Mastodon Mastodon

National Monuments quest

National Monuments are protected areas managed by the federal government. They can be designated by the President under the authority of the Antiquities Act, or they can be established by Congress. National Monument status has helped protect hundreds of our nation’s most treasured places, many of which were later renamed as National Parks.

I want to visit them all.

Current status: 2 left

My current status is 122 of the 124 national monuments in this quest, which leaves just 3 left to visit. The listing below is divided out by managing agency; the items in red are the ones I have remaining.

What is included—and what isn’t

There are 129 National Monuments in the US. I’m focusing on just the land-based national monuments, which means that the five marine national monuments—Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine, Marianas Trench Marine, Rose Atoll Marine, Pacific Remote Islands Marine and Papahānaumokuākea Marine—co-managed by NOAA & FWS to protect fisheries and other other ocean-based resources aren’t included in my quest. They’re really not places set aside in order to visit, so it doesn’t seem right to include them here. As a result, only 124 land-based national monuments are part of my quest.

Map

BLM National Monuments (2)

Each of the national monuments managed by the BLM is a major unit of the National Conservation Lands system—which is another quest of mine.

  1. Agua Fria
  2. Basin and Range
  3. California Coastal
  4. Canyons of the Ancients
  5. Carrizo Plain
  6. Cascade–Siskiyou
  7. Fort Ord
  8. Gold Butte
  9. Grand Staircase-Escalante
  10. Ironwood Forest
  11. Jurassic
  12. Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks
  13. Mojave Trails
  14. Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks
  15. Pompeys Pillar
  16. Prehistoric Trackways
  17. Río Grande del Norte
  18. San Juan Islands
  19. Sonoran Desert
  20. Upper Missouri River Breaks
  21. Vermilion Cliffs

US Forest Service National Monuments (0)

  1. Admiralty Island
  2. Chimney Rock
  3. Giant Sequoia
  4. Misty Fjords
  5. Mount St. Helens
  6. Newberry
  7. St Francis Dam Disaster
  8. San Gabriel Mountains

National Park Service National Monuments (0)

All of these were included in my National Parks quest, as each is considered a separate National Park unit.

  1. African Burial Ground
  2. Agate Fossil Beds
  3. Alibates Flint Quarries
  4. Aniakchak
  5. Aztec Ruins
  6. Bandelier
  7. Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality
  8. Birmingham Civil Rights
  9. Booker T. Washington
  10. Buck Island Reef
  11. Cabrillo
  12. Camp Nelson Heritage
  13. Canyon de Chelly
  14. Cape Krusenstern
  15. Capulin Volcano
  16. Casa Grande Ruins
  17. Castillo de San Marcos
  18. Castle Clinton
  19. Castle Mountains
  20. Cedar Breaks
  21. César E. Chávez
  22. Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers
  23. Chiricahua
  24. Colorado
  25. Devils Postpile
  26. Devils Tower
  27. Dinosaur
  28. Effigy Mounds
  29. El Malpais
  30. El Morro
  31. Florissant Fossil Beds
  32. Fort Frederica
  33. Fort Matanzas
  34. Fort McHenry
  35. Fort Monroe
  36. Fort Pulaski
  37. Fort Stanwix
  38. Fort Union
  39. Fossil Butte
  40. Freedom Riders
  41. George Washington Birthplace
  42. George Washington Carver
  43. Gila Cliff Dwellings
  44. Governors Island
  45. Grand Portage
  46. Hagerman Fossil Beds
  47. Hohokam Pima
  48. Homestead
  49. Hovenweep
  50. Jewel Cave
  51. John Day Fossil Beds
  52. Katahdin Woods and Waters
  53. Lava Beds
  54. Little Bighorn Battlefield
  55. Montezuma Castle
  56. Muir Woods
  57. Natural Bridges
  58. Navajo
  59. Oregon Caves
  60. Organ Pipe Cactus
  61. Petroglyph
  62. Pipe Spring
  63. Pipestone
  64. Pullman
  65. Rainbow Bridge
  66. Russell Cave
  67. Salinas Pueblo Missions
  68. Scotts Bluff
  69. Statue of Liberty
  70. Stonewall
  71. Sunset Crater Volcano
  72. Timpanogos Cave
  73. Tonto
  74. Tule Lake
  75. Tule Springs Fossil Beds
  76. Tuzigoot
  77. Virgin Islands Coral Reef
  78. Waco Mammoth
  79. Walnut Canyon
  80. White Sands
  81. Wupatki
  82. Yucca House

Co-managed National Monuments (0)

Sometimes, national monument boundaries end up overlapping agency boundaries. In these cases, they’re co-managed by the federal agencies whose land is included within the national monument boundaries.

  1. Bears Ears (BLM/USFS)
  2. Berryessa Snow Mountain (BLM/USFS)
  3. Browns Canyon (BLM/USFS)
  4. Craters of the Moon (NPS/BLM)
  5. Grand Canyon-Parashant (BLM/NPS)
  6. Hanford Reach (FWS/DOE)
  7. Poverty Point (NPS/State of Louisiana)
  8. Sand to Snow (BLM/USFS)
  9. Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains (BLM/USFS)

Other National Monuments (1)

These four national monuments are managed by three different federal agencies, so I’ve lumped them together.

  1. Aleutian Islands World War II (FWS)
  2. Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad (FWS)
  3. Military Working Dog Teams (DOD)
  4. President Lincoln and Soldiers’ Home (Armed Forces Retirement Home)

* An important note on three of these national monuments. Both Hohokam Pima and Honouliuli are expressly not open to the general public. Similarly, Aleutian Islands World War II has no regular transportation to the islands, making visitation very rare. As a result, substitute experiences are included for these places when they are purposefully made. For Hohokam Pima, visits to the nearby Huhugam Cultural Center (the de facto “visitor center,” which interprets Snaketown and its people) and Casa Grande Ruins (which has artifacts from Snaketown on display) are acceptable. For Honouliuli, a visit to the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai’i (the de facto visitor center) is acceptable. For Aleutian Islands World War II, a visit to the visitor center in Homer, or to the related site in Dutch Harbor, is acceptable.