Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

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Organ Pipe Cactus National Monuments
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
Organ Pipe & antler.jpg
Map showing the location of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monuments
Map showing the location of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monuments
Location Pima County, Arizona, USA
Nearest city Ajo, Arizona
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Area 330,688 acres (133,825 ha)[1]
Created April 13, 1937 (1937-April-13)
Visitors 211,405 (in 2011)[2]
Governing body National Park Service
http://www.nps.gov/orpi/
Short video showing panoramas from Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is a U.S. National Monument and UNESCO biosphere reserve located in extreme southern Arizona which shares a border with the Mexican state of Sonora. The park is the only place in the United States where the Organ Pipe Cactus grows wild. Along with Organ Pipe, many other types of cacti, as well as other desert flora native to the Yuma Desert section of the Sonoran Desert region grow here. The Park is a beautiful preservation of the American Southwest. Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is 517 square miles (1,338 square kilometers) in size. In 1976 the monument was declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, and in 1977 95% of Organ Pipe Cactus was declared a wilderness area.

Land for the Monument was donated by the Arizona state legislature to the federal government during Prohibition knowing that the north-south road would be improved and make contraband alcohol easier to import from Mexico.[citation needed] In 1937 the land was officially opened as a national monument.[3]

At the north entrance of the park is the city of Why, Arizona; the town of Lukeville, Arizona, sits at the park's southern border. Lukeville is a border crossing point to Sonoyta, Sonora, Mexico.

On August 9, 2002, Ranger Kris Eggle was shot and killed by a suspected Mexican drug smuggler during a United States Border Patrol operation. The visitor center has been named in his honor.

Gallery

  • An organ pipe cactus in the Monument

  • Hedgehog cactus and brittlebush in bloom at the National Monument

  • Sagaro Cactii at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.JPG

    The Monument is also home to many saguaro cacti

  • The Monument also contains a pair of natural arches

  • Map of Organ Pipe and its designated wilderness

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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