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. , and . U.S. Code collection. Cornell University Law School. Retrieved on 11 February 2009.
Other protective national designations, including those of the National Park Service, must be created by congressional legislation.An Act to establish a National Park Service, and for other purposes. . https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/COMPS-1725/pdf/COMPS-1725.pdf
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". 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.
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, 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, Chuckwalla National Monument, and Sáttítla Highlands National Monument, among others. The undesignated monuments covered this campaign are colored blue below.
Proposed national monuments
Proposed name PhotoLocationArea 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.External information Bodie Hills California Birthplace of Rivers West Virginia BirthplaceofRivers.org West Virginia Rivers Coalition Video by Pew & This American LandDouglas-Fir National MonumentOregon530,000 acres (214,500 ha) Friends of Douglas-Fir National Monument Expansion of Cascade-Siskiyou California Greater Canyonlands Upper Comb Wash in Greater Canyonlands Utah Map Threats Greater Canyonlands Coalition Utah Public Lands Initiative with ArcGIS map Greater Grand Canyon Heritage (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 Grand Canyon Waters, at the Abyss (New York Times) Heart of the Great Basin Nevada Lesser Prairie Chicken Preserve New Mexico Montana's Northern Prairie Montana Northwest Sonoran Desert Arizona Otero Mesa New Mexico Owyhee CanyonlandsLinks to the protected area which will be extended Oregon Oregon Natural Desert Association Owyhee Desert Oregon/Nevada Range of LightCaliforniaApproximately 1,427,750 acresUnite 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 mapSutton MountainOregonOregon Natural Desert Association The Modoc Plateau California Video by Los Angeles Times Vermillion Basin Colorado Bahsahwahbee National MonumentNevadaVideo by Associated PressHistoric Greenwood/Black Wall Street National MonumentOklahomaBlack Wall Street CoalitionGreat Bend of the Gila National MonumentArizona Map Respect Great BendDolores River Canyon National MonumentColorado Protect the DoloresKw'tsan National MonumentCaliforniaFort Yuma Quechan TribeMimbres Peaks/Los Lunas National MonumentNew MexicoProtect Mimbres PeaksNational September 11 Memorial and MuseumNew York
See also America's Most Endangered Places List of proposed national parks of the United States List of threatened historic sites in the United States List of national monuments of the United States List of national parks of the United States List of national memorials of the United States List of areas in the United States National Park System National Conservation Lands
Notes
References
External links 5 Natural Landscapes on Our National Monument Wish List: Here’s how to make “America’s best idea” even better by the Sierra Club