Mission
Honoring the past and safeguarding the future of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument through science, conservation, and education.
Questions about our work?
Our Vision
Honor the land. Learn its lessons.
This vision serves as our roadmap for the future and provides the strategic framework for our programs and initiatives.
Our Strategic Plan
Honor the land. Learn its lessons.
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.
Our Values:
- Wonder. Grand Staircase is a place unlike anywhere in the world. We seek to inspire curiosity and learning through our work.
- Preservation. The rich cultural, geologic, historic, and biological wonders of the Monument must be preserved for posterity.
- Passion. Our shared appreciation and love for this place propels all that we do.
- Partnership. Our mission is only possible through collaboration.
- Science. Science belongs at the heart of Monument management and conservation, including Indigenous science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
- Community. As the only conservation organization headquartered in Monument communities, our programs strive to benefit local residents.
- Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. We are committed to making the Monument a place that is respected as the ancestral home of the Indigenous communities who have been here since time immemorial. We are also committed to ensuring that the Monument is a place where all people feel welcome and all perspectives are respected.
