Members Only Event—Visit the New GSEP Headquarters in Escalante
Become a member and receive a special invitation to a series of open houses taking place at our new Escalante HQ in October.
If you’ll be visiting the Monument this fall, then this will be a great opportunity to see the space and our vision for it before renovations begin.
Christa Sadler is a paleontologist, geologist, wilderness and river guide, and the author of Where Dinosaurs Roamed: Lost Worlds of Utah’s Grand Staircase.
When: Thursday, October 29, 2020 | 7:00pm MT
GSENM’s ancient environments could hardly have been more different from those of today. Yet the land where dinosaurs roamed across the floodplains and along the coast between 100 million and 75 million years ago may still have something important to tell us about our own world. We’ll discuss these ancient landscapes and what they may tell us about our future.
Register for this Zoom event here.
Olivia Carril has been studying bees for over 20 years in ecosystems around the world, including a long-term inventory of the bee fauna of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. She recently coauthored The Bees in Your Backyard: A Field Guide to North America’s Bees.
When: Thursday, November 12, 2020 | 7:00pm MT
In this Ask an Expert event we hear from Olivia Carill, bee researcher extraordinaire, who will answer our questions about pollinators on Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.
Register for this Zoom event here.
Even today, this unspoiled 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.
These nearly two million acres were designated as a national monument on September 18, 1996, by President Bill Clinton. Grand Staircase is administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and in 2000, became the first unit of BLM’s National Landscape Conservation System.
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. The Hopi, Zuni, Dine/Navajo, San Juan Southern Paiute, Kaibab Paiute, Ute, Ute Mountain Ute, and Acoma nations have deep connections to the Grand Staircase region.
Grand Staircase Escalante Partners is a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization 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
Recruiting volunteers and helping people get involved with protecting Grand Staircase
We achieve our mission through the following program areas:
Science: Expanding our knowledge and understanding of the natural wonders, biodiversity, and unique ecosystems with which this landscape is endowed by actively supporting and participating in scientific and historical investigation. This includes conducting climate change research as well as launching a climate change mitigation campaign aimed at raising awareness and inspiring action related to the protection of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and all public lands.
Conservation: Ensuring that Grand Staircase-Escalante’s assets —culture, ecology, history, recreation, and science—are recognized, sustained, and enhanced for posterity through collaborative on-the-ground restoration work and invasive species removal.
Education: Providing places and spaces where adults and youth can meet, exchange ideas, and participate in learning activities, resulting in the building of knowledge and expertise needed to advance local, national, and international interests in the Grand Staircase-Escalante region.
Grand Staircase Escalante Partners is committed to fostering an equitable and inclusive environment in our workplace and across GSENM. 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, and Acoma nations.
As we carry out our work in conservation and education, we strive to ensure that:
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.