List of proposed national monuments of the United States

The President of the United States can establish a national monument by presidential proclamation, and the United States Congress can by legislation. The Antiquities Act of 1906 authorized the president to proclaim "historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest" as national monuments.[1]

Other protective national designations, including those of the National Park Service, must be created by congressional legislation.[2]

Interior Department memorandum

In a 2010 "Not for Release" memorandum by the United States Department of the Interior, 14 areas were listed in the "Prospective Conservation Designation" attachment as "good candidates for National Monument designation under the Antiquities Act".[3] Those areas are included in the lists below, shaded bluish-green.

In subsequent attachments in the same draft, "areas worthy of protection that are ineligible for Monument Designation and unlikely to receive legislative protection in the near term" and "cost estimates" of "high priority land-rationalization efforts" were listed.[3]

Monuments for All Campaign

During the Biden Administration, coalitions of numerous conservation, Native American, and Black groups coalesced to form the Monuments for All campaign,[4] to coincide with the "America the Beautiful" and "30x30" initiatives from the Biden Administration. These groups called on President Biden to designate numerous National Monuments under the Antiquities Act, many from the 2010 Memorandum that were not designated by President Obama. These groups successfully lobbied for the restoration of Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument from President Trump's cuts, as well as Avi Kwa Ame National Monument and Castner Range, among others. The monuments still in this campaign are colored blue below.

Proposed national monuments

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.
Proposed name Photo Location Area [note 1] External information
Bodie Hills California
Birthplace of Rivers West Virginia
Map 		122,000 acres (49,000 ha)[5] BirthplaceofRivers.org
West Virginia Rivers Coalition
Video by Pew & This American Land
Douglas-Fir National Monument Oregon 530,000 acres

(214,500 ha)

Friends of Douglas-Fir National Monument
Expansion of
Cascade-Siskiyou[note 2] 		California
Greater Canyonlands[note 2] Upper Comb Wash
in Greater Canyonlands 		Utah
Map
Threats 		1,800,000 acres (730,000 ha)[6] Greater Canyonlands Coalition
Utah Public Lands Initiative with ArcGIS map
Greater Grand Canyon Heritage[7]

(The majority of this was designated as part of the Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument in 2023)

Arizona
map 		1,700,000 acres (690,000 ha) Greater Grand Canyon Watershed
Grand Canyon Waters, at the Abyss (New York Times)
Heart of the Great Basin Nevada
Lesser Prairie Chicken Preserve New Mexico 58,000 acres (23,000 ha)
Montana's Northern Prairie Montana 2,500,000 acres (1,000,000 ha)
Northwest Sonoran Desert Arizona 500,000 acres (200,000 ha)
Otero Mesa New Mexico 1,200,000 acres (490,000 ha)
Owyhee Canyonlands[note 2] Oregon 2,100,000 acres (850,000 ha)[6] Oregon Natural Desert Association
Owyhee Desert Oregon/Nevada
Range of Light
California Approximately 1,427,750 acres Unite the Parks

Range of Light Video featuring Frank Helling as the voice of John Muir

San Rafael Swell Utah Utah Public Lands Initiative with ArcGIS map
Sutton Mountain Oregon 66,000 acres (27,000 ha) Oregon Natural Desert Association
The Modoc Plateau California 3,000,000 acres (1,200,000 ha)[8] Video by Los Angeles Times
Vermillion Basin Colorado
Bahsahwahbee National Monument Nevada Video by Associated Press
Chuckwalla National Monument California
Map 		Protect Chuckwalla
Historic Greenwood/Black Wall Street National Monument Oklahoma Black Wall Street Coalition
Great Bend of the Gila National Monument Arizona
Map 		330,000 acres (130,000 ha) Respect Great Bend
Dolores River Canyon National Monument Colorado
Map 		400,000 acres (160,000 ha) Protect the Dolores
Sátittla and Medicine Lake Highlands National Monument California 200,000 acres (81,000 ha) Protect Medicine Lake Highlands
Kw'tsan National Monument California 390,000 acres (160,000 ha) Fort Yuma Quechan Tribe
Mimbres Peaks/Los Lunas National Monument New Mexico 245,000 acres (99,000 ha) Protect Mimbres Peaks
National September 11 Memorial and Museum New York 8 acres (3.2 ha)

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Area according to the memorandum if included there, otherwise according to the campaign website or the official area if the national monument has been established meanwhile.
  2. ^ a b c Links to the protected area which will be extended

References

  1. ^ 16 U.S.C. § 431 § 432, and § 433. U.S. Code collection. Cornell University Law School. Retrieved on 11 February 2009.
  2. ^ An Act to establish a National Park Service, and for other purposes. Pub. L. 64–235, H.R. 15522, 39 Stat. 535, enacted August 25, 1916. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/COMPS-1725/pdf/COMPS-1725.pdf
  3. ^ a b "Prospective Conservation Designation: National Monument designation under the Antiquities Act" (PDF). Congressman Rob Bishop's House.gov website. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2010. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  4. ^ "Across the Country, We Love National Monuments". Monuments for All. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  5. ^ Graham Averill (9 September 2013). "Will Birthplace of Rivers Be West Virginia's First National Monument?". Blueridgeoutdoors.com. Retrieved March 19, 2016.
  6. ^ a b Wuerthner, Georg (6 June 2014). "A Tentative List of Potential National Monuments". The Wildlife News. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
  7. ^ Clark, Roger (14 October 2015). "3 Things about the New Grand Canyon National Monument". Grand Canyon Trust. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
  8. ^ Wuerthner, George (19 February 2010). "Wuerthner re: Obama's New National Monuments - Native Forest Council". Native Forest Council. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
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