Overview
- President Donald Trump signed the Chiricahua National Park Act on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, officially redesignating the 12,025-acre Chiricahua National Monument as Chiricahua National Park.
- Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Rep. Juan Ciscomani led a designation ceremony at Faraway Ranch where new park signage was unveiled and National Park Service staff began rebranding materials.
- Local leaders in Willcox and Cochise County expect tourism and economic gains after roughly 70,000 people visited the site in 2025, and they cite past monument-to-park transitions that produced notable visitor increases.
- Park officials say their immediate priorities are updating signs and web materials, repairing or replacing water systems, and adding staff, but ranger groups warn that existing NPS funding shortfalls and deferred maintenance could strain the park as visitation grows.
- The park protects volcanic-era rhyolite tuff formations known as the 'Wonderland of Rocks,' carries more than a century of protection dating to 1924, and includes cultural ties to the Chiricahua Apache and historic Faraway Ranch.