Is Trump Opening Land for Drilling Near the Grand Canyon, Zion and Other National Parks?

A viral claim says the Trump administration is opening land for oil and gas drilling in or around the Grand Canyon, Zion, Joshua Tree, Arches, Grand Teton and Denali national parks.

The short version: there is a real public-lands leasing push, and some parcels are near iconic parks. But the cleanest confirmed record is narrower than the viral list. The actions identified so far mostly involve BLM-managed public lands around parks, not drilling inside national parks themselves.

What is actually happening

The Bureau of Land Management has been moving to expand energy leasing under the administration’s broader “energy dominance” agenda. BLM’s own 2025 accomplishments summary says it held 22 oil and gas lease sales and offered or leased hundreds of thousands of acres across multiple states.

That broader policy is real. The issue is whether each park named in the viral list has a specific, current oil-and-gas action attached to it.

For the Grand Canyon, the answer is yes in a limited form: BLM proposed about 78,708 acres in northwestern Arizona for potential inclusion in a December 2026 oil and gas lease sale. The parcels are north of Grand Canyon National Park and near Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument.

Park-by-park read

Grand Canyon: confirmed nearby proposal. BLM’s Arizona lease-sale project page and conservation coverage identify roughly 79,000 acres under review. Environmental groups argue the area has little known oil or gas potential but high scenic, cultural and ecological value.

Zion: the strongest current reporting is about coal leasing near southern Utah parks, not a clean oil-and-gas drilling action inside Zion. SUWA and other groups have warned about coal leasing just outside Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef and Grand Staircase-Escalante.

Arches: Utah oil and gas lease sales have included parcels near Arches and other red-rock landscapes in past and ongoing BLM activity. The claim is plausible as “nearby public lands,” but it needs parcel-specific wording, not “inside Arches.”

Grand Teton: Wyoming leasing and drilling expansion is real in the broader region, but current evidence found here does not clearly identify a new specific oil-and-gas parcel sale directly around Grand Teton tied to this claim.

Joshua Tree and Denali: no clear matching recent oil-and-gas leasing action was found near these parks in the sources reviewed. Alaska energy actions focus more on areas such as the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and the Arctic coastal plain, which are not Denali.

Why the wording matters

“In or around” does a lot of work. National parks are generally managed by the National Park Service and are not the same as surrounding BLM lands. Opening a parcel ten or twenty miles away can still affect viewsheds, air quality, water, traffic, wildlife corridors and dark skies — but it is not the same as drilling inside the park.

That distinction matters for accuracy. Environmental groups often focus on nearby parcels because nearby development can still change the park experience. Federal agencies often respond that the parcels are outside park boundaries and subject to further review before any drilling occurs.

What is confirmed and what is not

Confirmed: the administration is expanding federal energy leasing, and BLM has proposed oil-and-gas leasing on public lands north of the Grand Canyon.

Confirmed but different: coal leasing near southern Utah parks including Zion has been flagged by conservation groups. That is not the same as oil-and-gas drilling.

Not confirmed from reviewed sources: a single official action opening land for oil and gas drilling in or directly around all six named parks. Joshua Tree and Denali especially need better evidence before being included as confirmed examples.

Why it matters

The risk is not imaginary. Public-land leasing near national parks can create real conflicts over conservation, tourism, tribal and cultural sites, wildlife and water. Even a lease sale with low drilling potential can set up years of legal and political fights.

But the viral version compresses several different categories — proposed lease sales, coal leasing, broad energy policy and advocacy warnings — into one list. The more accurate headline is: the Trump administration is expanding fossil-fuel leasing on public lands, including some areas near national parks, but the park-by-park evidence varies.

NoDechev rating: partially verified. Real leasing push; confirmed nearby Grand Canyon proposal; broader six-park oil-and-gas list is overstated without parcel-specific proof.