Establishment of the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument

President Clinton established the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, reserving approximately 1,014,000 acres of federal land in Arizona under the Antiquities Act to protect scientific, historic, and biological resources. The proclamation bans off-road motorized and mechanized vehicle use, withdraws lands from mining and mineral leasing, and assigns cooperative management to the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service.

Federal Register Open PDF 65 FR 2825

Key directives

Establish Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument on approximately 1,014,000 acres
Prohibit all motorized and mechanized vehicle use off road except for emergency or authorized administrative purposes
Withdraw federal lands from all forms of entry, location, selection, sale, leasing under public land laws
Withdraw from location, entry, and patent under mining laws
Withdraw from disposition under mineral and geothermal leasing laws
Permit sale of vegetative material only as part of authorized science-based ecological restoration project
Secretary of the Interior to manage monument through BLM and NPS pursuant to applicable legal authorities
BLM and NPS shall manage cooperatively and prepare agreement to share resources necessary for proper management
NPS retains primary management authority over portion within Lake Mead National Recreation Area
BLM retains primary management authority over remaining portion
BLM to continue issuing and administering grazing leases within Lake Mead NRA portion
BLM grazing lease laws, regulations, policies to continue applying to remaining portion

Who is ordered

Timeline

Immediate

National monument designation takes effect
Lands withdrawn from entry, location, sale, leasing under public land laws
Off-road motorized/mechanized vehicle use prohibited
Mining and mineral leasing withdrawn

Near term (90d)

BLM and NPS to prepare cooperative management agreement

Long term

Ongoing cooperative management of monument
Potential land acquisition for non-federal inholdings

Risks & tensions

Potential conflict between monument protection and existing grazing leaseholders
Tension with mining and mineral extraction interests due to withdrawal
Cooperative management between BLM and NPS may create jurisdictional friction
State of Arizona retains fish and wildlife jurisdiction, creating overlapping authority
Non-federal inholdings remain outside monument until acquired
Water rights explicitly not reserved, requiring ongoing state-federal negotiation