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
Dinosaur Discoveries
"My first very first day in GSENM was as a first-year paleontology graduate student at the University of Utah in the fall of 2004, lugging a helicopter net deep into the badlands for later retrieval of an articulated dinosaur skeleton. From that moment, I was hooked...
Cherished Family Memories in the Monument
"At sixteen, mom and I made a covenant to visit all of the National Parks and Monuments. Going East to go to the West, we drove out to the desert each summer and winter to explore more of our favorite part of the country: Utah. With a freshly printed TripTik as our...
Ever-Changing Canyons
"Friends have said they love the slickrock desert because it’s timeless. But the canyons keep changing. Each time I visit my favorite places, I see something new and extraordinary. Fresh layers of sediment banking the creek, washed in by flash floods. A delicate...
Motorcycle Wanderings and Hell’s Backbone
On a never-ending quest to find the most remote places in southern Utah, Dave was drawn to the solitary adventure of Grand Staircase. He is a long-time visitor to the area, often on his trusted BMW motorcycle, and has always loved popping in to Hell’s Backbone Grill...
Inspiration in Grand Staircase
When I needed to get my head right after a failed business, I went to one of my favorite places on earth, Grand Staircase. I set out for six days in the canyons with little more than a sleeping bag and a jar of Justin’s almond butter. I returned with a renewed sense...
First Time Through the Lands that Became the Monument
Imagine a late summer afternoon in Escalante, circa 1973. I and several of my friends were about to start a 10 day backpacking trip, down the Escalante River, from the H12 bridge to Lake Powell, where we would be picked up by a boat from the Bullfrog marina. But step...
