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NPS Launching Wilderness Study At Wupatki National Monument

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By Compiled From N... - February 5th, 2023

The National Park Service is seeking public comment on a wilderness study at Wupatki National Monument/NPS file

More than a decade after determining that almost all of the acreage within Wupatki National Monument is eligible for wilderness designation, the National Park Service is seeking public comment on how much of the park should be proposed for wilderness designation.

The result of this study will develop an official proposal and recommendation for wilderness designation to the NPS director, the Department of the Interior, the president, and Congress.

The national monument protects ruins from an ancient civilization that cultivated a living from a site in present-day northern Arizona that evolved into a regional trading center of sorts before being abandoned after about 300 years. At the peak of its influence, Wupatki was "the tallest, largest, and perhaps the richest and most influential pueblo around," according to the National Park Service. "It was home to 85-100 people, and several thousand more lived within a day’s walk."

Back in 2012 the Park Service's wilderness eligibility assessment of the monument determined that approximately 34,194 acres (96.5 percent) of land within the monument was eligible for a formal wilderness study. Now the agency is embarking on a study to better define boundaries of a possible wilderness designation at Wupatki.

According to the agency, some lands in the eligibility determination include current, ongoing, or potential future nonconforming or incompatible uses such as roads, facilities, other infrastructure, and areas that accommodate monument operations. The study may find that:

• Some or all lands would be identified as Proposed Wilderness.

• Some or all lands would be identified as Proposed Potential Wilderness (based on nonconforming uses that can be mitigated).

• Some or all lands originally identified as eligible would retain their eligible status and would continue to be managed in accordance with NPS wilderness stewardship policies

• Some or all lands originally identified as eligible would be determined to be ineligible and would be subject to management pursuant to the NPS Organic Act.

The results of the study could generate a proposal of a combination of the bullets above.

You can find more details about the proposed wilderness study, and leave your comments, here.

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