Local
Chiricahua’s new national park designation brings attention to visitor capacity
The southeastern Arizona site is now the country’s 64th national park after President Donald Trump signed bipartisan legislation. Its boundaries will not change, but local leaders anticipate more visitors and the National Park Service has not said whether it will add staff.
Chiricahua, a roughly 12,000-acre protected area in Cochise County, became Arizona’s fourth national park Tuesday after President Donald Trump signed bipartisan legislation redesignating it from a national monument.
The park is known for hundreds of tall rock spires formed by an ancient volcanic eruption. Native peoples have called the area the Land of Standing-Up Rocks. It joins Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest and Saguaro national parks, and is the nation’s 64th national park.
The designation follows years of legislative work. Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly introduced an earlier proposal in 2021. Kelly and Sen. Ruben Gallego sponsored the latest Senate bill; Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani and Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton advanced the measure in the House, which passed it in March. The Senate approved it in September.
“Today is a historic day for Arizona,” Kelly said.
Chiricahua became a national monument in 1924 under President Calvin Coolidge. It receives about 60,000 visitors annually, and Willcox Mayor Greg Hancock said the new status could bring more business to the area. “More visitors can mean more customers for our hotels, restaurants and small businesses,” he said.
The park’s boundaries will remain unchanged. The new law also protects tribal access for traditional ceremonies on land that was once home to the Chiricahua Apache. Whether the National Park Service will add staff to accommodate any increase in visitors remains unclear; agency officials have not said if staffing will change.