Colorado Plateau - Protected Lands

Protected Lands

This relatively high semi-arid province produces many distinctive erosional features such as arches, arroyos, canyons, cliffs, fins, natural bridges, pinnacles, hoodoos, and monoliths that, in various places and extents, have been protected. Also protected are areas of historic or cultural significance, such as the pueblos of the Anasazi culture. There are nine U.S. National Parks, a National Historical Park, sixteen U.S. National Monuments and dozens of wilderness areas in the province along with millions of acres in U.S. National Forests, many state parks, and other protected lands. In fact, this region has the highest concentration of parklands in North America. Lake Powell, in foreground, is not a natural lake but a reservoir impounded by Glen Canyon Dam.

National parks (from south to north to south clockwise):

  • Petrified Forest National Park
  • Grand Canyon National Park
  • Zion National Park
  • Bryce Canyon National Park
  • Capitol Reef National Park
  • Canyonlands National Park
  • Arches National Park
  • Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
  • Mesa Verde National Park
  • Chaco Culture National Historical Park

National Monuments (alphabetical):

  • Aztec Ruins National Monument
  • Canyon De Chelly National Monument
  • Canyons of the Ancients National Monument
  • Cedar Breaks National Monument
  • Colorado National Monument
  • Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument
  • Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
  • El Malpais National Monument
  • El Morro National Monument
  • Hovenweep National Monument
  • Navajo National Monument
  • Natural Bridges National Monument
  • Rainbow Bridge National Monument
  • Sunset Crater National Monument
  • Vermilion Cliffs National Monument
  • Walnut Canyon National Monument
  • Wupatki National Monument

Wilderness areas:

  • Kachina Peaks Wilderness
  • Strawberry Crater Wilderness
  • Kendrick Mountain Wilderness
  • Beaver Dam Mountains Wilderness
  • Paiute Wilderness
  • Grand Wash Cliffs Wilderness
  • Mount Logan Wilderness
  • Mount Trumbull Wilderness
  • Kanab Creek Wilderness
  • Cottonwood Point Wilderness
  • Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness
  • Saddle Mountain Wilderness
  • Mount Baldy Wilderness
  • Escudilla Wilderness
  • Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness
  • Flat Tops Wilderness
  • Uncompahgre Wilderness
  • Mount Sneffels Wilderness
  • Lizard Head Wilderness
  • Weminuche Wilderness
  • South San Juan Wilderness
  • Cebolla Wilderness
  • Ojito Wilderness
  • West Malpais Wilderness
  • Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness
  • Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness
  • Ashdown Gorge Wilderness
  • Box-Death Hollow Wilderness
  • Dark Canyon Wilderness
  • High Uintas Wilderness

Other notable protected areas include: Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Dead Horse Point State Park, Goosenecks State Park, the San Rafael Swell, the Grand Gulch Primitive Area, Kodachrome Basin State Park, Goblin Valley State Park and Barringer Crater.

Sedona, Arizona and Oak Creek Canyon lie on the south-central border of the Plateau. Many but not all of the Sedona area's cliff formations are protected as wilderness. The area has the visual appeal of a national park, but with a small, rapidly growing town in the center.

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