Monumental Decisions

Since taking office, President Clinton has created nine national monuments and has expanded one:

* Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, in Four Corners area of Colorado. 164,000 acres. Contains highest known density of archeological sites in the United States. Created June 9, 2000.

* Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, in southern Oregon. 52,000 acres. At the convergence of Klamath and Cascade mountains, it is one of America’s most biologically diverse areas. Created June 9, 2000.

* Hanford Reach National Monument, eastern Washington. 195,000 acres. Along last free-flowing U.S. stretch of Columbia River, it provides spawning habitat for chinook salmon. Created June 9, 2000.

* Ironwood Forest National Monument, near Tucson, Ariz. 129,000 acres. Contains stands of ironwood trees, which can live more than 800 years, and many species of desert wildlife. Created June 9, 2000.

* Giant Sequoia National Monument, located north and south of California’s Sequoia National Park. 328,000 acres. Protects 34 groves of ancient sequoias, which are among the largest trees on earth. Created April 15, 2000.

* Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument. One million acres of deep canyons, mountains and buttes on North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Created Jan. 11, 2000.

* Agua Fria National Monument, north of Phoenix. 71,100 acres. Contains extensive prehistoric ruins including petroglyphs, terraced agricultural areas and rock pueblos. Created Jan. 11, 2000.

* California Coastal National Monument. Thousands of islands, rocks and reefs along the 840-mile California coast with habitat for imperiled wildlife, including the brown pelican and Steller sea lion. Created Jan. 11, 2000.

* Pinnacles National Monument, south of San Jose, Calif. A 7,900-acre expansion to the existing 16,300-acre Pinnacles National Monument, which contains unusual rock formations and wildlife, including golden eagles. Created Jan. 11, 2000.

* Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, in southern Utah. 1.7 million acres. Contains labyrinthine canyons, colorful cliffs and high desert plateaus with few roads or trails. Created Sept. 18, 1996.

Interior Department officials have said the following areas in the West are under consideration as monuments:

* Missouri Breaks, Montana. A free-flowing stretch of Missouri River that passes through a gorge of white limestone cliffs and craggy rock.

* Craters of the Moon, Idaho. The existing monument may be expanded to include the Great Rift, a 62-mile crack in the earth’s surface.

* The Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains near Palm Springs in Southern California. The House endorsed this monument last month.

* The Carrizo Plain in California’s Central Valley, a slice of grassland that sits astride the San Andreas Fault.

* Steens Mountain, in the desert of eastern Oregon. Monument proposal may yield to legislation now before Congress to establish a conservation area instead.