Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
IUCN Category III (Natural Monument)
Location	Pima County, Arizona, USA
Nearest city	Ajo, AZNearest city: Ajo, AZ
Coordinates	32°02′40″N 112°51′28″W / 32.04444°N 112.85778°W / 32.04444; -112.85778Coordinates: 32°02′40″N 112°51′28″W / 32.04444°N 112.85778°W / 32.04444; -112.85778
Area	330,688 (1,338 km²)
Established	April 13, 1937 Established: April 13, 1937
Visitors	183,739 (in 2004)
Governing body	National Park Service

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is a U.S. National Monument and UNESCO biosphere reserve located in extreme southern Arizona which shares a border with the Mexican state of Sonora. The park is the only place in the United States where the Organ Pipe Cactus grows wild. Along with Organ Pipe, many other types of cacti, as well as other desert flora native to the Sonoran Desert grow here. The Park is a beautiful preservation of the American Southwest.

Land for the graded road through the Monument was donated by the Arizona state legislature to the federal government during Prohibition knowing that the north-south road would be improved and make contraband alcohol easier to import from Mexico. In 1937 the land was officially opened as a national monument.^[1]

At the north entrance of the park is the city of Why, Arizona; the town of Lukeville, Arizona, sits at the park's southern border. Lukeville is a border crossing point to Sonoita, Sonora, Mexico.

On August 9, 2002, Ranger Kris Eggle was shot and killed by a suspected Mexican drug smuggler during a US Border Patrol operation. The visitor center has been named in his honor.

Gallery

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Short video showing panoramas from Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument	An organ pipe cactus in the Monument	Hedgehog cactus and brittlebush in bloom at the National Monument	The Monument is also home to many saguaro cacti
The Monument also contains a pair of natural arches

See also

• Bates Well Ranch, listed on the National Register of Historic Places within the park
• Dos Lomitas Ranch, also listed on the NRHP

References

External links

• Media related to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument at Wikimedia Commons
• Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument - Official U.S. National Park Service site