When President Trump sharply reduced the size of Bears Ears National Monument in Utah by more than 1.2 million acres, he claimed it was necessary because recreation was virtually impossible within the site’s boundaries.

“You can’t go hunting, you can’t go fishing, you can’t do anything, you can virtually not even walk on it,” Mr. Trump said during a ceremony in the Oval Office last month.

The No. 2 official at the Interior Department, Kate MacGregor, chimed in, saying, “That’s exactly right, sir, so you are remedying that today.”

But recreation has been allowed in Bears Ears since President Barack Obama designated the monument in 2016. And government documents reviewed by The New York Times show that Trump administration officials were briefed on recreational opportunities inside the monument about a month before the Oval Office event.

Utah officials, who pushed for shrinking the monument, told the Trump administration in June that there was “current recreational access” to Bears Ears, according to the documents, which The Times obtained via a public records request.

The state officials specifically cited two trails popular among hikers, backpackers and off-road vehicle drivers, the documents show. (Other trails attract scores of horseback riders, mountain bikers and rock climbers, as Mr. Obama noted when he designated the monument.)