Landmark Decisions

IT’S A PRIVILEGE THAT COMES WITH THE WHITE HOUSE. BUT PRESERVING U.S. PROPERTY FOR HISTORY’S SAKE IS NO WALK IN THE PARK

SINCE 1906, presidents have used the Antiquities Act to designate 158 national monuments, covering over 700 million acres, to safeguard their natural or social history. That power has sparked disputes about federal overreach, and lands set aside by one president can always be changed by another—or by Congress.

1924 CRATERS OF THE MOON NATIONAL MONUMENT, IDAHO: Calvin Coolidge preserved this otherworldly site, formed by volcanic activity, at nearly 25,000 acres. Four presidents went on to shrink or enlarge it—most recently, Bill Clinton expanded it to over 750,000 acres.

1978 MISTY FJORDS NATIONAL MONUMENT, ALASKA: These fjords, shaped by glaciers and surrounded by sea cliffs thousands of feet tall, mark one of the 15 sites, covering 56 million acres, that Jimmy Carter named as national monuments in the state during his one term as president.

2006 AFRICAN BURIAL GROUND NATIONAL MONUMENT, NEW YORK: George W. Bush commemorated this site, the oldest known burial place for enslaved and free Africans in the country, in use from the 1630s to the 1790s. The area is estimated to contain over 15,000 skeletons.

1943 JACKSON HOLE NATIONAL MONUMENT, WYOMING: FDR’s protection of forests and lakes led to a legal clash with locals who opposed it as a land-grab. Congress reversed the designation; FDR vetoed the reversal. In 1950, the monument joined Grand Teton National Park.

1996 GRAND STAIRCASE-ESCALANTE NATIONAL MONUMENT, UTAH: Bill Clinton preserved this marvel of canyons, monoliths, arches and bridges, foiling plans for a coal mine. A 1998 federal law altered the monument’s borders; in 2017 Donald Trump shrank it by nearly 47%.

2012 CÉSAR E. CHÁVEZ NATIONAL MONUMENT, CALIFORNIA: Barack Obama created national monuments at several sites where civil rights movements were organized; first was the headquarters of the United Farm Workers union and the former home of its iconic organizer.