A rocky ‘wonderland’ in Arizona is poised to be the next US national park

An area of towering rock spires in southeastern Arizona known among Native Americans as the Land of Standing-Up Rocks is poised to become the nation’s newest national park.

Legislation to create Chiricahua National Park is expected to be transmitted to the White House in coming days for President Donald Trump’s signature. It passed Congress with bipartisan backing and would be the 64th national park.

The 19-square-mile site is within the historical territory of the Chiricahua Apache tribes. It was designated a national monument in the 1920s to preserve hundreds of pinnacle-shaped rocks formed from an ancient volcanic eruption.

Rep. Juan Ciscomani, House sponsor of the Chiricahua National Park Act, said Wednesday. “It’s hard to compare anything to the Grand Canyon, but Chiricahua holds its own. This is something that really hasn’t been discovered.”

For centuries the site of the proposed park was home to the Apache, nomadic tribes who often resisted European newcomers to North America. They continued clashing with settlers until surrendering to U.S. troops in 1886 and being forcibly removed to the San Carlos Apache reservation.

The bill creating Chiricahua National Park preserves tribal access for traditional ceremonies. It allows temporary public closures within the park to protect those cultural uses, although Ciscomani said specifics have not been decided.

San Carlos Apache tribal leaders did not take a formal position on the national park designation, a spokesperson said Wednesday.

Former President Calvin Coolidge named the site as a national monument in 1924 under a federal law known as the Antiquities Act. Former President Franklin Roosevelt expanded it in 1938.

About 85% of the park is designated as wilderness. It gets roughly 60,000 visitors annually.

National monuments are designed to protect specific locations and objects, such as archaeological or historical sites, whereas national parks have a broader purpose including recreation and the preservation of vast expanses of wilderness. Parks and monuments alike are managed by the park service.

Chiricahua would be the first new national park since New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in West Virginia in 2021.



(Ron Kerbo/National Parks Service via AP)