National monument (United States)

Monuments assigned protected status by presidents of the US

Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming Navajo National Monument, Arizona Statue of Liberty National Monument, New Jersey and New York Fort Matanzas National Monument, Florida

In the United States, a national monument is a protected area that can be created from any land owned or controlled by the federal government by proclamation of the president of the United States or an act of Congress. National monuments protect a wide variety of natural and historic resources, including sites of geologic, marine, archaeological, and cultural importance.[1] The Antiquities Act of 1906 gives presidents the power to proclaim national monuments by executive action. In contrast, national parks in the U.S. must be created by Congressional legislation.[2] Some national monuments were first created by presidential action and later designated as national parks by congressional approval.[1]

The 138 national monuments are managed by several federal agencies: the National Park Service, United States Forest Service, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (in the case of marine national monuments). Historically, some national monuments were managed by the War Department.[3]

President Theodore Roosevelt used the Antiquities Act to declare Devils Tower in Wyoming as the first U.S. national monument.

## History

[edit]

Supt. Frank "Boss" Pinkley – the southwestern national monuments, 1934

The Antiquities Act authorized permits for legitimate archaeological investigations and penalties for taking or destroying antiquities without permission. Additionally, it authorized the president to proclaim "historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest" on federal lands as national monuments, "the limits of which in all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected."[4]

Presidents have used the Antiquities Act's proclamation authority not only to create new national monuments but to enlarge existing ones. For example, Franklin D. Roosevelt significantly enlarged Dinosaur National Monument in 1938. Lyndon B. Johnson added Ellis Island to Statue of Liberty National Monument in 1965, and Jimmy Carter made major additions to Glacier Bay and Katmai National Monuments in 1978.[5]

### Early 20th century origin

[edit]

The Antiquities Act of 1906 resulted from concerns about protecting mostly prehistoric Native American ruins and artifacts (collectively termed "antiquities") on federal lands in the American West.

The reference in the act to "objects of ... scientific interest" enabled President Theodore Roosevelt to make a natural geological feature, Devils Tower in Wyoming, the first national monument three months later.[6] Among the next three monuments he proclaimed in 1906 was Petrified Forest in Arizona, another natural feature. In 1908, Roosevelt used the act to proclaim more than 800,000 acres (3,200 km2) of the Grand Canyon as a national monument.

In response to Roosevelt's declaration of the Grand Canyon monument, a putative mining claimant sued in federal court, claiming that Roosevelt had overstepped the Antiquities Act authority by protecting an entire canyon. In 1920, the United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Grand Canyon was indeed "an object of historic or scientific interest" and could be protected by proclamation, setting a precedent for the use of the Antiquities Act to preserve large areas.[7] Federal courts have since rejected every challenge to the president's use of Antiquities Act preservation authority, ruling that the law gives the president exclusive discretion over the determination of the size and nature of the objects protected.

### Mid-20th century

[edit]

In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Katmai National Monument in Alaska, comprising more than 1,000,000 acres (4,000 km2). Katmai was later enlarged to nearly 2,800,000 acres (11,000 km2) by subsequent Antiquities Act proclamations and for many years was the largest national park system unit.

Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, and Great Sand Dunes, among several other national parks, were also originally proclaimed as national monuments and later designated national parks by Congress.[8][9][10]

Substantial opposition did not materialize until 1943, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed Jackson Hole National Monument in Wyoming. He did this to accept a donation of lands acquired by John D. Rockefeller Jr., for addition to Grand Teton National Park after Congress had declined to authorize this park expansion. Roosevelt's proclamation unleashed a storm of criticism about use of the Antiquities Act to circumvent Congress. A bill abolishing Jackson Hole National Monument passed Congress but was vetoed by Roosevelt, and Congressional and court challenges to the proclamation authority were mounted. In 1950, Congress finally incorporated most of the monument into Grand Teton National Park, but the act doing so barred further use of the proclamation authority in Wyoming except for areas of 5,000 acres or less.

### Late 20th century and early 21st century

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The most substantial use of the proclamation authority came in 1978, when President Jimmy Carter proclaimed 17 new national monuments in Alaska after Congress had adjourned without passing a major Alaska lands bill. Congress passed a revised version of the bill in 1980 incorporating most of these national monuments into national parks and preserves, but the act also curtailed further use of the proclamation authority in Alaska.

Carter's 1978 proclamations included Misty Fjords and Admiralty Island National Monuments in the U.S. Forest Service and Becharof and Yukon Flats National Monuments in the Fish and Wildlife Service, the first to be created outside of the National Park Service. The latter two became national wildlife refuges in 1980.

The proclamation authority was not used again anywhere until 1996, when President Bill Clinton proclaimed the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument in Utah, after many years of unsuccessful advocacy by conservationists to protect parts of the area. This was the first national monument managed by the Bureau of Land Management. This action was unpopular in Utah,[11] and bills were introduced to further restrict the president's authority,[12] none of which have been enacted. Most of the 16 national monuments created by President Clinton are managed not by the National Park Service, but by the Bureau of Land Management as part of the National Landscape Conservation System.

President George W. Bush created four marine national monuments in the Pacific Ocean, the largest in the system: Papahānaumokuākea, Pacific Islands Heritag, Mariana Trench, and the Rose Atoll Marine National Monuments.[13] They are managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration overseeing the fisheries. President Barack Obama significantly expanded two of them and added a fifth in the Atlantic Ocean, the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.[14]

On June 24, 2016, Obama designated the Stonewall Inn and surrounding areas in Greenwich Village, New York as the Stonewall National Monument, the first national monument commemorating the movement for LGBT rights in the United States.[15] Obama's establishments included several others recognizing civil rights history, including the César E. Chávez, Belmont–Paul Women's Equality, Freedom Riders, and Birmingham Civil Rights National Monuments.

In December 2017, President Donald Trump substantially reduced the sizes of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monuments, removing protections on about 2.8 million acres of land where mining could resume.[16][17] Three lawsuits challenged the legality of this action in federal court,[18] and in October 2021, President Joe Biden reversed the changes.[19] The restoration of the monuments has been challenged in court in an attempt to attack the Antiquities Act.[20][21]

President Biden's proclamations establishing and expanding monuments often incorporated consultation with Native American tribes for management and planning.[22][23][24]

In 2025, Trump's interior secretary Doug Burgum ordered a review of all withdrawn public lands including national monuments for their exploitation for drilling and mining.[25]

## List of national monuments

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Main article: List of national monuments of the United States

## See also

[edit]

* Antiquities Act of 1906
* List of U.S. National Forests
* List of areas in the United States National Park System (includes list of NPS-managed national monuments)
* List of U.S. wilderness areas
* Protected areas of the United States

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "What Is a National Monument?". National Parks Conservation Association. November 9, 2022.
2. ^ Yard, Robert Sterling (1931). "Difference Between a National Park and a National Monument". The National Parks Portfolio.
3. ^ Glimpses of Our National Monuments. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1930. Archived from the original on November 22, 2012.
4. ^ "American Antiquities Act". National Park Service. Archived from the original on October 11, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
5. ^ Canyons of the Ancients National Monument (N.M.). Resource Management Plan: Environmental Impact Statement. January 1, 2009. Archived from the original on December 6, 2017.
6. ^ "Devils Tower first 50 years" (PDF). National Park Service. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 31, 2009. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
7. ^ "Cameron v. United States". 1920. 252 U.S. 450. Archived from the original on March 30, 2014.
8. ^ "PUBLIC LAW 85-358-MAR. 28, 1958" (PDF). Government Printing Office. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 13, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
9. ^ "Records of the NPS". archives.gov. Archived from the original on October 16, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
10. ^ "Antiquities Act 1906–2006: Maps, facts and figures". National Park Service. nps.gov. U.S. Department of the Interior. Archived from the original on 12 December 2017. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
11. ^ Wieber, Audrey (October 12, 2014). "Locals bitter over Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument creation". Twin Falls Times-News. Twin Falls, Idaho. Archived from the original on August 26, 2015. Retrieved July 11, 2015 - via MagicValley.com.
12. ^ Lewis, Neil A. (October 8, 1997). "House tweaks Clinton over creation of national monuments". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 20, 2015. Retrieved July 11, 2015.
13. ^ "President Bush Creates Three New Pacific Marine Monuments in U.S. Pacific Insular Areas". June 18, 2015.
14. ^ "Obama Designates 1st Marine National Monument In The Atlantic Ocean". NPR.org. Retrieved February 13, 2021.
15. ^ "President Obama Designates Stonewall National Monument". whitehouse.gov (Press release). June 24, 2016. Archived from the original on February 16, 2017 - via National Archives. "Official announcement from White House Press Office"
16. ^ Keith Schneider, Trump dramatically shrinks two national monuments in Utah, assailing rule by 'distant bureaucrats', Los Angeles Times (December 4, 2017).
17. ^ Eilperin, Juliet (December 8, 2017). "Uranium firm urged Trump officials to shrink Bears Ears National Monument". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 2, 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
18. ^ "NRDC et al. v. Trump (Bears Ears)". NRDC. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
19. ^ "FACT SHEET: President Biden Restores Protections for Three National Monuments and Renews American Leadership to Steward Lands, Waters, and Cultural Resources". The White House. October 8, 2021. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
20. ^ "Utah files suit challenging Biden's monument restoration". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved September 6, 2022.
21. ^ "Goal of Utah's monument lawsuit: Take down the Antiquities Act". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved September 6, 2022.
22. ^ Brown, Alex (September 22, 2023). "In new collaborations, tribes become stewards of parks and monuments • Stateline". Stateline. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
23. ^ Smith, Anna V. (September 22, 2023). "The state of tribal co-management of public lands". High Country News. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
24. ^ Stagner, Taylar Dawn (May 24, 2024). "What's the difference between Indigenous nations co-managing or co-stewarding their land? A lot". Grist. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
25. ^ Wilson, Janet. "National monuments under review for drilling, mining potential". The Desert Sun. Retrieved February 5, 2025.

## Further reading

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* Dilsaver, Lary M. "A national park in the wasteland: American and National Park Service perceptions of the desert". The Public Historian 38.4 (2016): 38–55.

* Long, McKenzie. This Contested Land: The Storied Past and Uncertain Future of America's National Monuments (University of Minnesota Press, 2022). A highly personal study of 13 major monuments, it covers land use and ownership, the tension between nature's intrinsic value and the economic value of resource extraction and tourism, and the deeper historical controversies surrounding monuments.
* Norris, Frank. "The Antiquities Act and the acreage debate". The George Wright Forum 23#3 (2006).

* Ranchod, Sanjay. "The Clinton National Monuments: Protecting Ecosystems with the Antiquities Act". Harvard Environmental Law Review 25 (2001): 535+.
* Righter, Robert W. "National monuments to national parks: The use of the Antiquities Act of 1906". Western Historical Quarterly 20.3 (1989): 281-301.
* Rothman, Hal. Preserving different pasts: The American national monuments (University of Illinois Press, 1989).

* Shafer, Craig L. "History of selection and system planning for US natural area national parks and monuments: beauty and biology". Biodiversity & Conservation 8 (1999): 189-204.

* Walls, Margaret, Patrick Lee, and Matthew Ashenfarb. "National monuments and economic growth in the American West". Science advances 6.12 (2020): eaay8523.

## External links

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* United States National Monuments travel guide from Wikivoyage
* Media related to National Monuments of the United States at Wikimedia Commons
* The Proclamation of National Monuments Under the Antiquities Act, 1906-1970
* National Monuments and the Antiquities Act – Congressional Research Service

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National monuments of the United States

National Park Service|

* African Burial Ground
* Agate Fossil Beds
* Alibates Flint Quarries
* Aniakchak
* Aztec Ruins
* Bandelier
* Belmont-Paul Women's Equality
* Birmingham Civil Rights
* Booker T. Washington
* Buck Island Reef
* Cabrillo
* Camp Nelson
* Canyon de Chelly
* Cape Krusenstern
* Capulin Volcano
* Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School
* Casa Grande Ruins
* Castillo de San Marcos
* Castle Clinton
* Castle Mountains
* Cedar Breaks
* César E. Chávez
* Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers
* Chiricahua
* Colorado
* Craters of the Moon
* Devils Postpile
* Devils Tower
* Dinosaur
* Effigy Mounds
* El Malpais
* El Morro
* Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley
* Florissant Fossil Beds
* Fort Frederica
* Fort Matanzas
* Fort McHenry
* Fort Monroe
* Fort Pulaski
* Fort Stanwix
* Fort Union
* Fossil Butte
* Frances Perkins
* Freedom Riders
* George Washington Birthplace
* George Washington Carver
* Gila Cliff Dwellings
* Governors Island
* Grand Portage
* Hagerman Fossil Beds
* Hohokam Pima
* Hovenweep
* Jewel Cave
* John Day Fossil Beds
* Katahdin Woods and Waters
* Lava Beds
* Little Bighorn Battlefield
* Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home
* Mill Springs Battlefield
* Montezuma Castle
* Muir Woods
* Natural Bridges
* Navajo
* Oregon Caves
* Organ Pipe Cactus
* Petroglyph
* Pipe Spring
* Pipestone
* Poverty Point
* Rainbow Bridge
* Russell Cave
* Salinas Pueblo Missions
* Scotts Bluff
* Springfield 1908 Race Riot
* Statue of Liberty
* Stonewall
* Sunset Crater Volcano
* Timpanogos Cave
* Tonto
* Tule Lake
* Tule Springs Fossil Beds
* Tuzigoot
* Virgin Islands Coral Reef
* Waco Mammoth
* Walnut Canyon
* Wupatki
* Yucca House

US Forest Service|

* Admiralty Island
* Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon
* Bears Ears
* Berryessa Snow Mountain
* Browns Canyon
* Camp Hale – Continental Divide
* Chimney Rock
* Giant Sequoia
* Gila Cliff Dwellings
* Misty Fjords
* Mount St. Helens
* Newberry
* Saint Francis Dam Disaster
* San Gabriel Mountains
* Sand to Snow
* Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains
* Sáttítla Highlands

Bureau of
Land Management|

* Agua Fria
* Avi Kwa Ame
* Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon
* Basin and Range
* Bears Ears
* Berryessa Snow Mountain
* Browns Canyon
* California Coastal
* Canyons of the Ancients
* Carrizo Plain
* Cascade–Siskiyou
* Chuckwalla
* Craters of the Moon
* Fort Ord
* Gold Butte
* Grand Canyon–Parashant
* Grand Staircase–Escalante
* Ironwood Forest
* Jurassic
* Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks
* Mojave Trails
* Organ Mountains–Desert Peaks
* Pompeys Pillar
* Prehistoric Trackways
* Río Grande del Norte
* San Juan Islands
* Sand to Snow
* Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains
* Sonoran Desert
* Upper Missouri River Breaks
* Vermilion Cliffs

Other (FWS, DOE,
AFRH, NOAA, USAF, Army)|

* Aleutian Islands World War II
* Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School
* Castner Range
* Hanford Reach
* Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad
* Marianas Trench Marine
* Military Working Dog Teams
* Northeast Canyons and Seamounts
* Pacific Islands Heritage Marine
* Papahānaumokuākea Marine
* President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home
* Rose Atoll Marine
* Tule Lake

Full Detailed List

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Federal protected areas in the United States

* Conservation Areas
* Estuarine Research Reserves
* Forests
* Grasslands
* Historical parks
* Lakeshores and seashores
* Marine Sanctuaries
* Monuments
* Natural Landmarks
* Outstanding Natural Area
* Parks
* Parkways
* Preserves
* Recreation Areas
* Research Natural Areas
* Rivers
* Scenic Areas
* Scenic Trails
* Wild and Scenic Rivers
* Wilderness Areas
* Wilderness Study Areas
* Wildlife Refuges

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Federal Historic sites of the United States

* Battlefields
* Battlefield Parks
* Battlefield Site
* Heritage Areas
* Historic Landmarks
* National Historic Sites
* International Historic Site
* Historic Trails
* Historical Parks
* Historical Reserves
* Memorials
* Military Parks
* Monuments

See also: National Register of Historic Places

Authority control databases: National |

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