Petrified Forest National Park
Petrified Forest National Park is a unique national park located in Apache and Navajo Counties, Arizona, covering an area of 150,000 acres. Established as a national monument in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt and later designated a national park in 1962, it has a rich geological, ecological, and archaeological history. The park features the fascinating fossilized remains of ancient trees that date back approximately 211 to 218 million years, providing insight into Earth's prehistoric past. Visitors can explore diverse landscapes primarily characterized by short-grass prairie and semiarid grassland within the Painted Desert, known for its striking visual beauty and wildlife.
The park is home to over 287 species of plants and animals, including various mammals, reptiles, and birds, making it a popular destination for nature enthusiasts. Hiking, bicycling, horseback riding, and geocaching opportunities allow visitors to engage with the park's natural features, while archaeological sites, petroglyphs, and the Rainbow Forest Museum showcase its rich human history. With an annual visitation of around 800,000, the park is particularly vibrant during the summer and autumn months, offering a range of outdoor activities amidst its scenic vistas. The area has been inhabited for thousands of years, with deep cultural connections to modern Native American tribes, including the Navajo and Hopi.
Petrified Forest National Park
Park Information
- Date Established: 1962
- Location: Apache and Navajo Counties, Arizona
- Area: 150,000 acres
Overview
Petrified Forest National Park is a US national park in Arizona. President Theodore Roosevelt created Petrified Forest National Monument in December 1906. It was designated a national park in 1962. Legislation more than doubled the park’s size in 2004.
The park is known for its archaeological significance and history, as well as its ecology, geology, and paleontology. The 150,000-acre park is contained within the Painted Desert, but is primarily short-grass prairie and semiarid grassland. The park experiences wet seasons and, in winter, some snow. It contains an abundance of wildlife and scenic vistas.
The park is home to numerous amphibians, birds, invertebrates, mammals, and reptiles. An August 2014 three-day count of species conducted in one area of the park identified 287 species of plants and animals.
The park includes many hiking trails and roads that offer scenic vistas of the Painted Desert and opportunities to view wildlife. The park is visited by more than five hundred thousand people a year who can enjoy backpacking, bicycling, horseback riding, and geocaching. Campsites are not available in the park but are located nearby. While most visitors experience the park during the summer, autumn is also popular. Average high temperatures in July are 92 degrees Fahrenheit (33 degrees Celsius), with lows averaging 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius).
History
Hundreds of millions of years ago, North America was part of the continent of Pangaea. The land was wet, with rivers and streams flowing across the low country, and vegetation flourished. To the west, volcanoes unleashed ash, which was carried through the atmosphere to drift onto the rivers and forests. As trees along the waterways died and were carried downriver, many were buried within the channels. While some decomposed, others were preserved under layers of ash and other sediment. These logs petrified, becoming the fossils for which Petrified Forest National Park is known.
Humans have occupied and worked in the area of the Petrified Forest National Park for thirteen thousand years. Ancestors of some modern Native American tribes in the Southwest include prehistoric Anasazi, Mogollon, and Hohokam cultures. The Paleo people lived in the region at the end of the last ice age. This Paleo-Indian era began about 13,500 BCE and ended about 8,000 BCE. The climate was cooler, and the grasslands were green. Many types of plants that later became extinct thrived in the climate. Many large species of wildlife shared space with the Paleo people, but also eventually became extinct and were replaced by smaller animals. The Paleo people, who left few artifacts, hunted large varieties of bison and other animals.
The climate slowly became warmer and drier during the Archaic period, from 8,000 to 500 BCE. Many species died out or moved to more hospitable regions, while other plant life and smaller animals gained a foothold. Humans began to farm crops such as corn, becoming less nomadic. This trend continued from 500 BCE to 650 CE. Humans moved from the high mesas to lower ground, where the fertile soil was suited to farming, and expanded their crops. Humans developed basket weaving, simple pottery, and the bow and arrow. They created petroglyphs showing these tools as well as humans and animals.
Human settlements became larger and more advanced from 650 to 950 CE. Villages included dwellings and storage structures. Multilevel structures were built from 950 to 1300 CE. Communities developed and heavily used trade routes. Settlements advanced further from 1300 to 1450 CE, with pueblos comprising hundreds of rooms. The Pueblo people disappeared from the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest area by 1450, probably because of a lengthy drought. Modern residents include the Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni, descendants of the Pueblo people.
Geology and Ecology
More than one thousand archaeological sites have been found in the Painted Desert, including many in the Petrified Forest, although less than half of the national park has been surveyed. Settlements ranging from single shelters to structures that housed hundreds of people have been found in the park. Archaeologists have also found more ancient artifacts, including small dinosaur fossils and fossils of fish, sharks, crustaceans, insects, and many other creatures. At least five species of extinct petrified trees have been identified in the park. The fossilized trees date back about 211 to 218 million years.
About eight hundred thousand people visit Petrified Forest National Park annually. Visitors to the park may view fossils as well as more modern artifacts, including pottery, petroglyphs, and stone and bone tools, in the Rainbow Forest Museum in the park. Many hiking trails, such as the Newspaper Rock walk, include views of hundreds of petroglyphs. Visitors may also visit the archaeological site at Puerco Pueblo, a village that was home to up to two hundred people about six hundred years ago.
Nature is a significant draw of the park. Wildflowers bloom from March through October, and the greenest part of the year is during the monsoon season, which runs July through September. Plant life ranges from cacti to trees and shrubs. Bird enthusiasts seek raptors, songbirds, and ground birds. Species include western tanagers, meadowlarks, golden eagles, owls, and hermit warblers. Because of high summer temperatures during daylight hours, many creatures of the park are nocturnal. Wildlife includes bobcats, coyotes, and foxes, as well as mule deer, pronghorn, raccoons, badgers, several species of bats, Gunnison’s prairie dogs, and Ord’s kangaroo rats. Some reptiles found in the park include milk snakes and common kingsnakes, the ornate box turtle, and a variety of lizards including the eastern collared lizard, the sagebrush lizard, and the New Mexico whiptail. Despite the dry conditions, the park is also home to some amphibians, such as the spadefoot toad. This amphibian spends most of its life in burrows underground, only emerging during the monsoon season to mate.
Visitors to the park enjoy backpacking, bicycling, horseback riding, and geocaching. Geocaching is made available inside the park by the National Park Service. It is a game in which guests to the park are given geographical coordinates of a cache of items that they search for with a global-positioning system (GPS) device. Some of the physical geocaches in the park are found in the section containing the Historic Route 66, a road that ran more than two thousand miles from Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles, California. Petrified Forest National Park is the only national park that contains a section of this historic highway.
Bibliography
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“Science and Research.” National Park Service, 8 Apr. 2018, www.nps.gov/pefo/learn/scienceresearch.htm. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.
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