The monument is named Bears Ears for a pair of buttes that rise to elevations over 8,900 feet (2,700 m) and 9,000 feet (2,700 m), more than 2,000 feet (610 m) above Utah state routes 95 and 261.
Capped by Wingate Sandstone, the buttes and surroundings have long been held as sacred or significant by a number of the region's Native American tribes.
Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings dated to more than 3,500 years ago have been discovered in the region, just some of the estimated 100,000 archaeological sites protected within the monument.
The Comb Ridge monocline traverses the eastern portion of the monument's Shash Jáa unit.

Of the 1.35 million acres of the original monument designation, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) oversees 1.06 million acres and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) manages 289,000 acres.
Of the 201,876 acres of the current monument designation, the BLM oversees approximately 169,289 acres and the USFS manages 32,587 acres.
The vast majority of the land within the national monument is federal land, though the State of Utah owns about 109,100 acres within the original monument's boundaries, while 12,600 acres are privately owned.
These state-owned and privately owned lands are not part of the national monument, and will not be unless they are acquired in voluntary sales to the federal government.
The designation of the monument does not affect the rights of landowners in or adjacent to the monument's boundaries to access or use their property.

The monument is co-managed by the BLM and the USFS (the Monticello Unit of the Manti-La Sal National Forest), along with a coalition of five local Native American tribes—Navajo, Hopi, Ute Mountain Ute, Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, and the Pueblo of Zuni—all of which have ancestral ties to the region.
The northern part of the monument borders Canyonlands National Park, while parts of the original monument also bordered Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and surrounded Natural Bridges National Monument.

Some cultural special management areas remain within the reduced monument boundaries including the Newspaper Rock Petroglyph Panel and the Butler Wash Archaeological District National Register site, while other such areas are no longer within monument boundaries including the Quail rock art panel, Big Westwater Ruin, the Sand Island Petroglyph Panel, and all but the last few miles of the Hole-in-the-Rock Trail.

Ecological resiliency is strongest in places that are the least disturbed and most biodiverse.
Bears Ears is a resilient landscape.
Navajo people have a term for such places of ecological rejuvenation: we call them Nahodishgish, or "places to be left alone."

— Bears Ears: A Native Perspective, October 2015, p.13
Robert S. McPherson, who is known for his books on Navajos and the Four Corners, described depictions of lightning, arrowheads, wind, snakes, and bears in the rock formations.

Prehistorically, Comb Ridge split an intensively used Ancient Puebloan homeland.
It later had similar cultural—both spiritual and practical—significance to Utes, Paiutes, and Navajos and played a crucial role in the history of European American settlement.
To tell the story of this rock that is unlike any other rock in the world and the diverse people whose lives it has affected.

— Robert S. McPherson
The monument is named Bears Ears for a pair of buttes that rise to elevations over 8,900 feet (2,700 m) and 9,000 feet (2,700 m), more than 2,000 feet (610 m) above Utah state routes 95 and 261. Capped by Wingate Sandstone, the buttes and surroundings have long been held as sacred or significant by a number of the region's Native American tribes. Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings dated to more than 3,500 years ago have been discovered in the region, just some of the estimated 100,000 archaeological sites protected within the monument. The Comb Ridge monocline traverses the eastern portion of the monument's Shash Jáa unit.
Of the 1.35 million acres of the original monument designation, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) oversees 1.06 million acres and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) manages 289,000 acres. Of the 201,876 acres of the current monument designation, the BLM oversees approximately 169,289 acres and the USFS manages 32,587 acres. The vast majority of the land within the national monument is federal land, though the State of Utah owns about 109,100 acres within the original monument's boundaries, while 12,600 acres are privately owned. These state-owned and privately owned lands are not part of the national monument, and will not be unless they are acquired in voluntary sales to the federal government. The designation of the monument does not affect the rights of landowners in or adjacent to the monument's boundaries to access or use their property.
The monument is co-managed by the BLM and the USFS (the Monticello Unit of the Manti-La Sal National Forest), along with a coalition of five local Native American tribes—Navajo, Hopi, Ute Mountain Ute, Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, and the Pueblo of Zuni—all of which have ancestral ties to the region. The northern part of the monument borders Canyonlands National Park, while parts of the original monument also bordered Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and surrounded Natural Bridges National Monument.
Some cultural special management areas remain within the reduced monument boundaries including the Newspaper Rock Petroglyph Panel and the Butler Wash Archaeological District National Register site, while other such areas are no longer within monument boundaries including the Quail rock art panel, Big Westwater Ruin, the Sand Island Petroglyph Panel, and all but the last few miles of the Hole-in-the-Rock Trail.
Ecological resiliency is strongest in places that are the least disturbed and most biodiverse. Bears Ears is a resilient landscape. Navajo people have a term for such places of ecological rejuvenation: we call them Nahodishgish, or "places to be left alone."
— Bears Ears: A Native Perspective, October 2015, p.13
Robert S. McPherson, who is known for his books on Navajos and the Four Corners, described depictions of lightning, arrowheads, wind, snakes, and bears in the rock formations.
Prehistorically, Comb Ridge split an intensively used Ancient Puebloan homeland. It later had similar cultural—both spiritual and practical—significance to Utes, Paiutes, and Navajos and played a crucial role in the history of European American settlement. To tell the story of this rock that is unlike any other rock in the world and the diverse people whose lives it has affected.
— Robert S. McPherson
Bears Ears National Monument