![]() However, most of the lands surrounding the park are privately owned, and Congress did not appropriate funds to purchase those lands. Bush signed a bill expanding the park by about 125,000 acres. Though that effort failed, President Theodore Roosevelt set the area aside as a national monument, and in 1962 the monument was finally designated Petrified Forest National Park. At the request of local residents and businessmen, the Arizona territorial legislature petitioned Congress in 1895 to designate the area as a national park. ![]() Local residents became alarmed that if petrified wood became scarce, tourists would no longer visit and a significant source of income would be lost. They also began to collect souvenirs of petrified wood to take home, and soon after, entrepreneurs began collecting and selling large amounts of colorful petrified wood. While the northern portion offers sweeping views of the Painted Desert, the majority of the petrified logs and developed trails are in the southern section of the park (the south entrance is about 19 miles east of Holbrook on Highway 180).Īs the transcontinental railroad crossed northern Arizona for the first time, tourists began to explore the region. Be sure to stop at the Painted Desert Visitor Center for exhibits and a 20-minute orientation video. The north entrance is about 25 miles east of Holbrook, Arizona on Insterstate 40. In the 1930s, visitors to the Petrified Forest began to report that after taking a piece of petrified wood from the park, they were seemingly cursed with bad. You can access this geologic wonderland via two entrances, connected by a 28-mile road through the park's middle. Triassic Park might be a better name for Petrified Forest National Park given that the petrified trees, fossils, and technicolor landforms were originally created during the Triassic Period, about 225 million years ago. Today, you can enjoy over 52,000 acres of designated wilderness visit the Painted Desert, a restored pueblo, and a protected section of historic Route 66 and learn about the conditions that created this astounding collection of fossilized plants and animals. White Mesa Cultural and Conservation AreaĪrizona’s Petrified Forest is as a treasure chest of fossilized wood, with glitter-like jewels scattered across the Painted Desert.ĭeclared one of the nation’s first national monuments in 1906, it received park status more than 50 years later.Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni Grand Canyon.
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