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Period: 450 BCE to 1450 BCE
People of the Hohokam culture left their mark on what is now Saguaro National Park
.They gathered and hunted food and devised irrigation systems for farming. Designs carved and scraped into rocks are still visible. Today, the Tohono O’ Odham (desert People) continue to harvest ripe saguaro fruit using a pole called Kuipad fashioned from long saguaro ribs. From the bright red pulp, they make syrup, jelly, and wine. (NPS) -
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After many tries, the Petrified Forest National Monument was created
In 1851 Captain Lorenzo Sitgreaves was the first to have documented coming across Petrified wood in this region. In 1895 the Petrified Forest almost became a national park but congress turns the bill down. In 1905-1906 John Muir, a conservationist, explores this region and urged Theodore Roosevelt to protect this area since Muir had begun discovering fossils in this region. In 1906 the Petrified Forest National Monument was created by Roosevelt, due to the Antiquities Act. (NPS) -
President Ulysses S. Grant established Yellowstone as the first national park.
Although Yosemite was established first, it was a state park. The management of Yellowstone up to 1868 was a bit messy; they did not protect the land properly, and in 1868 the army took control of the park. After 50 years of management by the army, the National Park Service was established in 1916 to control parks like Yellowstone and better unify all of the national parks. (NPS:yellowstone) -
Devils Tower became the first national Monument
Devil's Tower National Monument, also called Grizzly Bear Lodge, was the first U.S. national monument and is located near the Belle Fourche River. It encompasses 2.1 square miles and features a natural rock tower, the remnant of a volcanic intrusion now exposed by erosion. (NPS) -
Mesa Verde National Park was established
Mesa Verde is located in southwestern Colorado and was created to preserve the cliff dwellings made by Pueblo Native Americans that lived during the 13th century. Many archaeological remains and oral stories were passed on through the years, allowing historians to understand more about their history since there are no written records for that period. (Jarus) -
Tonto National Forest was made
The forest produces about 350,000 acre/feet of water every year. Tonto has a history of producing copper, gold, silver, lead, zinc, uranium, and many other metals and minerals. The land of Tonto Forest had Native Americans who hunted and gathered plants along the rivers. Then the land became colonized. -
Glacier National Park is Created
There's evidence of humans using this area for over 10,00- years, but by the time the first European explorers came into this region, several different tribes inhabited the area. They are the Blackfeet Indians and the Salish and Kootenai Indians. By 1891, the completion of the Great Northern Railway sealed the area’s fate, allowing a greater number of people to enter into the heart of northwest Montana. Homesteaders settled in the valleys west of Marias Pass and soon small towns developed. (NPS) -
The Grand Canyon
President Woodrow Wilson made the Grand Canyon a national park. He did this to protect the land and the resources in it. This was followed by Theodore Roosevelt visiting the canyon in 1903, and him making it a national monument in 1908. -
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The Great Depression and National Parks
In 1933, the country was in the middle of the Great Depression. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt tried to help out the millions of people without jobs, and put the unemployed to work through the Civilian Conservation Corps, while also conserving the country’s resources. The newly employed men were sent across the country, planted billions of trees, fought wildfires, and built roads and trails in parks such as Shenandoah and Glacier National Parks. (US Department of Interior) -
Tuzigoot becomes a National Monument
The Tuzigoot national monument was built and lived in by the Sinagua people. The pueblo at Tuzigoot consists of over a hundred rooms and was probably home to several hundred people for several hundred years. Those people left sometime in the 1300s, but it still stands today. (NPS) -
Everglades National Park was established
With the support of many early conservationists, scientists, and other advocates, Everglades National Park was established in 1947 to conserve the natural landscape and prevent further degradation of its land, plants, and animals. They did this because, in the early 1900s', the drainage process to transform wetlands into land ready to be developed was underway, and the results were terrible for the ecosystem subsisting there. (NPS: everglade) -
Saguaro National Park
The Saguaro National Park was created by President Herbert Hoover in 1933 and congress made it a national park in 1994. It involves many cultures that called the area home over thousands of years, including the Hohokam and Tohono O’ Odham. Archeologists' finds in the Rincon Mountain District of Saguaro National Park show that Hohokam villages existed there for about 600 years; along Rincon Creek and its tributary washes. Then, during the 15th century, the Hohokam culture simply disappeared. -
1864: The birth of the national park idea
The birth of the national park idea. This can be traced back to 1864 when Congress and President Lincoln set aside Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, which later became Yosemite National Park in California. This is important because this was the first time that the federal government protected land. The meaning was because of its natural beauty, and they wanted people to enjoy it. (US Department of Interior) -
Death Valley was established as a park
Named that due to the scorching heat nearly and sometimes successfully killing 49’ers on their way to California for the gold rush. Death Valley is best known for its ghost towns and mines, all set up by 49ers who decided to stay there and set up towns to mine in that area. (NPS: death valley) -
White Sands National Park FINALLY becomes a National Park
Although the dune field has been here for 7,000-10,000 years, the dunes have not always been protected as a national monument. It took thirty-five years and numerous attempts to finally get it to a national park. It also houses the oldest human fossilized footprint, with the years set at 23,000 to 21,000 years old.