National Monuments in the United States

The Devils Tower was the first national monument

In the United States, national monuments are protected areas or memorials designated by the federal government , the majority of which are administered by the National Park Service , an agency under the Department of the Interior . You can preserve valuable natural spaces or historically significant facilities. In the western United States in particular, historical buildings are also located in valuable ecosystems, so both types are combined.

description

National Monuments can be erected by Congress and, unlike national parks, by the President by means of a Presidential Proclamation without the approval of Congress . The legal basis is the Antiquities Act (Pub.L. 59-209) of 1906. Theodore Roosevelt first made use of this option when he protected the Devils Tower in Wyoming in this way on September 24, 1906 . He believed it could be destroyed before Congress finally declared the area a national park . To date, nearly 130 places in need of conservation and monument protection have been declared United States National Monument ; the world's most famous is the Statue of Liberty in front of the city of New York . The far greater number of such protected areas are, however, in the western United States - concentrated in the state of Arizona .

Most of the National Monuments are administered by the National Park Service , but many protected areas are also under the supervision of other agencies. These include, in particular, the Bureau of Land Management , which is also responsible for the largest national monument in terms of land area outside of Alaska - Grand Staircase-Escalante . The US Forest Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service are also entrusted with the administration of a large number of National Monuments. There is also support from other US authorities. Individuals are also looked after jointly by two authorities.

Although financially subordinate to the large national parks, national monuments are not necessarily less important than national parks in terms of attractiveness and size. Rather, some of them have all the characteristics of a national park and sometimes experience - like the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado - a corresponding “upgrade”. As a rule, however, a national monument indicates that a smaller number of natural resources are protected in it than in national parks.

history

Founder of the first National Monument: Theodore Roosevelt

The national monuments of the United States are the result of a law dating from 1906 that was used to protect prehistoric structures and tools used by Indians in the western United States. The so-called "Antiquities Act" ( Antiquities Act ) regulated the legitimacy of archaeological investigations and made unauthorized looting and destruction of such sites illegal. It also allowed the US President to put historical landmarks, historical and prehistoric buildings and other objects of historical or scientific importance under the state protection of a national monument.

These national monuments were expected to protect small prehistoric sites with a cultural background. But three months later , President Theodore Roosevelt took the passage " Objects of ... scientific importance " from the Antiquities Act as an opportunity to protect the so-called Devils Tower for scientific reasons and to declare it the first US national monument. In the same year, with the establishment of the Petrified Forest National Monument (now a national park) , the law was misused for the second time. The original idea of small cultural sites was therefore quickly outdated.

In 1908 Roosevelt again resorted to the Antiquities Act in order to now declare the Grand Canyon a national monument - with around 3,200 km² a very large "object of scientific importance". In 1918, under President Woodrow Wilson , the Katmai National Monument followed , which initially covered a little more than 4,000 km² and later - after an expansion - even around 11,000 km². Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, and Katmai were among the numerous national monuments that were later designated as national parks by Congress.

There was no serious opposition in Congress to the extensive use of the Antiquities Act to build new national monuments - particularly in Arizona and Alaska , the only territories temporarily unrepresented in Congress. It was only with the erection of the Jackson Hole National Monument by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943 that serious opposition arose in Congress for the first time. After the plan to expand the Grand Teton National Park ( Wyoming ) by a land acquired by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. failed due to opposition from Congress, the President used the Antiquities Act and declared the area a national monument. The frequent abuse of the Antiquities Act to establish new protected areas bypassing Congress triggered such protests that US presidents made less use of this option in the following years. Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford , had no National Monuments at all. That changed again with the presidency of Jimmy Carter . Carter identified 16 National Monuments. Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush then indicated no new areas. Bill Clinton identified 19 National Monuments, more than Theodore Roosevelt's 18. George W. Bush then turned out six. With 26 National Monuments, Barack Obama had the largest number of all presidents.

The largest national monument outside of Alaska was Grand Staircase-Escalante in southern Utah and was only founded in 1996 by Bill Clinton . In doing so, he made a decision that was initially viewed critically, and there were once again demands that the President's sole power of disposal be restricted. On August 24, 2017, US Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke presented the results of a review commissioned by US President Donald Trump of the 27 major National Monuments appointed over the past two decades. According to this, the area of six National Monuments should be reduced in some cases significantly in order to enable mining, logging or fishing there, namely the National Monuments Bears Ears , Grand Staircase-Escalante , Gold Butte , Cascade Siskiyou , Pacific Remote Islands and Rose Atoll . Seven other National Monuments should not be reduced in size, but their commercial use should be made possible again. On December 4, 2017, President Donald Trump ordered the protective area of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to be nearly halved and that of the Bears Ears National Monument to be reduced by 85 percent. As a reason, he stated that the original demarcation did not meet the requirements of the legal basis and would be much too large. In US history, sixteen national monuments have been reduced in area eighteen times by US presidents. From 1962 to 2017 there was no further area reduction. Trump's reduction in the area of the two National Monuments is the largest reduction in US history. Lawsuits have been filed against these reductions. They were submitted by the five local Indian tribes, the outdoor clothing company Patagonia and various nature and environmental protection associations. According to the lawsuits, Trump's land reductions are illegal.

Status and equipment

From a touristic point of view, the differences between national parks and monuments do not play a major role. Many of the most popular - managed by the National Park Service - national monuments offer the same infrastructure as national parks and can also be visited with the national park pass. The protected status of the areas does not differ formally either. All areas of the National Park Service are subject to the same legal basis, the Organic Act . However, hunting is often permitted in monuments managed by other agencies, notably the Bureau of Land Management, which is excluded in National Park Service monuments.

overview

National Monument	State	founding	surface
Admiralty Island	Alaska	December 1, 1978	4,127.2 km²
African Burial Ground	new York	February 27, 2006	0.001 km²
Agate Fossil Beds	Nebraska	June 14, 1997	12.4 km²
Agua Fria	Arizona	January 11, 2000	287.2 km²
Aleutian Islands World War II	Alaska	December 5, 2008	20.0 km²
Alibates Flint Quarries	Texas	August 31, 1965	5.5 km²
Aniakchak	Alaska	December 1, 1978	555.1 km²
Aztec ruins	New Mexico	January 24, 1923	1.3 km²
Bandolier	New Mexico	February 11, 1916	136.3 km²
Basin and Range	Nevada	July 10, 2015	2,847.3 km²
Bears Ears	Utah	December 28, 2016	817.0 km²
Belmont-Paul Women's Equality	Washington, DC	April 12, 2016	0.001 km²
Berryessa Snow Mountain	California	July 10, 2015	1,338.6 km²
Birmingham Civil Rights	Alabama	January 12, 2017	0.004 km²
Booker T. Washington	Virginia	April 2, 1956	1.0 km²
Browns Canyon	Colorado	19th February 2015	87.4 km²
Buck Island Reef	American Virgin Islands	December 28, 1961	77.0 km²
Cabrillo	California	October 14, 1913	0.6 km²
California Coastal	California	January 11, 2000	10.6 km²
Camp Nelson Heritage	Kentucky	October 26, 2018	1.5 km²
Canyon De Chelly	Arizona	April 1, 1931	339.3 km²
Canyons of the Ancients	Colorado	June 9, 2000	713.7 km²
Capulin Volcano	New Mexico	August 9, 1916	3.2 km²
Carrizo Plain	California	January 17, 2001	854.1 km²
Casa Grande Ruins	Arizona	August 3, 1918	1.9 km²
Cascade-Siskiyou	Oregon	June 9, 2000	264.4 km²
Castillo de San Marcos	Florida	October 15, 1924	0.1 km²
Castle Clinton	new York	August 12, 1946	0.004 km²
Castle Mountains	California	February 12, 2016	85.1 km²
Cedar Breaks	Utah	August 22, 1933	24.9 km²
Cesar E. Chaves	California	October 8, 2012	0.5 km²
Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers	Ohio	March 25.2013	0.2 km²
Chimney skirt	Colorado	November 21, 2012	19.1 km²
Chiricahua	Arizona	April 18, 1924	48.7 km²
Colorado	Colorado	May 24, 1911	83.1 km²
Craters of the Moon	Idaho	May 2, 1924	216.3 km²
Devils Postpile	California	July 6, 1911	3.2 km²
Devils Tower	Wyoming	September 24, 1906	5.5 km²
Dinosaur	Colorado , Utah	October 4, 1915	851.0 km²
Effigy Mounds	Iowa	October 25, 1949	10.2 km²
El Malpais	New Mexico	December 31, 1987	462.7 km²
El Morro	New Mexico	December 8, 1906	5.2 km²
Florissant fossil	Colorado	20th August 1969	25.5 km²
Fort Frederica	Georgia	May 26, 1936	1.2 km²
Fort Matanzas	Florida	October 15, 1924	1.2 km²
Fort McHenry	Maryland	March 3, 1925	0.2 km²
Fort Monroe	Virginia	November 1, 2011	1.5 km²
Fort Ord	California	April 20, 2012	59.3 km²
Fort Pulaski	Georgia	October 15, 1924	22.8 km²
Fort Stanwix	new York	August 21, 1935	0.1 km²
Fort Union	New Mexico	April 5th 1956	2.9 km²
Fossil butte	Wyoming	October 23, 1972	33.2 km²
Freedom Riders	Alabama	January 12, 2017	0.02 km²
George Washington Birthplace	Virginia	January 23, 1930	2.6 km²
George Washington Carver	Missouri	July 14, 1943	0.8 km²
Giant Sequoia	California	April 15, 2000	1,427.0 km²
Gila Cliff Dwellings	New Mexico	November 16, 1907	2.2 km²
Gold butte	Nevada	December 28, 2016	1,201.7 km²
Governors Island	new York	January 19, 2001	0.1 km²
Grand Canyon Parashant	Arizona	January 11, 2000	4,132.0 km²
Grand Portage	Minnesota	January 27, 1960	2.9 km²
Grand Staircase-Escalante	Utah	September 18, 1996	4,062.5 km²
Hagerman Fossil Beds	Idaho	November 18, 1988	17.6 km²
Hanford Reach	Washington	June 9, 2000	768.9 km²
Hohokam Pima	Arizona	October 21, 1972	6.8 km²
Homestead	Nebraska	March 19, 1936	0.9 km²
Hovenweep	Colorado , Utah	March 2, 1923	3.2 km²
Ironwood Forest	Arizona	June 9, 2000	522.3 km²
Jewel Cave	South Dakota	February 7, 1908	5.2 km²
John Day Fossil Beds	Oregon	October 26, 1974	56.9 km²
Jurassic	Utah	March 12, 2019	3.4 km²
Cape Krusenstern	Alaska	December 1, 1978	2,626.8 km²
Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks	New Mexico	January 17, 2001	18.8 km²
Katahdin Woods and Waters	Maine	October 24, 2016	354.4 km²
Lava Beds	California	November 21, 1925	189.0 km²
Little Bighorn Battlefield	Montana	July 1, 1940	3.1 km²
Mariana's Trench Marine	Northern Mariana Islands , Guam	January 6, 2009	247,172.6 km²
Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home	Mississippi	March 12, 2019	? ^Note
Mill Springs Battlefield	Kentucky	March 12, 2019	? ^Note
Misty Fjords	Alaska	December 1, 1978	9,283.3 km²
Mojave trails	California	February 12, 2016	6,475.0 km²
Montezuma Castle	Arizona	December 8, 1906	4.1 km²
Mount St. Helens	Washington	August 27, 1982	458.1 km²
Muir Woods	California	January 9, 1908	2.2 km²
Natural bridges	Utah	April 16, 1908	30.9 km²
Navajo	Arizona	March 20, 1909	1.5 km²
Newberry	Oregon	5th November 1990	232.0 km²
Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine	Massachusetts	15th September 2016	12,724.6 km²
Oregon Caves	Oregon	July 12, 1909	18.4 km²
Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks	New Mexico	May 21, 2014	1,697.8 km²
Organ Pipe Cactus	Arizona	April 13, 1937	1,338.3 km²
Pacific Remote Islands Marine	US Minor Outlying Islands	January 6, 2009	1,270,477.6 km²
Papahānaumokuākea Marine	Hawaii	June 15, 2006	1,508,864.7 km²
Petroglyph	New Mexico	June 27, 1990	29.2 km²
Pipe Spring	Arizona	May 31, 1923	0.2 km²
Pipestone	Minnesota	August 25, 1937	1.1 km²
Pompey's Pillar	Montana	January 17, 2001	0.2 km²
Poverty Point	Louisiana	October 31, 1988	3.7 km²
Prehistoric Trackways	New Mexico	March 30, 2009	21.4 km²
President Lincoln and Soldiers' Home	Washington, DC	July 7, 2000	0.01 km²
Pullman	Illinois	19th February 2015	0.002 km²
Rainbow Bridge	Utah	May 30, 1910	0.6 km²
Rose Atoll Marine	American Samoa	January 6, 2009	34,839.6 km²
Russell Cave	Alabama	May 11, 1961	1.3 km²
Río Grande del Norte	New Mexico	March 25.2013	982.2 km²
Saint Francis Dam Disaster	California	March 12, 2019	1.4 km²
Salinas Pueblo Missions	New Mexico	November 1, 1909	4.3 km²
San Gabriel Mountains	California	October 10, 2014	1,397.1 km²
San Juan Islands	Washington	March 25.2013	3.9 km²
Sand to Snow	California	February 12, 2016	623.2 km²
Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains	California	October 24, 2000	1,133.2 km²
Scott's bluff	Nebraska	December 12, 1919	12.2 km²
Sonoran Desert	Arizona	January 17, 2001	1,968.4 km²
Statue of Liberty	new York	October 15, 1924	0.2 km²
Stonewall	new York	June 24, 2016	0.03 km²
Sunset Crater Volcano	Arizona	May 26, 1930	12.3 km²
Timpanogos Cave	Utah	October 14, 1922	1.0 km²
Tonto	Arizona	December 19, 1907	4.5 km²
Tule Lake	California	December 5, 2008
Tule Springs Fossil Beds	Nevada	19th December 2014	91.7 km²
Tuzigoot	Arizona	July 25, 1939	3.3 km²
Upper Missouri River Breaks	Montana	January 17, 2001	1,527.1 km²
Vermilion Cliffs	Arizona	November 9, 2000	1,131.4 km²
Virgin Islands Coral Reef	American Virgin Islands	January 17, 2001	51.4 km²
Waco Mammoth	Texas	July 10, 2015	0.4 km²
Walnut Canyon	Arizona	November 30, 1915	14.3 km²
Wupatki	Arizona	December 9, 1924	143.3 km²
Yucca House	Colorado	December 19, 1919	0.1 km²