At stake is control of public lands in Western states, and conservationists fear increased efforts to roll back protections under the next Trump administration.

A coalition of Utah Republicans has filed legislation invoking a 19th century mining law to block the Bureau of Land Management from implementing a series of travel management plans in the state that critics say emphasizes conservation over public access.

The state in August filed a lawsuit asking the court to declare the federal Bureau of Land Management’s ownership of 18.5 million acres of land in Utah unconstitutional.

In 1996, President Bill Clinton created the Grand Staircase-Escalante Monument with pen and paper at a table in neighboring Arizona. The designation came as a harsh surprise to Utah political leaders who asserted they were blindsided by the move.

Utah filed its lawsuit against the United States government last August. The state argued that it is deprived of more than one-third of the land within its border, deeming the amount of land managed by the Bureau of Land Management “unconstitutional” and a federal policing of power.

The Supreme Court is turning back a push by the state of Utah to wrest control of vast areas of public land from the federal government.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Utah's lawsuit that sought to make federal lands within its state borders illegal.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a lawsuit by Utah that argued the federal government was unconstitutionally holding onto vast, unreserved swathes of the Republican-led state's territory comprising more than a third of the land within its borders.

If you're passionate about birds of prey, consider joining the Raptor Inventory Nest Survey (RINS) annual monitoring project, where volunteers will get the chance to learn about and help protect Utah's eagles,

Utah House Minority Leader Angela Romero, a Democrat, praised the Supreme Court's decision in a statement to The Salt Lake Tribune as a "win for all Americans and the protection of our environment. Today's actions serve as an important reminder that our public lands should not be privatized or exploited for short-term benefits."

Utah authorities are seeking more information about a climber who installed climbing bolts into the site of an ancient petroglyph.

According to a brief Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, 9 million acres of Idaho land managed by the Bureau of Land Management could be affected.