President Donald Trump signed legislation this week creating Chiricahua National Park, Arizona's fourth national park and the nation's newest, renewing questions about which site could be next in line for the designation. Trump signed 10 bills into law on Tuesday, including the Chiricahua National Park Act, which changes Chiricahua’s official status from a national monument to a national park, making it the nation's 64th national park. The law redesignates Chiricahua National Monument in Arizona as Chiricahua National Park and comes as conservation advocates and lawmakers continue to push for greater protections for public lands, while several other nationally significant sites have emerged as potential candidates for future national park designation.
Chiricahua National Park is in southeastern Arizona, 45 minutes south of Interstate 10 in Willcox. The NPS calls it a "hidden gem" on its website. The park is known for its impressive rock formations and mountain landscape rising between the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts.
Prior to obtaining national park status, Chiricahua was a national monument. The new law does not change the site's boundaries. Instead, the existing boundaries for the national monument are now considered national park boundaries.
Chiricahua National Park joins Arizona's three other national parks: Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest and Saguaro. The power to create a national park lies with Congress. In order for a park to be created, a bill must pass the House and Senate, then be signed into law by the president.
National monuments can also be created by presidential proclamation. The designation of a new national park has reignited conversations around where the next national park might emerge. Among these discussions are sites in Georgia, Pennsylvania/New Jersey and Idaho.
The strongest contender for the designation is Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park in Georgia. There is active legislation in Congress proposing to make the site into a national park. The Ocmulgee Mounds National Park Redesignation Act aims to do just that.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
