report
• Additional GSENM Advisories & Alerts

The weather in southern Utah can often be unpredictable. We encourage visitors to check forecasts early and often at Salt Lake City, UT (weather.gov). Don't wait to check once you have reached your destination, #KnowBeforeYouGo and always have a plan B, an alternate location destination in case Mother Nature is uncooperative.

Flash Flood Public Notice

• Buckskin Gulch, Wire Pass and Paria Canyon are experiencing severe and unpredictable flash flooding!
• There is an active search and rescue occurring in the canyon. Officials ask for the public’s assistance by avoiding the area to allow emergency personnel and vehicles access to assist those in distress.
• The Kane County Sheriff’s Office and Bureau of Land Management strongly discourage visitors from continuing hikes in the slot canyons until the danger passes.
• Due to weather forecasts for the area in the coming days, it is highly recommended that hikers continue to check weather and road conditions before hiking on BLM-managed lands. #KnowBeforeYouGo

Flash floods are exactly what the name suggests: floods that happen in a flash! Flash floods generally develop within 6 hours of the immediate cause. Causes of flash flooding include heavy rain, ice or debris jams, and levee or dam failure. These floods exhibit a rapid rise of water over low-lying areas. In some cases, flooding may even occur well away from where heavy rain initially fell. This is especially common in the western United States where low lying areas may be very dry one minute, and filled with rushing water from upstream the next. For more flash flood information on the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and other popular areas of interest visit Printable Forecasts (weather.gov) and Flash Floods: Tread Safely | Bureau of Land Management (blm.gov).  (Reference Flood Related Hazards (weather.gov)

Campfire Safety & Fire Restrictions

There are no fire restrictions currently in effect.  Campfire safety is essential to preventing human-caused wildfires. Visit the Smokey Bear website to learn more about safety procedures and tips to properly extinguish campfires.  Fire restriction information can be found at BLM Utah Fire Restrictions. For more information on preventing unwanted human-caused wildfires or the statewide Fire Sense Campaign, visit www.utahfireinfo.gov or on Twitter @UtahWildfire.

Monument Advisory Committee Update for 2023

The Bureau of Land Management Paria River District will host two virtual public meeting of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Advisory Committee on the following dates:

• Tuesday, June 27, 2023, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a public comment period scheduled from 1:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. Registration is required. Please register at http://bit.ly/3ZnXHsh.

• Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a public comment period scheduled from 1:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. Registration is required. Please register at http://bit.ly/3ZpBTwe. 

Additional information is available on the Federal Register at https://bit.ly/3G29Xb1.

GSENM now accepting 2023 Artist-in-Residence Applications

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is now accepting applications for the 2023 Artist-in-Residence program, sponsored through partnership with the Escalante Canyons Art Festival and Glen Canyon Conservancy.

• Applications must be received by midnight April 10, 2023.
• Interested artists may find more information and application materials at http://bit.ly/3Tus6nj.
• Application submissions should be forwarded to Allysia Angus at aangus@blm.gov.
• Notification regarding the 2023 Artist-in-Residence selection will be made by the end of April 2023.

Attention New SRP Applicants!

Update as of 10/01/2022: In an effort to maintain workloads and to ensure timely processing of Special Recreation Permit (SRP) applications, the Paria River District (Kanab Field Office and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument) is temporarily suspending the processing of new SRP applications until 06/01/2023. You may still submit new applications, but they will not be reviewed for completeness or processed until the temporary suspension is lifted. Applications received on or after Oct. 1, 2022 will be placed on a wait list. Once the suspension is lifted, applications will be reviewed and processed in the order that they were received, in accordance with the existing policy, which can be found here at Paria River District SRP Application Guidance. Please note, that this suspension is temporary, and BLM will continue to assess the need for the suspension.  For questions regarding new permit applications, please contact the SRP Administrator via e-mail at either blm_ut_gs_srp@blm.gov (for GSENM applications) or blm_ut_kfo_srp@blm.gov (for KFO applications).

Monument Resource Management Plan

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Paria River District released a Notice of Intent to prepare a Resource Management Plan (RMP) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) on July 29, 2022. For more information on the planning process, visit EplanningUi (blm.gov).

• Notice of Intent News Release - July 28, 2022
• Public Scoping News Release - Aug. 2, 2022

Monument Interim Management Guidance

The Bureau is providing interim guidance regarding management of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. This interim management guidance will provide direction on the stewardship of these lands during the public planning effort, pending approval of a monument management plan and associated environmental impact statement, in compliance with Presidential Proclamation 10286. The Interim Management Guidance can be viewed here.

Little Desert Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) Open Area

Please stay on Existing Routes in the Little Desert Off-Highway Vehicle Open Area to Protect Important Resources in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

For more information on background and map, visit Little Desert Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) Open Area | Bureau of Land Management (blm.gov).

Discover Your Public Lands with Junior Ranger Missions!

Explore Bureau of Land Management lands in a whole new way! 
Play virtual Junior Ranger Missions with the free educational game app: Agents of Discovery, the not-so-secret, secret agency dedicated to learning and playing outdoors.

The National Mission can be played at home - Discover Dinosaurs Mission. Ancient dinosaurs roamed our public lands long ago. Play the Discover Dinosaurs Mission to dig in and help the Bureau of Land Management protect dinosaur fossils by learning about paleontology on your public lands. (Virtual Play at Home Mission) Open Agents of Discovery app and Search: "Discover Dinosaurs - BLM Junior Ranger Mission." Learn more at Junior Ranger Missions | Bureau of Land Management (blm.gov).

About The Monument

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.

Contact Us

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument 
669 South Highway 89A, Kanab, UT 84741
435-644-1300 (Visitor Center)
435-644-1200 (Headquarters)
BLM_UT_ES_Interagency@blm.gov

Follow BLM Utah on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr @BLMUtah and on Instagram @utahpubliclands.