Chiricahua National Monument redesignated as national park

Chiricahua National Monument is redesignated as Chiricahua National Park.

The announcement is dated October 2026.

Chiricahua was announced as a national monument in 1924. It is described as redesignated as a national park, with the announcement dated October 2026.

The area is identified as traditional lands of the Chiricahua Apache Nation. The Apache named the area The Land of the Standing-Up Rocks.

A volcano in what is now southeastern Arizona is listed at 27 million years ago.

Welded rhyolitic tuff deposits are listed at 1,600 feet and described as 3 times the Washington Monument height. The Washington Monument is listed as the height baseline.

Turkey Creek caldera is listed with measurements of 12 miles and 4,900 feet.

The park is listed with four biogeographic regions and 1,000 species. The Chiricahua Mountains are identified as sky islands in Arizona and are listed at 2,986 meters above sea level, with the National Park Service as the source for the highest point.

Rhyolite Canyon and Bonita Canyon are described as having rock pinnacles hundreds of feet tall. Big Balanced Rock is listed with large boulders perched on top, while Heart of Rocks and Massai Point are described as groups of hundreds.

Landsat 9 captured a cloud-free image. The U.S. Geological Survey is listed as the Landsat data provider, and NASA Earth Observatory published an image and story.

The facts list NASA Earth Observatory, Landsat 9, and the U.S. Geological Survey as Landsat data provider. For readers tracking the lunar industry, the relevance is simply that these NASA and U.S. Geological Survey image-related items appear in the same record as the park redesignation.