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List of proposed national monuments of the United States facts for kids

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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.

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.

Proposed national monuments

Proposed name Photo Location Area Status External information
Bodie Hills April -conservationlands15 -bucketlist- Bodie Hills, California, for Wildflowers, Wildlife and One-of-a-Kind Ghost Town! (16540820773).jpg California
Birthplace of Rivers Falls-of-hills-creek-wv.jpg West Virginia
Map		 122,000 acres (49,000 ha) ClockC Petition by Keen BirthplaceofRivers.org
West Virginia Rivers Coalition
Video by Pew & This American Land
Expansion of
Cascade-Siskiyou		 Soda-Mtn-LG.jpg California
Greater Canyonlands Upper Comb Wash
in Greater Canyonlands		 Utah
Map
Threats		 1,800,000 acres (730,000 ha) Symbol deferred.svg see also Bears Ears Greater Canyonlands Coalition
Utah Public Lands Initiative with ArcGIS map
Greater Grand Canyon Heritage Grand Canyon National Park, North Rim in Arizona.jpg Arizona
map		 1,700,000 acres (690,000 ha) ClockC Pending legislation Greater Grand Canyon Watershed
Grand Canyon Waters, at the Abyss (New York Times)
Heart of the Great Basin Nevada
Lesser Prairie Chicken Preserve Lesser Prairie Chicken, New Mexico.jpg New Mexico 58,000 acres (23,000 ha) N as of February 2010
Montana's Northern Prairie Montana 2,500,000 acres (1,000,000 ha)
Northwest Sonoran Desert Sonoran Desert 33.081359 n112.431507.JPG Arizona 500,000 acres (200,000 ha) N as of April 2012
Otero Mesa Otero Mesa.jpg New Mexico 1,200,000 acres (490,000 ha) N as of February 2010
Owyhee Canyonlands Owyhee River Wilderness A.jpg Oregon 2,100,000 acres (850,000 ha) Oregon Natural Desert Association
Owyhee Desert 2013-07-21 11 39 02 View west across the Owyhee Desert, Nevada from Elko County Route 728 (Owyhee Road) along the foothills of the Bull Run Mountains.jpg Oregon/Nevada
Range of Light
South Fork of the Merced River
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 I70 at San Rafael swell-Green River.jpg Utah N as of 2013 Utah Public Lands Initiative with ArcGIS map
The Modoc Plateau Pit River Valley.jpg California 3,000,000 acres (1,200,000 ha) Video by Los Angeles Times
Vermillion Basin Colorado

Formerly proposed national monuments

Some areas have been proposed as a national monument earlier, but are no longer listed above, because they are now designated as national monuments or are protected via a different designation, e.g. as a national park or wilderness area in the National Wilderness Preservation System. Some reasons for keeping them in the following list might be:

  • The proposed area is now included in another, larger area which is protected. (Symbol: Symbol deferred.svg)
  • A smaller part of the originally proposed area is now protected. (Symbol: Checkhalf.png)
  • The area was officially proposed for monument designation by a federal or state agency or department, e.g. in the memorandum mentioned above, and was subsequently protected. Those entries are shaded with a bluish-green background. (Symbol: YesY - marks all monuments protected, including some after proposals from non-governmental organizations)
Proposed name Photo Location Area Status External information
Bears Ears BearsEarsUSGS-2D.jpg Utah
Map		 Originally 1,350,000 acres (550,000 ha)
Reduced to 201,876 acres (81,696 ha)		 Check markY December 28, 2016 Bears Ears Coalition
Bears Ears reduced by 85% on 2017 Dec 04 by Donald J. Trump
Berryessa Snow Mountains Snow Mountain Wilderness.jpg California 330,780 acres (133,860 ha) Check markY July 15, 2015 U.S. Forest Service
Boulder-White Clouds Scoop Lake, Custer County, Idaho.JPG Idaho 570,000 acres (230,000 ha) Checkhalf.png August 7, 2015 BoulderWhiteClouds.org
The Wilderness Society
Cedar Mesa region My Public Lands Roadtrip- Cedar Mesa in Utah (19883938459).jpg Utah
Map		 256,000 acres (104,000 ha) Symbol deferred.svg see Bears Ears Utah Public Lands Initiative with ArcGIS map
Gold Butte Gold Butte Lake Mead (19979090905).jpg Nevada
Map
ACEC Map		 300,000 acres (120,000 ha) Check markY December 28, 2016 Friends of Gold Butte
Friends of Nevada Wilderness
Video by Pew & This American Land
Maine Woods Mouth of Moose River from Mount Kineo.jpg Maine
Map		 3,200,000 acres (1,300,000 ha) Checkhalf.pngAugust 24, 2016 Pro: RESTORE the North Woods
Natural Resources Council of Maine
Contra: Maine Woods Coalition
Rocky Mountain Front 2009-0603-10-Air-RockyMountainFront.jpg Montana
Map		 275,000 acres (111,000 ha) Checkhalf.png December 19, 2014 Save the Front
San Juan Islands San Juan Islands 17 (8970073631).jpg Washington
Map		 1,000 acres (400 ha) Check markY March 25, 2013 Bureau of Land Management
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