Grand Canyon National Park Foundation Document Overview
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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE • U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Foundation Document Overview Grand Canyon National Park Arizona Contact Information For more information about the Grand Canyon National Park Foundation Document, contact: [email protected] or (928) 638-7888 or write to: Superintendent, Grand Canyon National Park, PO Box 129, Grand Canyon, AZ 86023 Purpose Significance Significance statements express why Grand Canyon National Park resources and values are important enough to merit national park unit designation. Statements of significance describe why an area is important within a global, national, regional, and systemwide context. These statements are linked to the purpose of the park unit, and are supported by data, research, and consensus. Significance statements describe the distinctive nature of the park and inform management decisions, focusing efforts on preserving and protecting the most important resources and values of the park unit. • Grand Canyon, with its immense size, dramatic color, and extensive geologic record exposures, is one of the planet’s most iconic landscapes. • Grand Canyon National Park includes 277 miles of the Colorado River, which flows through and helped create the Grand Canyon. The Colorado River and its tributaries have shaped the complex natural and cultural histories of the park and surrounding region. • More than 1.1 million acres, or 94%, of Grand Canyon National Park is managed as wilderness and, when combined with contiguous public lands, represents one of the largest undeveloped areas in the United States. • The park’s dramatic topography and range in elevations provide diverse habitats for a vast array of life, including rare, endangered, and endemic species. GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK preserves and protects the natural • The human–Grand Canyon relationship has existed for and cultural resources and ecological at least 12,000 years, and the park contains thousands of and physical processes of the Grand cultural resources that reflect the long-term human use and Canyon along with its scenic, aesthetic, occupation of the area. and scientific values for the benefit • Eleven federally recognized tribes maintain strong and enjoyment of the public. historical, cultural, and spiritual connections to the area in and around the park. Fundamental Resources and Values Interpretive Themes Fundamental resources and values are those features, systems, Interpretive themes are often described as the key stories processes, experiences, stories, scenes, sounds, smells, or or concepts that visitors should understand after visiting other attributes determined to merit primary consideration a park—they define the most important ideas or concepts during planning and management processes because they are communicated to visitors about a park unit. Themes are essential to achieving the purpose of the park and maintaining derived from—and should reflect—park purpose, significance, its significance. resources, and values. The set of interpretive themes is complete when it provides the structure necessary for park staff • Inspirational Scenic Landscapes to develop opportunities for visitors to explore and relate to all of the park significances and fundamental resources and values. • Geologic Features and Processes • Inspiration • Biodiversity and Natural Processes • American Indian Connections • Diverse Recreational and Experiential Opportunities • Pioneer History and Park Development • Water Resources • Water • Cultural Resources and Tribal Values • Geology Grand Canyon National Park contains other resources and values that may not be fundamental to the purpose and • Biology significance of the park, but are important to consider in management and planning decisions. These are referred to as • Stewardship and Preservation other important resources and values. • Research • Partnerships • Wilderness Description Located on the southern end of the Colorado Plateau In recognition of its significant values, Grand Canyon in northern Arizona, Grand Canyon National Park is a National Park was designated as a World Heritage Site on globally significant resource containing scenic vistas known October 26, 1979. As a World Heritage Site, the Grand throughout the world. The 1,218,375-acre park is dominated Canyon is recognized as a place of universal value containing by the spectacular Grand Canyon, a twisting 277-mile-long superlative natural and cultural features that should be gorge with thousands of miles of side canyons that formed preserved as part of the heritage of all the world’s peoples. during six million years of geological activity and erosion by the Colorado River and its tributaries. Exposed geologic Grand Canyon’s spectacular scenery attracts visitors from all strata rising for more than a mile above the river represent over the world. Visitation to the park has averaged around one of the most complete geological records seen anywhere 4.5 million people per year and was 6 million people in on Earth. The park’s several major ecosystems range from 2016. Grand Canyon provides opportunities for a range the lower canyon’s Sonoran Desert to the North Rim’s of recreational experiences, from a paved-path walk to a coniferous forest and contribute to the park’s outstanding strenuous hike, backcountry expedition, or technical river biological diversity, which includes many rare, endangered, trip. The park also provides a broad spectrum of activities and endemic species. A significant concentration of cultural including rafting, hiking, sightseeing, and bicycling, to name a resources in the park reflects 12,000 years of human use few. Boundless opportunities exist to experience solitude and and occupation. Eleven American Indian tribes attach truly dark night skies in the backcountry of Grand Canyon substantial cultural significance to the canyon, the Colorado National Park. From the native peoples who have called these River, and various sites and resources within Grand canyons home to early European explorers, and modern-day Canyon’s landscape. Of these tribes, the Navajo, Havasupai, outdoor enthusiasts, philosophers, artists, poets, musicians, and Hualapai reservations share a boundary with the park. and photographers, the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River is spoken of as a sublime place of wonder, inspiration, and Grand Canyon is one of the earliest additions to the national spiritual power. park system. On January 11, 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt issued a To Salt Lake City ZION To Bryce Canyon N.P. 0 50 Kilometers proclamation setting NATIONAL GRAND STAIRCASE-ESCALANTE 17 PARK NATIONAL MONUMENT 0 50 Miles 18 aside 818,560 acres as 9 North GLEN CANYON NATIONAL St. George 9 RECREATION AREA Grand Canyon National 59 89 L. Powell UTAH Kanab Monument. In 1919, UTAH 93 KAIBAB INDIAN Fredonia ARIZONA Page NEVADA RESERVATION Congress established 389 VERMILION CLIFFS PIPE SPRING NATIONAL MONUMENT 89 the area as Grand 168 15 NATIONAL MONUMENT Jacob Lake ARIZONA Road closed in winter ALT Unpaved roads 89 Canyon National Park, r 169 are impassable e v when wet GRAND CANYON i R and, in 1927, the park To NATIONAL PARK o Tonopah 169 d GRAND CANYON– a was enlarged. In 1975, r o PARASHANT l 67 o NAVAJO INDIAN Las NATIONAL C Congress passed the 95 RESERVATION Vegas Lake MONUMENT Tuweep North Mead r Grand Canyon National ive Rim Pearce Ferry R 160 do ra Desert Park Enlargement Act, Henderson Grand Canyon o ol View Skywalk C Grand Canyon which added two adjacent LAKE MEAD Village Boulder NATIONAL Meadview Tusayan 64 national monuments, City RECREATION HAVASUPAI AREA INDIAN Cameron To 95 64 parts of Glen Canyon Barstow RESERVATION 89 HUALAPAI INDIAN and Lake Mead National Lake RESERVATION Mohave Valle WUPATKI 180 NATIONAL Recreational Areas, and CALIFORNIANEVADA 64 MONUMENT Hackberry Peach 93 other federal and state Springs 66 SUNSET CRATER VOLCANO Seligman NATIONAL MONUMENT lands to the existing Grand Williams 40 163 68 Canyon National Park. R Ash Fork Flagstaff Kingman WALNUT MOJAVE o NATIONAL d CANYON a 89 ALT PRESERVE r 40 N.M. o 89 l o C 66 Sedona Needles TUZIGOOT Topock NATIONAL MONUMENT To Los Angeles 179 C MONTEZUMA o 89A 260 l CASTLE o 93 r a NATIONAL d MONUMENT 95 o Prescott 69 17 R i 89 ve r To Phoenix Payson 71 Wickenburg 60 87 To Los Angeles 60 Blythe 10 95 Phoenix 10.