America's lost National Monuments

Abstract

The United States national park system currently consists of 423 units, but this does not include twenty-eight units removed from the system. Among those lost were eight western national monuments that included two caves, a fossil site, high mountain parks, desert buttes, and a Native Alaskan village. They were typical small monuments created to preserve historic or scientific features. After several decades each was removed from the park system. They are often seen as having been unworthy additions to the system. This study examines them in detail show that their worthiness was not fully assessed, and that their loss may have been premature. Comparing them to similar small monuments created at the same time shows that had these lost units survived longer they may have been developed and expanded, as were other units. They can be considered as lost opportunities in the history of the national park system.