List of proposed National Monuments of the United States

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.^[1]

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".^[2] These areas are included in the list of proposed National Monuments in the next section and marked with a blue-green background.

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 nearm term" and "cost estimates" of "high priority land-rationalization efforts" were listed.^[2]

Proposed National Monuments

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

Proposed Name	Photo	Location	Area [note 1]	Status	External information
Bears Ears[note 2]		Utah Map	1,900,000 acres (770,000 ha)	Petition by five tribes on October 15, 2015	Bears Ears Coalition
Bodie Hills		California
Birthplace of Rivers		West Virginia Map	122,000 acres (49,000 ha)[3]	Petition by Keen	BirthplaceofRivers.org West Virginia Rivers Coalition Video by Pew & This American Land
Expansion of Cascade-Siskiyou[note 3]		California
Cedar Mesa region		Utah Map	256,000 acres (104,000 ha)	see Bears Ears [note 2]	Utah Public Lands Initiative with ArcGIS map
Greater Canyonlands[note 3]	Upper Comb Wash in Greater Canyonlands	Utah Map Threats	1,800,000 acres (730,000 ha)[4]	see also Bears Ears[note 2]	Greater Canyonlands Coalition Utah Public Lands Initiative with ArcGIS map
Gold Butte [5]		Nevada Map ACEC Map	350,000 acres (140,000 ha)	Pending legislation [6] Petition by Keen	Friends of Gold Butte Friends of Nevada Wilderness Video by Pew & This American Land
Greater Grand Canyon Heritage [7]		Arizona map	1,700,000 acres (690,000 ha)	Pending legislation [8]	Greater Grand Canyon Watershed Grand Canyon Waters, at the Abyss (New York Times)
Heart of the Great Basin		Nevada
Lesser Prairie Chicken Preserve		New Mexico	58,000 acres (23,000 ha)	as of February 2010
Maine Woods[4]		Maine Map	3,200,000 acres (1,300,000 ha)		Maine Woods Coalition RESTORE the North Woods National Resources Council of Maine
Montana's Northern Prairie		Montana	2,500,000 acres (1,000,000 ha)
Northwest Sonoran Desert		Arizona	500,000 acres (200,000 ha)	as of April 2012
Otero Mesa		New Mexico	1,200,000 acres (490,000 ha)	as of February 2010
Owyhee Canyonlands[note 3]		Oregon	2,100,000 acres (850,000 ha)[4]		Oregon Natural Desert Association
Owyhee Desert		Oregon/Nevada
San Rafael Swell		Utah		as of 2013	Utah Public Lands Initiative with ArcGIS map
The Modoc Plateau		California	3,000,000 acres (1,200,000 ha)[9]		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 eligible to be listed above, because they are protected somehow now, e.g. as National Monument, National Park or Wilderness Area in the National Wilderness Preservation System. Some reasons for nevertheless keeping them in the following list might be:

• The proposed area is now included in another, larger area which is protected meanwhile. (Symbol: )
• A smaller part of the originally proposed area is now protected. (Symbol: )
• The area was officially proposed for monument designation by a federal or state agency or department, e.g. in the memorandum mentioned above, and is finally protected now. Those entries are marked with a blue-green background. (Symbol: )

Proposed Name	Photo	Location	Area [note 1]	Status	External information
Berryessa Snow Mountains		California	330,780 acres (133,860 ha)	July 15, 2015	U.S. Forest Service
Boulder-White Clouds		Idaho	570,000 acres (230,000 ha)[4]	August 7, 2015 [note 4]	BoulderWhiteClouds.org The Wilderness Society
Rocky Mountain Front[4]		Montana Map	275,000 acres (111,000 ha)	December 19, 2014 [10] [note 5]	Save the Front
San Juan Islands		Washington Map	1,000 acres (400 ha)	March 25, 2013	Bureau of Land Management

Notes

1. Area according to the memorandum if included there, otherwise according to the campaign website or the official area if the National Monument has been established meanwhile.
2. The proposed Bears Ears National Monuments includes most of the proposed Cedar Mesa region National Monument and the southern part of the proposed Greater Canyonlands National Monument.
3. Links to the protected area which will be extended
4. A smaller area than the proposed National Monument was designated as wilderness in August 2015
5. Instead of a National Monument designation the "Rocky Mountain Front Conservation Management Area" was established and 67,112 acres of land were designated as additions to existing components of the "National Wilderness Preservation System" in the Lewis and Clark National Forest.

References

1. 16 U.S.C. § 431 § 432, and § 433. U.S. Code collection. Cornell University Law School. Retrieved on 11 February 2009.
2. "Prospective Conservation Designation: National Monument designation under the Antiquities Act" (PDF). Congressman Rob Bishop's House.gov website. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
3. Graham Averill (9 September 2013). "Will Birthplace of Rivers Be West Virginia's First National Monument?". Blueridgeoutdoors.com. Retrieved March 19, 2016.
4. Wuerthner, Georg (6 June 2014). "A Tentative List of Potential National Monuments". The Wildlife News. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
5. Burr, Thomas (30 July 2014). "12 most likely places Obama may make a national monument". Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
6. Reid, Harry (20 January 2015). "Gold Butte National Conservation Area Act". congress.gov.
7. Clark, Roger (14 October 2015). "3 Things about the New Grand Canyon National Monument". Grand Canyon Trust. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
8. Grijalva, Raul (3 November 2015). "Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument Act". congress.gov.
9. Wuerthner, George (19 February 2010). "Wuerthner re: Obama's New National Monuments - Native Forest Council". Native Forest Council. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
10. "Joint press statement from members of the Coalition to Protect the Rocky Mountain Front on passage of the Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act". Save the Front. 12 December 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2016.