Colorado’s Black Canyon Is Centerpiece of Newest National Park

The U.S. gained its first new national park in five years Thursday as President Clinton signed a bill creating the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Colorado.

The centerpiece of the 30,000-acre park is a narrow canyon up to 2,900 feet deep and only 40 feet wide at its narrowest point. It is called the Black Canyon because sunlight reaches the canyon floor for only about an hour a day, said Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.), a park proponent.

The canyon, about 250 miles southwest of Denver, became a national monument in 1933. It is renowned for trout fishing in the Gunnison River, rock climbing on the sheer canyon walls and hiking in surrounding areas.

Clinton, in a statement, said it is “a true national treasure.”

“This bipartisan bill demonstrates once again that preserving our environment for future generations is a cause that transcends party lines,” Clinton said.

Black Canyon is the country’s 55th national park and the first new one since the creation in 1994 of Joshua Tree and Death Valley parks in California.