Grand Staircase Escalante Partners
Honor the past and safeguard the future of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and its connected landscapes and watersheds through science, conservation, and education.
A Living Landscape: the future of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
This film seeks to tell a more complete story of the ecological and cultural importance of Grand Staircase-Escalante — that the entire landscape is an object worthy of protection, as set aside in the original 1996 Presidential Proclamation and affirmed in the 2021 Proclamation. “A Living Landscape” strives to give voice to the land itself, through the people engaged in working on its behalf: tribal members, scientists, guides, educators, business owners, local citizens, and volunteers, each with a unique perspective that comprises a richness rivaled only by the ecology and cultural significance of the Monument itself. Click here to watch.
GSEP Resource Management Plan Statement
Grand Staircase Escalante Partners is pleased to share that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) signed the Record of Decision for the final Resource Management Plan (RMP) for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) on January 6, 2025.
What we Do
Our Focus
Grand Staircase Escalante Partners is a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) founded in 2004 to protect and preserve Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
We are committed to:
- Promoting science, conservation, and education on the Monument.
- Increasing public awareness and understanding of the Monument.
- Providing resources to support the Monument’s scientific, interpretive and educational programs.
- Expanding our membership so we represent a diverse constituency that supports the Monument.
For Science
This natural area remains a frontier, a quality that greatly enhances Grand Staircase’s value for scientific study and presents unique opportunities for geologists, paleontologists, archaeologists, historians, and biologists.
For History
The Monument is home to countless Native American cultural sites, western pioneer history, and the greatest diversity of dinosaur fossils found anywhere on Earth. Since time immemorial, Native American people have inhabited, crossed, lived on, and been stewards of the lands that make up what we now know as Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
To learn about the Tribes that have deep connections to the Grand Staircase-Escalante region, click here
Stewardship
We aim to restore, reclaim, preserve, and conserve Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and adjacent landscapes. GSEP works with the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, and the National Park Service to implement, manage, and evaluate the program through volunteer stewardship projects and hands-on visitor education through our volunteer Trail Ambassadors.
Conservation
We work with researchers, nonprofit Native American partner organizations, State and Federal government agencies, and volunteers to control invasive species, mitigate erosion, monitor climate and ecological change, and protect threatened species.
Native Plants
Contributing to national-scale restoration and research efforts, our Native Plants Program engages seed crews, Tribal partners, and volunteers in the collection and cleaning of seeds from native plants on and around the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
For All
Grand Staircase Escalante Partners is committed to fostering an equitable and inclusive environment in our workplace and across the Monument. We recognize the complex and difficult histories that have shaped American public lands, from dispossession of Native lands and forced removal of indigenous communities to create public lands and parks, to the ongoing exclusion of people of color from conservation and preservation movements.
We acknowledge that the area known as Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and its surrounding areas are the ancestral land and historical territory of the Hopi, Zuni, Dine/Navajo, San Juan Southern Paiute, Kaibab Paiute, Ute, Ute Mountain Ute, Jemez Pueblo, and Acoma nations.
We are on a journey to transform our work–to foster diversity through equitable actions that create a just and inclusive environment, within and beyond our organization. Learn more about how we are integrating justice, equity, and inclusion into our work.
Latest News
Escalante’s Ancient Desert Drifter
Genetic analysis indicates that the Four Corners Potato was cultivated, transported, and spread by ancient peoples across the Southwest.
Summer 2025 Newsletter
This year continues to be a bit of a rollercoaster ride for us here at Grand Staircase Escalante Partners. The funding for our fabulous programs has been frozen, unfrozen, refrozen, partially released, and now possibly rescinded – just in the first seven months of 2025! Most recently, the U.S. House of Representatives inserted a section into the appropriations bill that would link funding for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to an outdated management plan from 2020. This action makes it even more difficult for Bureau of Land Management staff to do their work because the Monument is legally bound by a newer management plan that was approved this year. You can learn about the havoc this bill might cause in this recent article on the bill.
The uncertain future of plant adaptation in GSENM
How will plants adapt to the rapid pace of climate change, and what actions are needed to preserve crucial communities?
June 2025 Newsletter
An unexpected rainy late spring has been traumatizing one of my dogs, Sunny, but is still very welcome after such a dry winter. The land and plants are responding with a vigor that I might almost describe as joyously frightening. I am finding enormous joy in the many plants that are blooming for the first time in years, or with more zeal than I’ve seen in a very long time. The frightening part comes with knowing that these rains bring the peril of flash floods, which can be both exhilarating and deadly in this land full of canyons. In fact, a group of hikers had to be rescued this week after a storm many miles upstream caused water flow to increase from 7.5 gallons per second to nearly 18,000! Luckily, everyone was safely retrieved from Big Horn Canyon where the flooding occurred.
Preserving the Past, Protecting the Future: Graffiti Remediation in Action
Three new studies shed investigate restoration of degraded biological soil crusts, and their nutrient content amid climate change.
May 2025 Newsletter
When you think of natural stone arches in Utah, you probably think of Arches National Park. But, did you know that the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is home to 2,517 natural stone arches? That’s 517 more than Arches National Park! You can learn more about arches in the Monument, including how to report and name a new arch from archesoftheescalante.com.
