Walnut Canyon National Monument

Walnut Canyon National Monument was established to protect ancient cliff dwellings and associated cultural and natural resources. Within the monument, located east of Flagstaff in north-central Arizona, ecological communities overlap to create a rare compression of plant and animal communities. The monument and its surrounding lands contain hundreds of archeological sites dating mostly from 1000-early 1200s A.D. The sites are the remains of the Sinagua culture and include multi-room residential sites (both cliff dwellings and open-air pueblos), agricultural fields, rock art, and quarries. Walnut Canyon supports a diversity of plants and animals, including large ungulates, large predators (mountain lions and black bear), and numerous raptors (e.g., Mexican spotted owl, peregrine falcon, and northern goshawk).