Grand Canyon–Parashant National Monument (sometimes referred to as Parashant National Monument) is located on the northern edge of the Grand Canyon in northwest Arizona, on the Arizona Strip. The monument was established by Presidential Proclamation 7265 on January 11, 2000.

Description

The national monument is a very remote and undeveloped place jointly managed by the National Park Service (NPS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). There are no paved roads into the monument and no visitor services. The 1,048,325 acre monument is larger than the state of Rhode Island. The BLM portion of the monument consists of 808747 acre. The NPS portion contains 208453 acre of lands that were previously part of Lake Mead National Recreation Area. There are also about 23205 acre of Arizona State Land Department lands and 7920 acre of private lands within the monument boundaries. Grand Canyon–Parashant is not considered a separate unit of the NPS because its NPS area is counted in Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Elevation ranges from 1230 ft above sea level near Grand Wash Bay at Lake Mead, to 8029 ft at Mount Trumbull. The Interagency Information Center is located in the BLM Office in St. George, Utah. The name Parashant is derived from the Paiute word Pawteh 'ee oasoasant, meaning "tanned elk hide," or "softening of the elk hide." There are a number of ruins of former Mormon settlements in the area, such as the Oak Grove Dairy.

Wilderness areas

Grand Canyon–Parashant includes the following wilderness areas:

Cave animals

So far, a 2005 expedition to examine 24 caves in the park has produced two new species of millipede, the first barklouse discovered in North America, a whole new genus of cricket and four new cricket species.