Global InformationPetrified Forest National Park information
| Petrified Forest National Park | |
|---|---|
IUCN category II (national park) | |
 The Tepees | |
  Location of Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. Inset: Arizona in the U.S. | |
| Location | Arizona, United States |
| Nearest city | Holbrook |
| Coordinates | 35°05′17″N 109°48′23″W / 35.08806°N 109.80639°W |
| Area | 221,391 acres (895.94 km2)[1] |
| Elevation | 5,436 ft (1,657 m)[2] |
| Established |
|
| Named for | Petrified wood found in the park |
| Visitors | 644,922 (in 2018)[5][6] |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
| Website | Petrified Forest National Park |
Petrified Forest National Park is an American national park in Navajo and Apache counties in northeastern Arizona. Named for its large deposits of petrified wood, the park covers about 346 square miles (900 square kilometers), encompassing semi-desert shrub steppe as well as highly eroded and colorful badlands. The park's headquarters is about 26 miles (42 km) east of Holbrook along Interstate 40 (I-40), which parallels the BNSF Railway's Southern Transcon, the Puerco River, and historic U.S. Route 66, all crossing the park roughly east–west. The site, the northern part of which extends into the Painted Desert, was declared a national monument in 1906 and a national park in 1962. The park received 644,922 recreational visitors in 2018.
Averaging about 5,400 feet (1,600 m) in elevation, the park has a dry windy climate with temperatures that vary from summer highs of about 100 °F (38 °C) to winter lows well below freezing. More than 400 species of plants, dominated by grasses such as bunchgrass, blue grama, and sacaton, are found in the park. Fauna include larger animals such as pronghorns, coyotes, and bobcats; many smaller animals, such as deer mice, snakes, lizards, and seven kinds of amphibians; and more than 200 species of birds, some of which are permanent residents and many of which are migratory. About one third of the park is designated wilderness—50,260 acres (79 sq mi; 203 km2).[7]
The Petrified Forest is known for its fossils, especially fallen trees that lived in the Late Triassic Epoch, about 225 million years ago. The sediments containing the fossil logs are part of the widespread and colorful Chinle Formation, from which the Painted Desert gets its name. Beginning about 60 million years ago, the Colorado Plateau, of which the park is part, was pushed upward by tectonic forces and exposed to increased erosion. All of the park's rock layers above the Chinle, except geologically recent ones found in parts of the park, have been removed by wind and water. In addition to petrified logs, fossils found in the park have included Late Triassic ferns, cycads, ginkgoes, and many other plants as well as fauna including giant reptiles called phytosaurs, large amphibians, and early dinosaurs. Paleontologists have been unearthing and studying the park's fossils since the early 20th century.
The park's earliest human inhabitants arrived 13,000 years ago.[8] These Clovis-era people are the ancestors of Native Americans.[9][10] By about 2,500 years ago Ancestral Pueblo farmers were growing corn and living in subterranean pit houses in what would become the park.[11] By one-thousand years ago Ancestral Pueblo farmers lived in above-ground, masonry dwellings called pueblos and gathered in large communal buildings called great kivas.[12] By AD 1450 Ancestral Pueblo farmers in the Petrified Forest migrated to join rapidly growing communities on the Hopi Mesas to the northwest and the Pueblo of Zuni to the east–these locations are still home to thousands of descendant community members today.[13] More than 1000 archeological sites, including petroglyphs, have been discovered in the park. These ancestral places remain important to descendant communities. In the 16th century, Spanish explorers visited the area, and by the mid-19th century a U.S. team had surveyed an east–west route through the area where the park is now located and noted the petrified wood.[14] Later, roads and a railway followed similar routes and gave rise to tourism and, before the park was protected, to large-scale removal of fossils. Theft of petrified wood remains a problem in the 21st century.
- ^ "Park Acreage Reports (1997 – Last Calendar/Fiscal Year)" (PDF). National Park Service, Land Resources Division. September 30, 2019. p. 11. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
select 'By Park'/'Fiscal Year'/'2020' in report popup window
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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NPS historywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "NPS Stats, Park Reports: PEFO". National Park Service. 2016. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
- ^ "NPS Annual Recreation Visits Report". National Park Service. Retrieved March 11, 2018.
- ^ "Petrified Forest National Wilderness Area". Wilderness.net. Archived from the original on May 18, 2013. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
- ^ HAYNES, C. VANCE (2011-03-01). "Distribution of Clovis Points in Arizona and the Clovis Exploration of the State, 11,000 B.c.". KIVA. 76 (3): 343–367. doi:10.1179/kiv.2011.76.3.004. ISSN 0023-1940. S2CID 127475017.
- ^ Wade, Lizzie (2018-11-09). "Ancient DNA tracks migrations around Americas". Science. 362 (6415): 627–628. Bibcode:2018Sci...362..627W. doi:10.1126/science.362.6415.627. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 30409866. S2CID 53238432.
- ^ Rasmussen, Morten; Anzick, Sarah L.; Waters, Michael R.; Skoglund, Pontus; DeGiorgio, Michael; Stafford, Thomas W.; Rasmussen, Simon; Moltke, Ida; Albrechtsen, Anders; Doyle, Shane M.; Poznik, G. David; Gudmundsdottir, Valborg; Yadav, Rachita; Malaspinas, Anna-Sapfo; V, Samuel Stockton White (February 2014). "The genome of a Late Pleistocene human from a Clovis burial site in western Montana". Nature. 506 (7487): 225–229. Bibcode:2014Natur.506..225R. doi:10.1038/nature13025. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 4878442. PMID 24522598.
- ^ "Basketmaker II: Birth of Pueblo Culture | Peoples of Mesa Verde". www.crowcanyon.org. Retrieved 2023-02-11.
- ^ yongli (2016-03-04). "Kivas". coloradoencyclopedia.org. Retrieved 2023-02-11.
- ^ Bernardini, Wesley; Koyiyumptewa, Stewart B.; Schachner, Gregson; Kuwanwisiwma, Leigh J. (2021-07-06). Becoming Hopi: A History. University of Arizona Press. ISBN 978-0-8165-4234-5.
- ^ Forest, Mailing Address: Petrified Forest National Park P. O. Box 2217 Attn : Petrified; Us, AZ 86028-2217 Phone: 928 524-6228 Contact. "Explorers and Settlers - Petrified Forest National Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2023-02-11.
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