Antiquities Act 1906 nps/history/history/hisnps/npshistory/antiq.htm

1. Antiquities Act 1906http://www.nps.gov/history/history/hisnps/npshistory/antiq.htm The Antiquities Act of 1906 resulted from concerns about protecting mostly prehistoric Indian ruins and artifacts-collectively termed "antiquities "-on federal lands in the West. It authorized permits for legitimate archeological investigations and penalties for persons taking or destroying antiquities without permission. And it authorized presidents to proclaim "historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest" as national monuments-"the limits of which in all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected."

2. The bill's sponsors originally expected that national monuments would be proclaimed to protect prehistoric cultural features, or antiquities, in the Southwest and that they would be small. Yet the reference in the act to "objects of ... scientific interest" enabled President Theodore Roosevelt to make a natural geological feature, Devils Tower, Wyoming, the first national monument three months later.

3. President Roosevelt continued to interpret the provisions of the Antiquities Act broadly. In 1908 Roosevelt again used the act to proclaim more than 800,000 acres of the Grand Canyon as a national monument-a very big "object of scientific interest."

4. Although the provisions of the Antiquities Act have remained largely unchanged since 1906, they have been broadly interpreted to include both large and small areas, containing a diverse array of cultural and scientific features. The Antiquities Act has become much more than a way to protect antiquities. It has become an effective means for Presidents seeking to protect public lands that faced immediate threats.

5. NATIONAL MONUMENTS While most national monuments have been established by presidential proclamation under the Antiquities Act of 1906, Congress also has the authority to establish monuments and has done so 38 times. Congressional establishment of a national monument can take years, from the first introduction of the special authorizing legislation to the final enactment. Though the procedure is not rapid enough to respond to immediate threats to public land, it reflects Congress' determination to exercise its responsibility for approving additions to the national park system.

6. The National Park Service has responsibility for administering most of the national monuments, but some are managed by other federal agencies.

7. William Howard Taft 7/31/09 Mukuntuweap, UT Woodrow Wilson7/31/09 Mukuntuweap, UT 1/22/37 Zion, UT Warren G. Harding 6/8/23 Bryce Canyon, UT Herbert Hoover4/12/29 Arches, UT Franklin D. Roosevelt8/2/37 Capitol Reef, UT established in 1964William J. Clinton9/18/96 Grand Staircase-Escalante, UT*

8. http://www.canyonlands.national-park.com/ Geology Canyonlands National Park is a showcase of geology. While this area has diverse ecosystems and is rich in history, geologic processes have played the most important part in shaping Canyonlands. The arid climate and sparse vegetation allow the exposure of large expanses of bare rock, and the great canyons of the Colorado and Green Rivers reveal 300 million years of geologic history. Geologic History Canyonlands is located within a geologic region called the Colorado Plateau. It is a great section of continental crust that has endured millions of years of rock building and erosion. Advancing and retreating oceans left thick deposits of beach sands and marine limestones. Great river systems moved tons of sediment from ancient eroding mountain ranges such as the Ancestral Rockies (forerunners of today's Rocky Mountains) and deposited that sediment in low-lying areas. Buried sediment became solid rock as pressure from overlying layers and filtering water cemented them. After millions of years of predominantly rock-building processes, the erosion that continues today began. Roughly 10 million years ago, plates in the Earth's crust moved in such a way that the western edge of the continent began to rise. The slowly rising land mass, including the Colorado Plateau, became higher and therefore more susceptible to erosion Newly elevated highlands captured rain and snowfall and gave birth to the Colorado River system. The uplifting land caused rivers to down-cut more rapidly, entrenching themselves in solid rock. The results are the 2,000 foot deep canyons of the Colorado and Green Rivers cutting through the heart of Canyonlands.