Our National Monuments: America’s Hidden Gems

Discover spectacular and less-traveled alternatives to bustling national parks with this superb coffee table book: the first photography book about the landscape-scale national monuments, including introductions from local conservationists and travel notes for each photograph. Winner of six national book awards. With the stroke of a pen, the president of the United States can proclaim a national monument. The Antiquities Act of 1906 was enacted to provide an expedited means to protect areas of natural or cultural significance. Since then, 16 presidents have used the Act to preserve some of America’ most treasured public lands and waters. In 2017, an unprecedented executive order was issued questioning these designations by calling for the review of 27 national monuments across 11 states and two oceans, opening the threat of development to vulnerable and irreplaceable natural resources. Our National Monuments , the first book of its kind, introduces these spectacular and unique landscapes at risk from the review. From the north woods of Maine to the cactus-filled deserts of Arizona, these national monuments include vast lands rivaling the national parks in beauty, diversity, and historical heritage. The critically important landscapes are often under the radar, with limited visitor information available, yet offer considerable opportunities for solitude and adventure compared to bustling national parks. QT Luong – one of the most prolific photographers working in America’s public lands and author of the best-selling and acclaimed photography book about the national parks, Treasured Lands – hiked and camped in the 22 land-based national monuments under review, aiming his lens at the grand vistas, archaeological wonders, and hidden delights along the way. Accompanying the collection of 300 scenic photographs is an invaluable guide that includes maps, descriptions of the author’s wide-ranging explorations and highlights for each of the monuments. Introductory essays from leaders and activists of 27 conservation associations provide the perspective of citizens caring for each of these national treasures. A foreword by former Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, as well as photographs of marine national monuments from Ansel Adams award-winning photographer Ian Shive round out this comprehensive portrayal of America’s hidden gems. Our National Monuments invites readers to experience for themselves these lands and learn about the people and cultures who came before – for whom these sites remain sacred places – with a renewed understanding of how these essential landscapes are preserving America’s past and shaping its future. National Outdoor Book Awards – Design & Artistic Merit Winner Foreword Indies Book of the Year – Coffee Table Books Gold Winner International Book Awards – Photography Winner National Indie Excellence Awards –  Photography Winner IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award – Art and Photography Silver Medal Nautilus Book Awards – Photography and Arts Silver Winner The areas in the book represent the vast majority of the large national monuments, including the following twenty-two national monuments on land: Basin and Range, Bears Ears, Berryessa Snow Mountain, Canyons of the Ancients, Carrizo Plain, Cascade Siskiyou, Craters of the Moon, Giant Sequoia, Gold Butte, Grand Canyon-Parashant, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Hanford Reach, Ironwood Forest, Katahdin Woods and Waters, Mojave Trails, Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks, Rio Grande del Norte, Sand to Snow,  San Gabriel Mountains, Sonoran Desert, Upper Missouri River Breaks, Vermilion Cliffs, and each of the five oceanic marine national monuments: Marianas Trench, Northeast Canyons and Seamounts, Pacific Remote Islands, Papahānaumokuākea, Rose Atoll.