Capitol Reef National Park

 nature conservation park / area, national park

Capitol Reef National Park includes lands established as Capitol Reef National Monument on August 2, 1937 by President Franklin Roosevelt. On December 18, 1971 President Richard Nixon signed legislation creating Capitol Reef National Park, that expanded the original 37,711 acres of the national monument to 254,368 acres.

The park encompasses the Waterpocket Fold, a wrinkle in the earth's crust that is 65 million years old. This wrinkle, probably caused by the same colliding continental plates that created the Rocky Mountains, has weathered and eroded over millennial to expose layers of rock and fossils. The park is filled with brilliantly colored sandstone cliffs, gleaming white domes, and contrasting layers of stone and earth.

www.nps.gov/care/
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