Thanks for watching....<br />1) Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandelier_National_Monument<br />2) Admiralty Island National Monument, Alaska - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiralty_Island_National_Monument<br />3) Canyon de Chelly, Arizona - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canyon_de_Chelly_National_Monument<br />4) Craters of the Moon, Idaho - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craters_of_the_Moon_National_Monument_and_Preserve<br />5) Devil's Tower, Wyoming - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devils_Tower<br />6) Grand Staircase, Utah national monument, Utah - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Staircase-Escalante_National_Monument<br />7) John Day Fossil Beds, Oregon - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Day_Fossil_Beds_National_Monument<br />8) Mount St. Helens National Monument, Washington - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_St._Helens_National_Volcanic_Monument<br />9) Muir Woods, California - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muir_Woods_National_Monument<br /><br />Source:<br />http://www.sunset.com/travel/outdoor-adventure/top-national-monuments/canyon-de-chelley-national-monument<br /><br />A National Monument in the United States is a protected area that is similar to a National Park except that the President of the United States can declare an area of the United States to be a National Monument without the approval of Congress. However, areas within and extending beyond national parks, monuments, and national forests can be part of wilderness areas, which have an even greater degree of protection than a national park would alone, although wilderness areas managed by the United States Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management often allow hunting and grazing.<br /><br />National monuments can be managed by one of several federal agencies: the National Park Service, United States Forest Service, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, or Bureau of Land Management. Historically, some national monuments were managed by the War Department. National monuments can also be privately managed.<br /><br />National monuments can be so designated through the power of the Antiquities Act of 1906. President Theodore Roosevelt used the act to declare Devils Tower in Wyoming as the first national monument. He thought Congress was moving too slowly and it would be ruined by the time they made it a national park.<br /><br />The Antiquities Act of 1906 resulted from concerns about protecting mostly prehistoric Native American ruins and artifacts (collectively termed "antiquities") on federal lands in the American West.[citation needed] The Act authorized permits for legitimate archaeological investigations and penalties for taking or destroying antiquities without permission. Additionally, it authorized the President to proclaim "historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest" as national monuments, "the limits of which in all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected."<br /><br />The reference in the act to "objects of...scientific interest" enabled President Theodore Roosevelt to make a natural geological feature, Devils Tower, Wyoming, the first national monument three months later.[citation needed] Among the next three monuments he proclaimed in 1906 was Petrified Forest in Arizona, another natural feature. Congress later made into a national park.<br /><br />In 1908, Roosevelt used the act to proclaim more than 800,000 acres (3,200 km2) of the Grand Canyon as a national monument. In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Katmai National Monument in Alaska, comprising more than 1,000,000 acres (4,000 km2). Katmai was later enlarged to nearly 2,800,000 acres (11,000 km2) by subsequent Antiquities Act proclamations and for many years was the largest national park system unit. Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, and Katmai were among the many national monuments later converted to national parks by Congress.<br /><br />In response to Roosevelt's declaration of the Grand Canyon monument, a putative mining claimant sued in federal court, claiming that Roosevelt had overstepped the Antiquities Act authority by protecting an entire canyon. In 1920, the United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously t
