Chiricahua is the nation’s newest national park – what does that mean?

Photo: Chiricahua National Park in Arizona. Attribution: “Chiricahua National Monument, Arizona, USA” by Domenico Convertini via Flickr. CC BY-SA 2.0. Article by Seth T. Kannarr. The Conversation – October 21, 2026.

With a stroke of a pen, President Donald Trump has officially created the United States’ 64th national park. Chiricahua, in southeastern Arizona, was established as a national monument in April 1924 to protect its towering rhyolite hoodoos – tall spires of rock – and diversity of wildlife. The mountainous landscape is commonly known as a “wonderland of rocks.” An act of Congress, signed by Trump, has now designated the 12,000-acre property a national park, the flagship label of the National Park Service system. It joins the Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest and Saguaro as the fourth national park in Arizona. […]

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